CONTACT: Patricia Viets For Immediate Release
2/27/96
Helen M. Wood, director of the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has received the highest-level service award granted by the Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Wood is being recognized for her exceptional contributions to the society and to the computing profession. In her position at NOAA, Wood directs the operation of a space and earth-based system that processes and distributes real-time data gathered by NOAA and other environmental satellites. The data are used to support weather forecasting, coastal ocean monitoring, sea ice detection and prediction, and search and rescue. She also leads NOAA's computer network integration planning.
Wood holds a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in computer Science from the American University. An active member of the IEEE since 1978, Wood was president of the Computer Society in 1990, IEEE's vice president for publication activities in 1993 and is an IEEE Fellow.
Founded in 1884, the IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society with 320,000 electrical engineers, scientists, and other professionals in about 150 countries. The Computer Society, the largest technical society of computing professionals worldwide, consists of 100,000 professionals in computer science, computer engineering, and information technology. It is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.