Janet Abbate

Janet Abbate is a professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech and serves as co-director of the graduate program of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in Northern Virginia.

Dr. Abbate’s work focuses on the history, culture, and policy issues of the internet and computing. Her book Inventing the Internet (MIT Press, 1999) has become the standard reference on the history of the Internet. Recoding Gender: Women’s Changing Participation in Computing (MIT Press, 2012) explores how gender has shaped computing and suggests how the experiences of female pioneers can inform current efforts to broaden participation in science and technology. She also co-edited (with Brian Kahin) Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure (MIT Press, 1995).

Her current research investigates the historical emergence of computer science as an intellectual discipline, an academic institution, and a professional identity. Recent publications include “From Handmaiden to ‘Proper Intellectual Discipline’: Creating a Scientific Identity for Computer Science in 1960s America” and “Interpreters of Computing: Women in World War II and the Early Computer Industry.”