As a computer architect, the University of Toronto's Natalie Enright Jerger is helping make everything from smartwatches to sprawling data centres run as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering's Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering is considered a worldwide expert in "on-chip" networks and, recently, is focusing on so-called "chiplets," which are touted by some as a way for chipmakers to circumvent Moore's Law.
But Enright Jerger's passions extend well beyond her research. She's a big proponent of teaching and students, and has strived to make her field more welcoming to women and other underrepresented groups - an effort that hasn't gone unnoticed by colleagues, who describe her as "tireless" and "stubborn."
"The whole reason I became a professor is really the students," Enright Jerger says.
"In the field I'm in, there's lots of great industry jobs, but the reason I'm here doing what I do is being able to work with the students."
For her contributions to computer architecture, Enright Jerger was named this year's winner of the McLean Award. The $125,000 award, jointly funded by the Connaught Fund and the McLean endowment, recognizes early career researchers and supports outstanding basic research in the fields of computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering sciences and the theory and methods of statistics.
The award is designed to help the winner attract and fund promising graduate students and post-doctoral researchers.
"I'd like to congratulate Natalie Enright Jerger on being this year's recipient of the McLean Award," says Vivek Goel, U of T's vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, and the chair of the Connaught Committee.
"With her exceptional record of achievement, we are eager to see what will come next for her and her team."
