Mary Kenneth Keller

The first woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science in the United States, Keller was also among the first people of any gender to receive such a doctorate. Her degree was awarded on the same day as Irving C. Tang's D.Sc., making the two of them the first recipients of computer science doctorates. A Catholic religious sister and educator, Keller brought both scholarly distinction and a pioneering spirit to the emerging field of computing.