Wanda Gass is an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

who helped develop the first commercially viable

digital signal processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on MOS integrated circuit chips. They are widely used in audio si ...

at Texas Instruments. She is also an advocate for girls and young women pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

) programs.

Life

Gass was born in Dallas, Texas in 1956, the younger of two daughters. Citing her father as encouragement for her fledgling interest in engineering, Gass pursued membership in her high school's

Explorer's Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

Education

Gass attended

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

and earned her BS in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1978. She then earned a MS in

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in 1980.

Career

Gass began work at

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

in 1980 as an electrical engineer. Gass was heavily involved in the development of Texas Instruments first commercially viable

(DSP) and was eventually promoted to the position of technical fellow. Gass was one of the first women promoted into this role, which was the equivalent of a Vice President at Texas Instruments. Gass is a fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE). She is also the president of Design Connect Create, a non-profit group aimed at increasing young women's participation in

fields.

References

External links

Wanda Gass, an oral history
(1998) by Frederik Nebeker, IEEE History Center, Hoboken, NJ, USA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gass, Wanda Living people 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American philanthropists Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni Engineers from Texas Fellows of the IEEE Philanthropists from Texas Rice University alumni Texas Instruments people Year of birth missing (living people)