Irene Greif

Irene Greif is an American computer scientist and a founder of the field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Early life and education Greif's mother was an accountant, Greif has at least one sibling, a sister. She attended Hunter College High School before earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT. In 1975, Greif became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from MIT;

Career She was a professor of computer science at the University of Washington before returning to MIT as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science (1977–87). In 1984, Greif and Paul Cashman coined the term "Computer Supported Cooperative Work" and the initials, CSCW, at an interdisciplinary workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Preferring research over teaching, she left academia in 1987 to join Lotus, where she directed its Product Design Group, and created the Lotus Research group in 1992. After Lotus was acquired by IBM, she became an IBM Fellow and served as director of collaborative user experience in the company's Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Greif retired from IBM in 2013.

Greif is featured in the Notable Women in Computing cards.

Personal life Greif is married to Albert R. Meyer, the Hitachi America Professor of Computer Science at MIT. Greif, who is Jewish, has a son and daughter, as well as two step-children, and lives in Newton Centre, Massachusetts.

Selected works 1975, Semantics of communicating parallel processes 1980, Programs for distributed computing : the calendar application 1982, Cooperative office work, teleconferencing and calendar management : a collection of papers 1983, Software for the 'roles' people play 1988, Computer-supported cooperative work : a book of readings