Naming the Supercomputer: MITRE Honors an Early Innovator

MITRE’s Federal AI Sandbox, which will drive next-generation artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled applications for the federal government, is powered by an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™.

We're tailoring the supercomputer to the needs of our teams and our sponsors' missions. Among the first tasks? Decide what to call this new resource.

Our people chose the name Judy.

In doing so, we honor Judy Clapp, an early pioneer in the development of computers. Clapp, who retired from MITRE in 2005 after 46 years, recognized the potential for AI long before the technology existed to realize AI’s potential.

Clapp was part of the team that developed software for Whirlwind, the first real-time digital computer. Since then, she's worked on software systems engineering, development, and research for successive generations of computers ranging from very large-sized computers to personal computers.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in physics from Smith College in 1951 and a master’s degree in science from Radcliffe College in 1952, she went to work at MIT.

At MIT and then Lincoln Laboratory, she helped program a prototype of one of the first nonnumerical applications of computers: an air defense system that received inputs from radars, tracked unknown flying aircraft, and directed the course of friendly aircraft to intercept them. This became part of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), the nation’s first air defense system.

When MITRE was formed in 1958 to take over the systems engineering of SAGE, Clapp transferred to the new organization as a manager in software engineering technology and applications. There were no other female managers in the company at that time.

SuperPOD Continues MITRE’s Culture of Collaboration

In addition to completing the Whirlwind system, Clapp was part of a group that developed the first set of software tools to coordinate the writing, integration, testing, and maintenance of a large computer system.

This was an exhilarating time, said Clapp, “We felt like we were on the forefront, working day and night, inventing as we went.”

Support of exploration was one of the MITRE attributes Clapp appreciated most.

“MITRE was probably the best place you could hope to work for, where you would have freedom to pursue interesting projects and the chance to propose your own,” she said.

Collaboration, she said, was also a key attribute of the company from its beginnings, just as it is today.

“We never had individuals competing with each other. We used to have a sign that said, ‘None of us is as good as all of us,’ but we didn’t even need to be reminded…. Maybe because the technology was so new and we were all racing to understand it and apply it, we never got into competition versus teamwork.”

Her experience was one of risk-taking and adaptability as well. “We learned by doing as the technology grew, and as we grew it through our sponsored research, and then we applied it to new projects,” she explained.

Clapp Broke Ground for Women in Engineering

Throughout her career at MITRE, Clapp focused on ways to improve the processes used in the acquisition and development of large, complex software systems across the company's many projects. She advocated concepts of adaptation and reuse of software components from one system to another to increase the speed and reliability of new system developments—an objective we continue to pursue and value.

For example, she helped launch the Systems Engineering Practice Office, which partnered with MITRE operating centers to help solve hard systems engineering problems, particularly when the solutions were applicable across our centers and their sponsors. She also became a lead on a team called the “Graybeards” who would troubleshoot programs in projects across MITRE’s work program.

Her work and career earned several prestigious awards, including a feature article as one of the “Pioneering Women in Computer Science” by the Association for Computing Machinery in 1995. In 1997, she was also honored as a woman pioneer at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. In 2001, she received an Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers for her outstanding contributions to the field of engineering. She was also awarded the Smith Medal from Smith College, which is presented to alumnae who, in the judgment of the trustees of the college, exemplify the true purpose of a liberal arts education through their work and their lives.

“We are celebrating Judy’s indelible mark on our organization, the field of computer science, and the careers of women in the technical workforce,” said Charles Clancy, senior vice president and general manager of MITRE Labs, and chief technology officer.

What It Means

“The selection of an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™ has a special importance for me,” Clapp said recently. “One of my research projects at MITRE was an investigation of ways to exploit AI technology for our work programs. Although we had minor success, we lacked the computer speed and storage capacity to achieve any significant demonstration of its readiness for practical use. The SuperPOD is for me the culmination of that progressive evolution of computers I experienced. I look forward to hearing how MITRE will exploit its capabilities.

“I wish I could be a part of that new opportunity it offers to MITRE. But I’m happy that using the name ‘Judy’ will remind people about all the women associated with leading-edge technology.”