Feb. 22, 2019

Todd shares story of computing pioneer Bartik at symposium

Kim Todd

Kim D. Todd, the assistant director of the Jean Jennings Bartik Computing Museum at Northwest Missouri State University, was a featured speaker Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 at the inaugural Jean Bartik Computing Symposium at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Todd’s presentation recounted Bartik’s experiences as a Northwest student during the 1940s, the challenges she faced as a woman seeking career opportunities, her pioneering work in the early field of computing and the recognition that came when the story of the ENIAC and the women who helped program it was rediscovered in recent decades.

In addition to her work with the Bartik Computing Museum, Todd is a business operations specialist in Northwest’s Office of Information Technology and has served as an adjunct faculty in the School of Computer Science and Information Systems. She is co-editor of Jean Bartik’s award-winning autobiography, “Pioneer Programmer: Jean Jennings Bartik and the Computer that Changed the World,” and the author of a biography for young adults, “Jean Jennings Bartik: Computer Pioneer.” 

Bartik, who graduated from Northwest in 1945, was one of the world’s first computer programmers. Her pioneering efforts included programming the ENIAC and developing and programming the BINAC and UNIVAC I. The ENIAC was the world’s first successful electronic programmable computer, which she turned into the world’s first stored program computer by April 1948. The UNIVAC I was the world’s first successful programmable commercial computer. 

The Bartik Computing Symposium also included a presentation by Jen Easterly, the managing director of Morgan Stanley and Global Head of the Firm’s Cybersecurity Fusion Center, and a presentation about the Raspberry Pi’s feasibility in space. A challenge coin was presented to attendees featuring a picture of Bartik.