Barbara Liskov was already breaking new ground in 1968, when she became one of the first American women to earn a doctorate in the emerging discipline of computer science.

After receiving that PhD at Stanford, she went on to design several influential programming languages, including CLU, an important precursor to Java. More recently, as an Institute Professor at MIT and head of the institute’s Programming Methodology Group, she has undertaken crucial research on distributed systems, information security and complex system failure issues.

Liskov is one of fewer than 100 individuals to receive an A.M. Turing Award from the Association of Computing Machinery, perhaps the most prestigious accolade in the field of computer science (some consider it the “Nobel Prize of Computing”).

Liskov will be joined in conversation by host Ann Miura-Ko, a lecturer in Stanford’s Department of Management Science and Engineering. Miura-Ko earned her PhD from Stanford in quantitative modeling of computer security, and has leveraged that technical background to become one of Silicon Valley’s pioneer investors in AI technology. As a founding partner of the venture capital firm Floodgate, she has made decisive seed-stage investments in companies like Lyft, TaskRabbit and Modcloth. She is a co-sponsor of the AI Grant, a nonprofit research lab that funds work on open source artificial intelligence, and is a founding member of All Raise, an organization devoted to increasing the representation of women in the VC-funded technology ecosystem.

This appearance by Barbara Liskov and Ann Miura-Ko is part of the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series. Join us live as we bring founders, investors and industry influencers to center stage and invite them to share what it takes to become a disruptor.