Texas Instruments
(profile at the time of induction in 2003)
Wanda Gass has made significant contributions as a change agent in four major areas: her company, her community, her industry and as an advocate for the advancement of women in the workplace.
Ms. Gass' tenure at TI has been marked by technical achievement, professional advancement and recognition for accomplishments. She joined TI in 1980 and quickly began contributing to the success of a relatively obscure new technology: digital signal processing. Today, her pioneering work with DSP is at the core of cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, digital hearing aids and a myriad of other consumer products. Today, DSP is central to TI's strategy, and Ms. Gass continues to lead its future development. She is a TI Fellow, the technical equivalent to a vice president.
Ms. Gass is a leader in community initiatives. She is a founder of the Women of TI Fund, sponsored by the Dallas Women's Foundation. She serves as an industrial mentor for the Infinity Project at Southern Methodist University and on the Annual Fund Committee at the Hockaday School. She's active at her church, directing the ESL program, teaching Sunday school and leading a Girl Scout troop.
A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Ms. Gass has held several leadership roles in this non-profit organization. She chairs the Signal Processing Committee of the Solid State Circuits Society. She's published many papers in technical journals and has presented at many technical conferences.
One of her passions is the advancement of women in the workplace. She was a charter member of TI's Women's Initiative Network, created to make TI a better place for women to work. She chaired the Work/Life Team whose initiatives resulted in Working Mothers naming TI to its 100 best list in 1996 and to its top 10 list in 2001. She serves on TI's Technical Ladder Diversity Team as well as on the Diversity Team for her business group, and she has played a leadership role at the Senior Summit for Women in Computing. She has been a featured speaker at the Tech '97 and Tech '99 women's conferences, the WITI Conference, the Houston Executive Women in Technology Forum and at the Hockaday School for girls.
