Nancy R. Mead is a Fellow (ret.) at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and an Adjunct Professor of Software Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.  She is known for her work in software and security requirements engineering and the development of software engineering and software assurance curricula.  She also served as Director of Software Engineering Education for the SEI from 1991 to 1994. Her research interests are in the areas of software requirements engineering, and software assurance. 

Prior to joining the SEI, Mead was a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM Federal Systems, where she spent most of her career in the development and management of large real-time software systems.  She also worked in IBM’s software engineering technology area and managed IBM Federal Systems’ Software Engineering Education department.  She has developed and taught numerous courses on software engineering and software assurance topics, both at universities and in professional education courses. 

Mead has authored more than 200 publications and invited presentations. Her awards and honors include: IEEE Fellow, Distinguished Member of the ACM, IEEE TCSE Distinguished Educator, Parnas Fellow at Lero the Irish Software Research Center, IEEE Distinguished Visitor Program. She is currently Executive Vice Chair of the IEEE TCSE Executive Board and Treasurer for the IEEE Savannah Section. The Nancy Mead Award for Excellence in Software Engineering Education is named for her.

Mead received her BA, MS, and PhD in Mathematics from New York University.