Ada: One Maverick's Perspective of Its Past, Present and Potential for the Future

Charles McKay

Dr. Charles McKay is currently the Dean of the School of Science and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. He is also a Professor of Software Engineering and Computer Engineering there.

Dr. McKay is currently involved or has been involved in the following research activities:

• Engineering Team Leader and Principal Investigator: Safety, Reliability, Maintainability, and Quality Assurance (SRM&QA) Oversight -- NASA's software safety for shuttle flights
• Engineering Team Leader and Co-Principal Investigator: Mission and Safety Critical Computing Research Project (MISSION) -- Infrastructure and a generic architecture for next generation, space-borne, NASA computing systems
• Chief Scientist: Repository Based Software Engineering (RBSE) Program -- Life cycle reuse of processes and products of systems, computer and software engineering
• Engineering Team Leader and Principal Investigator of the Joint NASA/JSC APSE (Ada Programming Support Environment) Beta Test Site Team. -- Jointly initiated by NASA and the US DoD STARS office as the world's first beta test site for Ada programming support environments.

Dr. McKay has also been involved professionally in the following service activities:

• First Chair of the ARTEWG Interface Subgroup and Distributed Systems Task Force -- The Catalogue of Interface Features and Options developed by the Ada Runtime Environment Working Group (ARTEWG) was baselined for use within several major NASA (e.g., Space Station) and DoD programs and projects.
• Distinguished Reviewer for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Software Technology for Adaptable Reliable Systems (STARS)
• Past member of the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Advisory Committee on Safety, Reliability, Maintainability and Quality Assurance
• Contributor and/or a reviewer for several national and international activities related to engineering standards and curricula -- E.g., CAIS, CAIS-A, PCTE, IRDS, Ada

Other relevant background includes:

• More than 30 years of experience in research, development, and teaching of computer automated systems.
• Consulting Experience with major industrial clients, including:
  • Arco Production and Operations
  • Boeing Aerospace Corporation
  • Exxon Computer Production Control
  • Ford Aerospace Company/LORAL
  • IBM, Federal Systems Company
  • Lockheed Engineering and Services Co.
  • Phillips Petroleum Company
  • Science Applications International Corporation
• Author of three textbooks, numerous papers and reports, and numerous video-taped lectures and courses. Samples of publications include:
  • Weisskopf, M., Irving, C., McKay, C., Atkinson, D., Eichmann, D., "Maintenance in a Dual Lifecycle Software Engineering Process", International Conference on Software Maintenance, IEEE Computer Society, November 1996.
  • McKay, C., "La Quinta Revolucion en la Educacion de Ingenieria: Colaboracion Internacional a Distancia", Memorias Sobre Excelencia Educativa, Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, 1996.
  • Atkinson, C., McKay, C., "A Generic Architecture for Distributed, Non-Stop, Mission and Safety Critical Systems", 2nd ISAIC Workshop on Safety and Reliability in Emerging Control Systems, Daytona Beach, November 1995.
  • McKay, C., Atkinson, C., "Supporting the Evolution of Distributed, Non-Stop, Mission and Safety Critical Systems", Informatica-Special Issue on Distributed and Parallel Real-Time Systems, 1995.
  • Atkinson, C., Eichmann, D., McKay, C., "An Evolution of a Software Engineering Curriculum", 8th SEI Conference on Software Engineering Education, New Orleans, 1995.
  • Erb, D., Hybertson, D., Feig, I., Michlowitz, E., Eichmann, D., McKay, C., Software Reuse Initiative Technology Roadmap, v1.2, Department of Defense, May 1994.
  • Allen, D., Forthofer, M., McKay, C., Kamrad, M., Powers, R., Rogers, P., (Editors), Catalogue of Interface Features and Options for the Ada Runtime Environment, Release 3.0, Ada Runtime Environment Working Group, Interfaces Subgroup, Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group for Ada, 1993. -- Dr. McKay was the Chair of the Interfaces Subgroup.

Dr. Charles W. McKay
University of Houston-Clear Lake
2700 Bay Area Blvd
Houston, Texas 77058-1068
Phone: (281) 283-3703
Email: mckay@cl.uh.edu