Mary received a B.A. degree in mathematics and physics from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. degree in mathematics, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Washington. Since 1989 she has been in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Arizona, where she is currently an Assistant Professor.

Mary's recent research interests focus on parallel and distributed simulations and special-purpose architectures. In the parallel simulation area, she has worked on parallel simulation for VLSI systems, primarily at the logic level, and on characterizing overheads for conservative protocols. She has been involved with two special-purpose architecture efforts: the Apex graphic chip for drawing spline curves and surfaces, and PathFinder, a hardware and software network packet classifier.

Mary is a member of the ACM and IEEE. She is on the steering committee for PADS (Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation), has been on the program committee for the past 2 years, and will be program chair for PADS 95. She is also serving as a program committee member and the Audio-Visual chair for ICCAD 94.