The Robert E. Dinning Professorship

Established in 2008 with a gift from Anne Dinning and Michael Wolf

Anne Dinning joined the D. E. Shaw group in 1990, after receiving a B.S. in computer science from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in computer science from New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, where she won the Howard Grad Memorial Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Candidate. From 1995 until her retirement in 1999, she was the managing director responsible for the firm's worldwide asset management activities (including the equity and equity-linked strategies and fixed income-related strategies), as well as in 1996 for the management of an international broker dealer business based in London. In August 2002, Dr. Dinning rejoined the D. E. Shaw group as a managing director. At the time of this gift she is a member of the executive committee of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. and D. E. Shaw & Co., L.L.C., in which capacity she jointly supervises the D. E. Shaw group's worldwide asset management businesses. She serves as chief investment officer of D. E. Shaw Investment Management, L.L.C. and is a member of that entity's executive committee, as well as of the D. E. Shaw group's private equity and real estate investment committees. Dr. Dinning is a member of the Asset Managers' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. She was the 2006 recipient of the Industry Leadership Award presented by 100 Women in Hedge Funds, an organization committed to the professional advancement of women in the alternative investment industry.

Michael Wolf received his B.S. in Physics and Applied Math from U.C. Berkeley in 1984 and his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University in 1992. Dr. Wolf joined the D. E. Shaw group in 1992, and later worked at various firms in the financial and technology industries. Dr. Wolf's 1991 paper on compilation for improved data locality was included in a 2004 "Best Of“ retrospective of the ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI). At the time of this gift Dr. Wolf is a full-time stay-at-home parent.

Anne and Michael appreciate the opportunities that have been made available to them because of their excellent educations, and want to make similar opportunities available to others.

They are pleased to honor Anne's father, Robert E. Dinning, through the naming of this Endowed Professorship. Robert Dinning graduated from the University of Washington Electrical Engineering department with a B.S. in 1961 and an M.S. in 1967. He went on to have a successful career at both Boeing and Texas Instruments working on the design of missile control systems and secure communication systems. He has remained an avid Husky football supporter.

Holders of the Robert E. Dinning Professorship

Tom Anderson, 2009 until he was awarded the Frank & Wilma Bradley Chair in 2014
Steve Seitz, 2014-2019

Maya Cakmak (as a Career Development Professorship), 2021-2024