William A. Wulf is vice chair of the National Research Council, the principal operating arm of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. He is on leave from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, where he is a University Professor and AT&T Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Among his activities at the university are a complete revision of the undergraduate computer science curriculum, research on computer architecture and computer security, and an effort to assist humanities scholars exploit information technology. Wulf has also served as assistant director of the National Science Foundation; chair and chief executive officer of Tartan Laboratories Inc., Pittsburgh; and professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. He is the author of more than 100 papers and technical reports, has written three books, and holds two U.S. patents.

Wulf received a B. S. in Engineering Physics and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Virginia.