A computer scientist and professor with more than three decades of experience in the field, Frederick Boland currently serves on the Software and Systems Division Staff at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Commanding an impressive academic and professional history, Frederick Boland began to lay the educative foundations for his career as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, College Park. During this time, he pursued studies in a broad range of topics, ultimately declaring his major in Mathematics. Graduating cum laude from the University of Maryland with his Bachelor of Science in 1974, Frederick Boland soon moved to Pennsylvania and enrolled at The Pennsylvania State University, where he began a Master’s program in Meteorology. Upon receipt of his Master of Science from Penn State in 1977, he accepted an offer from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to work as a Meteorologist. Over the next four years, Frederick Boland wrote various computer programs to help the NOAA forecast the weather more accurately. At the end of this period, Frederick Boland moved into the current phase of his career and took a role as a Computer Specialist for the Defense Mapping Agency (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) in Washington, D.C.

From 1981 through 1984, Frederick Boland played a key role on the software development team at the Defense Mapping Agency, working on programs to generate mailing information from databases, testing the organization’s computers, and creating computer training courses. In addition, he returned to school during this period, enrolling at the University of Maryland’s Master’s program in Computer Science on a part-time basis. Two years after joining NIST in 1984, Frederick Boland earned his Master of Science from the University of Maryland and commenced a highly diversified career with the agency, where he leads activities related to software testing, accessibility issues, software quality, and more. In tandem with his work at NIST, Frederick Boland spent over 20 years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland University College and taught a wide variety of undergraduate courses in computer science, both online and in the classroom. Frederick Boland lives and works in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan region.

Frederick Boland also serves others in his role as Disability Coordinator. at NIST.

Frederick Boland is speaking on software issues at the Software SIG meeting in November 2011.

Frederick Boland is working on a software reference database.

Frederick Boland is assisting veterans in finding employment.
Frederick Boland is participating in outreach activities.
Frederick Boland is mentoring a student this summer at NIST.
Frederick Boland is on the NIST Diversity Committee.
Frederick Boland is attending several W3C meetings this spring and is speaking on security, software assurance, and accessibility issues. Frederick Boland is working on voting quality standards. Frederick Boland is speaking on software quality this spring. Frederick Boland is mentoring several students this summer.