Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

Dennis Carroll, Ph.D., P.E.

Distinguished Engineer

2011

Degree

B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Computer Science – 1987, 1989, 1991

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 2011

Dr. Dennis J Carroll is the director of innovation for the Government Solutions Group of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a Xerox Company. GSG provides software solutions for federal, state, and local government services.

Born in Canyon, he grew up in numerous Texas cities including six years in Lubbock and his high school years in Abilene. He entered Texas Tech and remained there for eight and a half years earning a bachelor of science, master of science, and doctor of philosophy in computer science, becoming the first person to enter as a freshman and exit with a Ph.D. in computer science at Texas Tech.

After finishing at Texas Tech in 1991, he joined IBM Federal Systems Company, becoming the software development lead for the on-board space station freedom fault detection, isolation, and recovery software. During his 18 years at IBM, he worked in a wide variety of business applications including space technology, telecommunications, health insurance, state corrections, and banking. However, most of his assignments were as the lead architect in increasingly complex state and U.S. federal systems.

In 2001, Carroll became the forty-second person licensed as a professional engineer in software engineering in Texas. In 2002, he was invited to serve on IBM's I/T Architect Profession board. He has been an active board member for seven years, focusing on mentoring, establishing formal processes, and building educational materials in I/T architecture and advanced systems engineering.

In 2006, he served as the lead architect of the Defense Commissary Agency's project to replace all retail equipment in 270 stores worldwide. In 2008, he served as the chief engineer for the EADIS program consolidating FEMA software development into one organization. In this role, he established formal software engineering methods leveraging Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and NASA complex systems engineering processes to redefine how FEMA builds and maintains its software systems.

In 2009, he left IBM to join ACS as chief engineer of the Payment Solutions Group (PSG). This 360-person organization provides software for electronic payments systems and drives over $400 million in revenue from service programs in 29 states and the US Treasury. Carroll led the group's transformation into an engineering process oriented I/T service provider. In 2010, he was named director of innovation in PSG's parent organization charged with initiating an active innovation program in the billion-dollar Government Solutions Group.

While at Texas Tech, Carroll was an active student member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), spending five years as a contestant, captain, and coach of the Texas Tech Programming Team. After graduating, he continued his relationship with ACM, serving for seven years as Chief Judge of the South Central Region. He also served as chief judge of the Texas UIL high school computer programming contest for an additional four years. Now an emeritus member, he was a charter member of the Whitacre College of Engineering Dean's Council. He is also a charter member of the Computer Science External Advisory Board and currently serves as chairman.

He married his wife Amy in 1992. She received a bachelor of science in computer science from Texas Tech in 1992. They live in Leander, Texas with their beautiful daughter, Amber, and their wonderful son, Zachary. Formerly an avid volleyball player, he now enjoys fishing and working outside at his home in the Texas Hill Country.

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