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Maris Evelyn Quinn (born May 6, 1943) is the Chair and Founder of the Department of Computer Science at Perla State University (PSU). She has been involved in artificial intelligence (AI) research at PSU since her arrival in 1978.

Education
Quinn attended Fisk University as an undergraduate and received her B.S. in mathematics in 1969. She continued her studies at Purdue University and obtained both a M.S. and Ph.D., in 1973 and 1975 respectively. Both degrees were in the then-emerging field of computer science, and Purdue was one of very few American universities offering advanced degrees in the field. Her doctoral thesis was titled "The Conversational Utility and Programmable Learning Automaton," focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning, using her chatterbot CUPLA as a case study.

Academic work
In 1976, Quinn joined the faculty of PSU, at the behest of Chancellor Kermit Ranidae. She founded the university's Department of Computer Science, making it one of the first such departments on the West Coast. PSU began to offer classes in computer science during the 1977-78 school year, and Quinn has taught at least one class in the subject in every school year since. Quinn has also received several grants to continue her research into artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Quinn was an early member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and has served as a panelist at several AAAI Conferences. In 1998, PSU made the original CUPLA chatterbot publicly available on the Internet for the first time, to celebrate Quinn's 20th year at PSU.

In 2000, Quinn delivered the commencement address for PSU's class of 2000. The speech became notable for her use of a Game Boy as a prop.

Personal life
Quinn was born to Ezekiel and Nina (née Delacroix) Quinn, both children of sharecroppers. She is the oldest of five siblings. Shortly after her birth, her parents moved from Louisiana to Chicago, Illinois, as part of the Second Great Migration. They took factory jobs that Quinn would later cite as one of her earliest inspirations for her own work, as her mother continued working in that capacity during the post-war era. Late in the course of World War II, her father was drafted into the Army, although he never saw active service. A beneficiary of the G.I. Bill nonetheless, he deferred his college tuition benefits to pay for his daughter's education at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Quinn has never married and has no children. Her father passed away in 2002, at the age of 81.