Jones was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1994) for contributions to the theory and implementation of software systems and for extensive public service.

[4] He taught her to play chess, helped her on geometry problems, and on weekends took her and her younger brother fishing for catfish, red snapper, and trout on Galveston Bay.

Jones' mother, who had trained as a ballerina and danced in several Hollywood films, taught her daughter a love of painting.

[5] Born in Fort Worth, Texas[2] and raised in Houston,[5] Anita graduated as valedictorian of her high school class in 1960.

With William A. Wulf, her husband, Jones was a founder and vice president of Tartan Laboratories, a compiler technology company, in 1981.

[4] She is on the Board of Trustees for In-Q-Tel which "is the not-for-profit strategic investor that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to national security agencies.