[citation needed] She and her colleagues introduced the first general purpose model and optimization framework based on dependences and cache line reuse for improving the cache locality of dense matrix algorithms using loop permutation, loop reversal, fusion, and distribution.

[2] McKinley and her advisor, Ken Kennedy showed how to use this model to introduce parallelism with locality and eliminate false sharing.

McKinley, her PhD student Emery D. Berger, and colleagues introduced the Hoard C/C++ Memory Allocator, which is widely used by applications and in Apple's OS X.

Their Immix mark-region collector manages memory hierarchically using fixed sized blocks consisting of lines.

This design delivers substantial performance benefits due to smaller heap footprints and improvements in locality.

[9] Her PhD student Michael Bond received the ACM SIGPLAN Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2008.

She spoke on the academic, industry, and government computing research ecosystem that is driving innovation and economic advances in almost all fields.