The following is a letter to the community from James Kurose, Assistant Director, and Erwin Gianchandani, Deputy Assistant Director, of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE).
Dear CISE Community,
The NSF Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Henry Kautz as the Division Director for our Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS), effective June 11, 2018.
Henry will be joining NSF/CISE from the University of Rochester, where he is a professor and the founding director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science. Previously, he was chair of the computer science department at the University of Rochester; professor of computer science at the University of Washington, Seattle; and department head at AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ. He is a world-renowned leader in artificial intelligence, pervasive computing, and healthcare applications.
In 2010, Henry was elected President of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and in 2016, he was elected Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Section on Information, Computing, and Communication.
Henry has co-authored hundreds of technical publications, conference proceedings, and journal special issues throughout his career. He has been Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI on grants from NSF; the Department of Defense (DoD) including the Army Research Office (ARO), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD); National Institutes of Health (NIH); Intel Corporation; and Eastman Kodak Company. He has served on the editorial boards and organizing committees of several journals and international conferences and workshops.
Henry has received a number of honors throughout his career, including the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) Computers & Thought Award, Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) Conference 10-Year Impact Award, AAAI Classic Paper Award, and Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) Deployed Application Award. His work has been recognized with numerous Best Paper and Notable Paper awards. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the AAAI.
Henry received an A.B. degree in mathematics from Cornell University, M.A. in writing seminars from The Johns Hopkins University, M.S. in computer science from the University of Toronto, and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Rochester.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Howard Wactlar for his outstanding service as Acting Division Director for IIS since February 2017. Howard, who is completing his second tour of duty with CISE/IIS (he previously led the division from 2010 to 2014), has stewarded the division’s engagement in a number of critically important cross-Foundation activities over the last year. For example, he has served as co-chair of the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) Steering Committee, helping to drive this Big Idea for Future NSF Investment forward; he also led a major revision of the NSF-wide Cyberlearning for Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program, transitioning its focus toward continuous education and adult retraining in the face of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Howard was also instrumental in briefings to Congressional and White House staff on AI research and development. Upon Henry’s arrival, Howard will transition to the CISE Office of the Assistant Director, where he will serve as Senior Advisor.
Please join us in welcoming Henry and thanking Howard for all his contributions to IIS, CISE, and NSF!
Best,
Jim and Erwin
Jim Kurose, Assistant Director (AD) of NSF for CISE
Erwin Gianchandani, Deputy AD of NSF for CISE
