We are excited and proud to pass on the news that former CCC Chair and long time Council member Gregory D. Hager was selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as the Assistant Director (AD) of the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) starting June 3, 2024. Dr. Hager had been a long standing member of CCC: he was a CCC Council Member from 2010-2017, CCC Vice Chair from 2013-2014, and CCC Chair from 2014-2016. His leadership in CCC had a significant impact on the  broader computing research community. Most recently, in 2022 CCC featured his research on the medical applications for AI and robotics in the CCC Catalyzing Computing Podcast Series, Episodes 38 and 39.

Dr. Hager served on the CRA Board of Directors from 2014-2018, and has many other ties to CRA. You can read more about his CRA involvement in the CRA Bulletin.

“CCC is looking forward to continuing our relationship with Greg in his new role”, said Mary Lou Maher, Director of the Research Community Initiatives for CCC. “His deep understanding of the role and impact of CCC will enhance our ability to support the mission of CISE.”

Dr. Hager has a distinguished record: he founded Johns Hopkins’ Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, and is the Mandell Bellmore professor of computer science. He has experience in many areas of computing research, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, where he made significant contributions in vision and robotics. In addition, he engaged in groundbreaking research on “language of surgery,” which uses video and motion data to study the process of a surgical procedure.

Current CCC Council Chair, Daniel Lopresti, shared his enthusiasm about NSF’s selection: “Greg is a tremendous choice for the CISE AD role. Not only is he an outstanding researcher, but he has proven himself to be a leader in helping to create and nurture powerful, impactful visions for the computing research community. Greg’s talents shown brightly in his many years of involvement with CCC, culminating with his chairing the Council from 2014-2016.”

In addition to serving in CCC Council leadership, Dr. Hager organized and participated in many CCC visioning activities:

Workshop organizer:

• Computing and Healthcare: New Opportunities and Directions (2012)
• Robotics, Manufacturing, and Computing (2013)
• Brain (2014)
• Discovery and Innovation in Smart Health (2016)
• Artificial Intelligence For Social Good (2016)
• Cybersecurity for Manufacturers (2017)
• Role of Robotics in Infectious Disease Crises (2020)

Workshop participant:

• Aging in Place (2014)
• Human Computation Roadmap Summit (2014)
• Interacting with the Computers All Around Us (2014)
• Uncertainty in Computation (2014)
• 2025 Roundtable (2015)
• Computer-Aided Personalized Education (2015)
• Privacy by Design 3 – Engineering Privacy (2015)
• Cyber-Social Learning System 3 (2017)
• Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations: A Virtual Convergence Accelerator Workshop (2022)

He provided key expertise as a frequent author of CCC Whitepapers and Responses to RFIs:

Whitepapers:

• Next Generation Computing Challenges (2015)
• Paths Toward Autonomy (2015)
• Systems Computing Challenges in the Internet of Things (2015)
• Toward a Science of Autonomy for Physical Systems (2015)
• Video Analysis for Body-worn Cameras in Law Enforcement (2015)
• Next Generation Robotics (2016)
• The Future of Computing Research: Industry-Academia Collaborations (2016)
• A National Research Agenda for Intelligent Infrastructure (2017)
• Advances in Artificial Intelligence Require Progress Across all of Computer Science (2017)
• Research Opportunities and Visions for Smart and Pervasive Health (2017)

RFI Responses:

• Response to NITRD “Draft Federal Health Information Technology Research and Development Strategic Framework” (2017)
• CCC Response to the 2016 National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan (2018)

He also participated in symposiums, spoke at leadership trainings, and organized/spoke at several AAAS annual conferences:

Symposium Participant:

• CIFellows 2014 Workshop (2014)
• Computing Research: Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs (2016)
• AAAI Symposium on AI for Social Good (2017)
• Early Career Researchers Symposium (2018)

Leadership Training Speaker:

• Leadership in Science Policy Institute (2017)
• Leadership in Science Policy Institute (2019)
• Leadership in Science Policy Institute (2023)

AAAS Annual Conference Speaker/Organizer:

• The Confluence of Computing and Society: Emerging Themes in Socio-Technical Systems (2016)
• Press Briefing on Mobile Health Devices (2017)
• Artificial Intelligence: Augmenting Not Replacing People (2018)

Dr. Hager stepping into this prestigious role at NSF is a continuation of his significant record of service to the CISE community, and CCC is excited for all his accomplishments to come.