Professor Annie Antón, chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, has announced she will complete her term as school chair but will not seek an additional five-year appointment.

“My principal research areas are privacy and cybersecurity,” said Antón. “Those areas are in the midst of a period of historic growth and importance, and I believe I can have my greatest impact by focusing my energies on researching those topics.”

In 2016, President Obama named Antón as one of twelve members of the ongoing Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. In 2014-15, she was a member of the Organizing Committee for the Computing Research Association/Computing Community Consortium series of Catalyst workshops on Privacy by Design. Antón also serves as a scientific and policy adviser in roles including as a member of the NIST Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board and with the U.S. Department of Defense.

Antón, who received three degrees from Georgia Tech in the 1990s, was named chair of Interactive Computing in 2012 after 14 years as a professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. There she served as director of the CSC Policy and Compliance Initiative, was a member of the NCSU Cyber Defense Lab, and founded ThePrivacyPlace.org.

“We all thank Annie Antón for her tireless work and energy as chair of the School of Interactive Computing,” said Zvi Galil, the John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech. “During her time as chair, Professor Antón has hired a notable number of outstanding new faculty, who support the continued growth in student enrollment in computing. Professor Antón has a remarkable passion for Georgia Tech, even carrying the school flag to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and to Everest Base Camp.  We congratulate her on her work as school chair and look forward to the contributions she will bring to her cybersecurity and privacy work going forward.”

Antón will serve as chair through the end of her current appointment. The College of Computing will begin its search for a new chair this fall.