Richard A. DeMillo Named Dean of College of Computing

The Georgia Institute of Technology announced today that it has named Richard A. DeMillo as the John P. Imlay, Jr. Dean of Computing of the nationally ranked College of Computing, one of the largest computer science programs in the country. DeMillo, one of the most visible figures in the computing industry in recent years, was first Chief Technology Officer for computer giant Hewlett-Packard Company before joining Georgia Tech. He has been a leader making national policy in information technology including in the development of software solutions for the U.S. Defense Department.

He left his position as vice president at HP and recently returned to Georgia Tech to assume the helm of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. He had also previously taught at Tech from 1976-87. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the Internet, DeMillo's distinguished technology career spans business, government and academia, including major positions at HP, the National Science Foundation (NSF), Telcordia Technologies (formerly Bellcore), Purdue University and Georgia Tech. Effective December 1, DeMillo fills the position formerly held by Dr. Peter A. Freeman, who joined the National Science Foundation in May.

Rich's vision and three decades of experience are precisely what is needed to lead the College of Computing to even higher levels," said Jean-Lou Chameau, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Tech. "He brings experience at the highest levels of industry, government, and academia, and his leadership will provide a tremendous boost to the College. His research strengths dovetail perfectly with the research going on currently in the College and his long-time relationships with current faculty ensure a smooth transition and a fast start toward enhancing the reputation of an already solid academic unit."

DeMillo will lead the education, research and outreach activities of the College including such research areas as cognitive science, computer architecture, database systems, educational technology, future computing environments, graphics and visualization, human computer interaction, information security, intelligent systems and robotics, networking and telecommunications, programming languages and compilers, parallel and distributed systems, software engineering, and theoretical computer science.

"This is a very exciting time to be joining the Georgia Tech community, there are tremendous changes taking place in information technology and Georgia Tech has always been at the forefront of that change. I look forward to helping Georgia Tech continue its climb to the very top ranks in computing," said DeMillo.

About DeMillo

At Hewlett-Packard, DeMillo had worldwide responsibility for technology, technology strategy and the HP patent portfolio. He also chaired HP's Technology Council. DeMillo was responsible for many innovations in the oversight and governance of R&D at HP. He also starred in a national television ad campaign that featured him as a famous inventor that is changing the world but is relatively unknown outside the industry when compared to the type of attention afforded other pop cultural icons.

Prior to joining HP, he directed computer science research and applied research at Telcordia Technologies, in support of Telcordia's software businesses, telecommunications consulting businesses, as well as government and other externally sponsored R&D.

Prior to joining Telcordia in 1995, DeMillo was professor of computer science at Purdue University and served as director of the Software Engineering Research Center, a NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (a consortium of universities). Under DeMillo's leadership the Software Engineering Research Center became one of the most successful industrial research consortia in the nation.

From 1989 to 1991, DeMillo was director of the Computer and Computation Research Division at NSF. In this capacity he managed the largest computing research division at NSF and was responsible for most of the academic computer science research in the U.S., including programs in software engineering, theoretical computer science, numeric and symbolic computation, computer architecture, graphics, operating systems and programming languages. Among other achievements at NSF, DeMillo was responsible for successful national initiatives in High Performance Computing and Communications and Computational Biology.

From 1976 until 1987, DeMillo was Professor of Information and Computer Science at Georgia Tech and was founding director of Georgia Tech's Software Engineering Research Center. DeMillo's accomplishments as head of this center included the development and successful application of advanced software quality technology to high-visibility national security initiatives and systems such as the Patriot Air Defense System and the Strategic Defense Initiative. He also directed the Software Test and Evaluation Project for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In this role DeMillo was the chief architect of Department of Defense policy for software testing and evaluation.

DeMillo has held faculty appointments in Electrical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Electronics and Informatics at the University of Padua in Padua, Italy where he helped establish an international master's program in software engineering on whose Executive Committee he still serves.

DeMillo received his Doctoral degree in Information and Computer Science from Georgia Tech and received his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

About the College of Computing

The Georgia Tech College of Computing houses one of the largest computer science programs in the country with 68 academic faculty and 39 research faculty. The College strives to provide high quality instruction and to integrate computing knowledge into other academic disciplines as well as aspects of daily life. Approximately 2,000 students are enrolled in the college, including approximately 1,580 undergraduates and 410 graduate students, some 270 of which are Ph.D. students. The College is ranked 12th overall at the doctoral level and houses several interdisciplinary research centers including the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), the Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center (GVU), Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems (CERCS), and the Modeling & Simulation Research and Education Center (MSREC).