Alan Warren, vice president of engineering of Google and vice-chair of the College of Computing’s Advisory Board, announced the College’s newest endowed chair last year, naming it for his parents, Charlotte and Roger Warren. Last week, the Board of Regents formally approved both the establishment of this chair and DeMillo as its first holder. Warren is also a Georgia Tech alumnus, having earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics in 1978.

At the time he offered the endowment, Warren said Georgia Tech holds a special place for his family, particularly since his parents met here when Roger Warren was earning a chemical engineering degree and Charlotte Warren was a nursing student at the former Crawford Long Hospital.

"After being at Georgia Tech, you want to be able to give back," Warren told Georgia Tech's Campaign Quarterly last August. "The question is, at what time, and how to go about doing that. There were a lot of pieces that went into this being the right time and the right thing to do."

Last week, the final piece fell into place with the approval of DeMillo as the first chair. DeMillo’s long career of scholarship and leadership in computing includes a six-year tenure as the Imlay Dean of Computing from 2002 to 2008, as well as his current role as director of the Center for 21st Century Universities. He was also recently named as one of the first fellows of the Lumina Foundation, a private foundation focused on education.

“I am thrilled and honored to be the first to hold the Charlotte B. and Richard C. Warren Chair,” DeMillo said. “Alan Warren has been an important guiding voice in the College and a source of wisdom and support for me when I was dean. So holding the chair that bears the names of his parents has special meaning for me personally.”

“I want to both congratulate Rich for this well-deserved honor and to Alan Warren for his generosity in endowing this chair,” said Zvi Galil, the current Imlay Dean of Computing. “It’s especially appropriate for Rich to be the first Warren Chair since he recruited Alan to our Advisory Board. I look forward to creating more endowed chairs so we can appropriately recognize our most accomplished senior faculty.”