New Dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Amitabh Varshney as Dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences effective March 1, 2018. 

Dr. Varshney joined the UMD Department of Computer Science faculty in 2000, and since 2010, has served as director of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). A leader in interactive visual computing research, Dr. Varshney’s work has focused on exploring the applications of high-performance computer graphics and visualization in science, engineering, and medicine. His research results are being used in climate modeling, plasma physics, nanomanufacturing, the design of buildings, cars, and submarines, medical imaging, gene sequencing, and the creative arts. He has engaged in research collaborations with a variety of partners in industry and government agencies.

As part of the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership, Varshney helped bring together scientists and clinicians from both UMD and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) to establish a multi-disciplinary Center for Health-related Informatics and Bioimaging (CHIB), tasked with solving grand challenges in personalized medicine and health care.

Varshney is an elected fellow of IEEE, a recipient of the IEEE Technical Achievement Award and a NSF CAREER Award. Dr. Varshney earned his B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

President Loh and I want to take this opportunity not only to say how enthusiastic we are about the future of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences under Dr. Varshney’s leadership, but also to thank Dr. Jerry Wilkinson for his outstanding service to the College and the University as interim dean. Dr. Wilkinson’s more than 30 years of service to the university and broad scope of knowledge will continue to be a highly valued resource within CMNS and we are very grateful for his work.

I also want to thank the search committee, chaired by Dean Gregory Ball, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences; Professor, Department of Psychology and to our friends at Isaacson Miller for the excellent job done conducting this search.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Varshney to his new role as Dean.

Sincerely,

Mary Ann Rankin