NSF Names New Director of Computer and Information Science and Engineering

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named University of Pennsylvania computer science and engineering professor Ruzena Bajcsy, Ph.D., to be Assistant Director for NSF's Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (CISE). Bajcsy (pronounced "buy chee") will assume her new position in December. She will replace Juris Hartmanis, who will have completed his term of service and return to Cornell University.

Bajcsy is a pioneering researcher in machine perception, robotics and artificial intelligence. She is a professor both in the Computer and Information Science Department and in the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department and is a member of the Neuroscience Institute in the School of Medicine. She is also director of the university's General Robotics and Active Sensory Perception Laboratory, which she founded in 1978.

Bajcsy has done seminal research in the areas of human-centered computer control, cognitive science, robotics, computerized radiological/medical image processing and artificial vision. She is highly regarded not only for her significant research contributions but also for her leadership in the creation of a world-class robotics lab, recognized world wide as a premiere research center. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering as well as the Institute of Medicine. Bajcsy is especially known for her wide-ranging, broad outlook on the field and cross-disciplinary talent and leadership, successfully bridging such diverse areas as robotics and artificial intelligence, engineering and cognitive science.

Bajcsy received her master's and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Slovak Technical University in 1957 and 1967, respectively. She received a Ph.D. in computer science in 1972 from Stanford University, and since that time has been teaching and doing research at Penn's Department of Computer and Information Science. She began as an assistant professor and within 13 years became Chair of the department. Prior to the University of Pennsylvania, she taught during the 1950s and 1960s as an instructor and assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Department of Computer Science at Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. She has served as advisor to more than 20 Ph.D. recipients.

As head of NSF's CISE directorate, Bajcsy will manage a budget of approximately $300 million annually. Bajcsy is the sixth person to be named to this position since the directorate was created in 1986. Her selection followed a national search chaired by Stanford University Dean of Engineering John Hennessy.