CRA-Industry Co-chair Vivek Sarkar Named Dean of Georgia Tech College of Computing
By Elora Daniels, Communications Associate
After a nationwide search for its next Dean, the Georgia Institute of Technology recently announced that Dr. Vivek Sarkar will be its next Dean of the College of Computing effective June 2024. A founding member and Co-chair of the CRA-Industry (CRA-I) committee and former CRA Board of Directors member, Sarkar is a long-time contributor to CRA, and looks forward to deepening Georgia Tech’s ties to CRA in his new role.
“My goal is for Georgia Tech to become the best possible partner for CRA!” said Sarkar. “CRA plays such an important role in the computing research community, and as the new Dean of the College of Computing I hope to strengthen our relationship and find new and exciting ways for our faculty and students to engage with all that CRA does and to help CRA in any way that we can.”
Among his career accolades and contributions to computing, Sarkar has recently been serving as Chair of the School of Computer Science and held the Stephen Fleming Chair for Telecommunications at Georgia Tech. As an avid mentor of young researchers, Sarkar has shown his dedication to fostering diversity and inclusion within the computing research community, a core tenet CRA is very proud to support.
“It will be an honor and a privilege to serve as the next Dean of the College of Computing,” said Sarkar in the Georgia Tech press announcement. “We have a great community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni, and I look forward to all of us pulling together with the rest of the campus and our external partners to further advance our mission of addressing critical challenges related to computing and its impact on society.”
In a personal profile highlighting Sarkar’s path to becoming dean, CRA’s Board Chair, Nancy Amato expressed great joy for his appointment: “Georgia Tech has made a great choice in selecting Vivek Sarkar as the next dean of its College of Computing… Vivek is one of the leading researchers in software for high-performance computing, having made important contributions in programming models, compilers, and runtime systems for parallel systems. He has also provided outstanding service to the CRA, serving on the Board of Directors and as one of the founding chairs of its newest committee, CRA-Industry.”
As co-chair of the CRA-I committee, Sarkar has supported multiple initiatives, including the Best Practices on Using the Cloud for Computing Research workshop and report, the 2020 Industry/Academia Report, and CRA’s Accessible Technology workshop. Since the formation of CRA-I in 2020, Sarkar has been a driving force in CRA-I becoming a recognized and respected liaison between academia and industry.
“Vivek’s unwavering dedication as one of the founding co-chairs of CRA-I illuminates his commitment to bridging academia and industry. Instrumental in the committee’s growth, his visionary leadership has propelled CRA-I to its present state. I have no doubt that he will take on his new role as Dean at Georgia Tech with the same vigor and enthusiasm.” said Helen Wright, Manager of CRA-I.
CRA is honored to partner with Vivek Sarkar to continue collaborating on shaping the future of computing. Congratulations, Dr. Sarkar!
