Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla and Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth H. Simmons are pleased to announce the appointment of Rajesh K. Gupta as the interim dean of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences (SCIDS), effective July 19, 2024. Gupta, who is the founding director of the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI), brings a wealth of experience and a distinguished academic background to this new role.
Rajesh K. Gupta, a Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Embedded Microsystems and a distinguished professor and former chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering, has played a pivotal role in the development of the new school. His collaborative efforts, particularly with the late Jeffrey Elman, were crucial in establishing HDSI as an interdisciplinary hub for research and education. His leadership will be instrumental in guiding SCIDS, which integrates the high-performance and data-intensive computing capabilities of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) with the academic strengths of HDSI in data science and artificial intelligence, toward a promising future. Since the inauguration of HDSI in 2018, Gupta has served as its director, demonstrating a strong commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and academic excellence.
Gupta’s research interests are in embedded and cyber-physical systems, with a focus on optimizing timing and energy in sensor data organization across various scales, from integrated circuit chips to smart building environments. His work in microelectronic chip design is widely recognized and has become standard practice in the semiconductor industry. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 2019, Gupta received the prestigious W. Wallace McDowell Award for his significant contributions to the design and implementation of Microelectronic Systems-on-Chip and Cyber-Physical Systems.
Under Gupta’s leadership, HDSI has grown into a vital academic unit at UC San Diego, launching master’s and Ph.D. programs in data science and establishing key partnerships with industry leaders. As interim dean, Gupta will continue to serve as the director of HDSI, ensuring that both HDSI and SCIDS maintain their trajectory of success and innovation.
Chancellor Khosla and Executive Vice Chancellor Simmons express their gratitude to Rajesh K. Gupta for his dedication and leadership. His extensive experience and scholarly achievements make him an outstanding choice to lead the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences during this transitional period. The search for a permanent dean will commence in the fall, and the university community is encouraged to join in supporting Gupta as he takes on this crucial role.
