JaJa Named Interim VP and CIO

Professor Joseph JaJa has been named Interim Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the University of Maryland, effective June 7, 2010. He will serve this interim role after the passing of Jeff Huskamp, who previously served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the university's Office of Information Technology.

A distinguished researcher and administrator, Dr. JaJa is currently Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) with a permanent appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). He served as the Director of UMIACS from 1994 through 2004. Under Dr. JaJa's leadership, UMIACS research funding grew from $2.5M to more than $18M, and long-term partnerships were established with federal laboratories, private organizations and other universities.

Dr. JaJa received his Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University. His current research interests are in high performance computing, long term management and preservation of digital information, and scientific visualization. He has published extensively in several areas, including parallel and distributed computing, and serves on several editorial boards in the computing field. The recipient of numerous national awards, he was named a Fellow in the Association for Computing Machinery in 2000 and was honored with the Internet2 IDEA Award in 2006.

“Because of his outstanding credentials as a scholar, educator and administrative leader, Professor JaJa is extraordinarily well qualified to be Chief Information Officer of the University,” said ECE Chairman Dr. Patrick O'Shea.

More information about the University of Maryland's Office of Information Technology can be found at www.oit.umd.edu.

Published June 8, 2010