Professor Jian Pei has been named chair of Duke Computer Science, effective July 1, 2023. Dr. Pei is Arthur S. Pearse Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Duke, and also Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, and Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Pei assumes the CS department chair role from outgoing chair Jun Yang, who said "With his exceptional qualifications, vision, and collegiality, I am confident that Jian will excel as the next leader of our department."
Yang was commended for his leadership and service in an email to faculty and staff: "He took command under very challenging circumstances, and did an outstanding job leading the department through the pandemic and post-pandemic periods. Having made great strides under his leadership, the department is immensely grateful to him, not only for what he accomplished over the last three years, but also for all his contributions over the last many years."
In addition to being a scholar of high caliber, new Duke CS Chair Jian Pei brings extensive experience in leadership roles within both the computing research community and industry. His numerous accolades range from Fellows of ACM, IEEE, Royal Society of Canada, etc., to a rare duo of Innovation Award and Service Award from ACM SIGKDD (Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining), which recognize lifetime contributions in research and service. During one of his sabbaticals, Pei also held a leadership role at a prominent Fortune Global 500 company, where he supervised strategic endeavors related to smart supply chain, big data, and AI applications.
Dr. Pei stated that he is very fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of this extraordinary department. "The level of talent, dedication, and camaraderie displayed by everyone is truly inspiring. With genuine excitement about the journey ahead, I am committed to building upon the department's achievements and the remarkable successes of our colleagues and previous chairs."
Department of Computer Science
