Prabhakar named vice provost for faculty affairs

06-12-2023

Sunil Prabhakar, department head and professor of computer science, has been selected as Purdue’s next vice provost for faculty affairs.

 

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Patrick Wolfe, Purdue provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, announced several leadership appointments and organizational updates at the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday (June 9), as the university approaches the beginning of the next fiscal year.

 

Search for vice provost for faculty affairs completed 

Following an internal search, Sunil Prabhakar, department head and professor of computer science, has been selected as Purdue’s next vice provost for faculty affairs. Prabhakar’s research lies in the area of data management, with a focus on developing novel database systems for managing probabilistic or uncertain data, and ensuring authenticity and integrity of outsourced databases. He joined Purdue in 1998 and has served as head of the Department of Computer Science since 2010, also helping Purdue more broadly by serving as inaugural director of its Integrative Data Science Initiative in 2019-20. Under his leadership, expanding Computer Science was designated one of the first “Purdue Moves” strategic priorities, resulting in an unprecedented and record expansion of student enrollments, faculty, staff and departmental revenue; the creation of two new majors in artificial intelligence and data science; and a new professional master’s degree in cybersecurity — all while moving the department’s undergraduate and graduate programs steadily higher in the national rankings. His efforts over the past decade have culminated in positioning Purdue for its most recently announced major strategic initiative, Purdue Computes. 

Prabhakar succeeds Peter Hollenbeck, who will retire June 30 after a long and distinguished career as a Purdue neurobiologist and administrative leader. The hallmark of his work as vice provost (since 2016, and preceded by two years of service as associate vice provost) has been a strong focus on creating programs and providing resources to underpin faculty success and leadership development. Several programs he designed and piloted have proved of interest to other universities nationwide.

Professor Chris Clifton has assumed the role of intermin head. A nation-wide search for the next department head is underway. 

 

About the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University

Founded in 1962, the Department of Computer Science was created to be an innovative base of knowledge in the emerging field of computing as the first degree-awarding program in the United States. The department continues to advance the computer science industry through research. US News & Reports ranks Purdue CS #20 and #16 overall in graduate and undergraduate programs respectively, seventh in cybersecurity, 10th in software engineering, 13th in programming languages, data analytics, and computer systems, and 19th in artificial intelligence. Graduates of the program are able to solve complex and challenging problems in many fields. Our consistent success in an ever-changing landscape is reflected in the record undergraduate enrollment, increased faculty hiring, innovative research projects, and the creation of new academic programs. The increasing centrality of computer science in academic disciplines and society, and new research activities - centered around data science, artificial intelligence, programming languages, theoretical computer science, machine learning, and cybersecurity - are the future focus of the department. cs.purdue.edu