President Lee Bollinger sent an email out earlier today announcing the appointment of Senior Executive Vice Dean Shih-Fu Chang as the new Interim Dean of SEAS.

Senior Executive Vice Dean Shih-Fu Chang will serve as Interim Dean of SEAS beginning July 1, according to an email sent out to SEAS students by President Lee Bollinger. Professor Chang currently acts as the Richard Dicker Professor with appointments in the Electrical Engineering Department and the Computer Science Department. He is also the Director of the Columbia Center of Artificial Intelligence Technology in collaboration with Amazon.

Professor Chang first came to SEAS in 1993, working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Since then, he has played an important role in developing Columbia Engineering for Humanity which works to serve the public good across disciplines, departments, and schools. Additionally, he helped create cross-disciplinary initiatives for SEAS, collaborating with external industry and company experts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the College. 

In terms of his professional career, Professor Chang’s work centers around artificial intelligence, multimedia content analysis, and computer vision. His projects have important real-world applications, some of which help prevent human trafficking and give image recognition capabilities to journalists and public health professionals. His work has been published in more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, and he has been issued more than 30 patents. 

In his email, President Bollinger cited Professor Chang’s actions as an “indispensable partner and colleague” to the current Dean and future Provost Mary C. Boyce as well his “extensive experience in high-level academic administration” as the impetus for this decision. 

Finally, President Bollinger noted that he will soon form a search committee to find Dean Boyce’s successor when she assumes her role as Provost. 

President Bollinger’s email can be found in its entirety below. 

Email sent out to SEAS Students by President Lee C. Bollinger on March 26 at 2:49 pm EST: 

Dear members of the School of Engineering and Applied Science community:

I am pleased to share with you that Senior Executive Vice Dean Shih-Fu Chang has agreed to serve as Interim Dean of SEAS, beginning July 1st. The following message will be sent to the larger Columbia community shortly. Professor Chang’s rich history at SEAS and his relationships with students, faculty, and staff makes him the right leader of the school at this time, and I am grateful to him for accepting this role.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger 

***

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

I write to announce that I have asked Shih-Fu Chang to serve as Interim Dean of The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), and he has graciously accepted. His term will begin on July 1, 2021, when Columbia Engineering Dean Mary C. Boyce assumes her role as Provost. Professor Chang is currently Senior Executive Vice Dean at SEAS, the Richard Dicker Professor with appointments in the Electrical Engineering Department and the Computer Science Department, and Director of the Columbia Center of Artificial Intelligence Technology in collaboration with Amazon.

Professor Chang began his career at Columbia as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1993. He brings to this new role as Interim Dean extensive experience in high-level academic administration. From the start of Mary Boyce’s tenure at SEAS, he has been an indispensable partner and colleague to her, helping to shape the mission of Columbia Engineering and to strengthen its standing among the top engineering schools in the nation. Professor Chang was instrumental in developing Columbia Engineering for Humanity, a commitment to serving the public good through work across disciplines, departments, and schools. He was also responsible for creating University-wide, cross-disciplinary initiatives for SEAS, collaborating with outside industry experts and companies to create research centers, and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the School.

Shih-Fu Chang is also an admired scientist whose research focuses on artificial intelligence, multimedia content analysis, and computer vision. He develops systems that can extract information from content including images, video, and audio. His projects have led to breakthroughs with significant real-world applications, including tools that prevent human trafficking and those that provide image recognition capabilities to journalists and public health professionals. His work has appeared in more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, and he has been issued over 30 patents.

I will soon be forming a search committee for Mary Boyce’s successor and I am deeply grateful to Shih-Fu for agreeing to provide interim leadership for SEAS as that work proceeds. Please join me in congratulating him on this appointment.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger

Butler Library via Bwarchives