Following a competitive national search, it is my distinct pleasure to announce that Samir Das has been appointed Chair of the Department of Computer Science, effective today. Samir was named Interim Chair of the Department in August 2017, while serving as Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Prior to this role, Samir was a division director in CEWIT and the graduate advisor in the Department of Computer Science.

Samir Das is a professor in the Department of Computer Science, where he has been a faculty member since joining Stony Brook, in 2002. His research interests are in wireless networking and mobile computing. Samir has co-authored over 120 peer-reviewed articles on these topics, mostly with his graduate students, and is a co-author of the Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol that is widely used for routing in wireless networks. According to Google Scholar, the number of citations to his work exceeds 45,000, making him one of the most cited authors in his areas of research. Since arriving at Stony Brook, Samir has been PI or co-PI of extramural research grants and contracts worth over $14 million and is a past NSF CAREER award winner. Samir has chaired technical program committees for premier conferences on mobile computing and served on the editorial boards of top journals in computer networking.

On campus, Samir undertook several leadership positions, playing a key role in the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), beginning with its early planning. Since its inception, he has served as one of its division directors. In 2016, Samir was named as the Associate Dean of Research in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In this role, he helped synergize the College’s research endeavors along several strategic thrust areas, and established critical proposal development support and new seed funding initiatives.

Stony Brook’s Department of Computer Science was established in 1969, and is consistently ranked among the top computer science departments in the nation. Students gain a competitive edge in systems and security, visual computing, mobile applications, big data, human-computer interaction, computer architecture, concurrency, and software engineering.

I am excited to welcome Samir as Chair of the Department, and look forward to our ongoing collaboration and future successes. Please join me in congratulating Samir on this appointment, and milestone in his academic career.

Fotis Sotiropoulos
Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
SUNY Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering