Dear colleagues:
I am pleased to inform you that Venkat Venkatakrishnan has been appointed as interim director of research for the Discovery Partners Institute. He comes to DPI from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Engineering where he is a professor of computer science and associate dean for research and graduate studies. In his new role at DPI, Venkat will work with faculty and leadership across the University of Illinois System campuses and our partners in building DPI's research and development portfolio. As DPI rolls out its research operations, his work will be pivotal in building teams of faculty who work together on large research efforts.
Venkat's primary research interests are in cybersecurity, and he is well known for his work in the security analysis of software applications, cyber-attack detection, and security policy enforcement. His research has won four best-paper awards in top cybersecurity venues. Venkat has received over $18 million of federal grants from federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy, as well as industrial sponsorship from IBM, Lucent and CACI. He led the creation of an interdisciplinary Ph.D. training program in cybersecurity with colleagues from five different colleges at UIC. Venkat received the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award in 2009, UIC's award for Excellence in Teaching in 2015, and the University Scholar award in 2017. In his first year as associate dean for research he created several new initiatives that were instrumental in raising UIC Engineering's research expenditures from the previous year by 15 percent.
Venkat's commitment to excellence in research, his dedication to the success and well-being of students and colleagues, his leadership experience, and his passion and entrepreneurial outlook towards the DPI research and development mission make him an outstanding choice for this position.
Please join me in congratulating Venkat for taking on this exciting role as we pursue DPI's vision of economic development for the State of Illinois.
Sincerely,
Bill Jackson
Interim Executive Director, Discovery Partners Institute
