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Douglas “Doug” Schmidt ’84, M.A. ’86, an internationally acknowledged scholar with greater than three many years of expertise in educational and authorities management roles, has been named the inaugural dean of William & Mary’s School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics.
The brand new college – the college’s first in additional than 50 years – will launch formally in fall 2025 and advance William & Mary’s efforts to arrange college students for achievement in a data-driven world.
Schmidt, a famend laptop scientist, presently serves because the director of Operational Check & Analysis (DOT&E) for the U.S. Division of Protection. In that position, he’s a senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Protection. A famous researcher and educator, Schmidt has served on the college at Vanderbilt College for greater than twenty years, holding such positions as affiliate provost and co-director of the Information Science Institute.
Schmidt studied sociology as an undergraduate and graduate scholar at W&M earlier than incomes a grasp’s diploma and doctorate in laptop science on the College of California, Irvine. This trajectory honed his potential to combine the liberal arts and sciences with fast know-how innovation.
“Dr. Schmidt’s profession exemplifies the success William & Mary goals for, for all our graduates,” mentioned President Katherine A. Rowe. “From an distinctive liberal arts and sciences basis he constructed the capacities wanted for a quickly altering knowledge workforce. He has flourished as a revered chief in authorities, larger training and a number of industries. He understands at a private {and professional} degree what’s going to differentiate our new college from the competitors. We warmly welcome Dr. Schmidt again to William & Mary.”
Getting ready college students for achievement
The thought for a brand new college at William & Mary to convey collectively laptop science, knowledge science, utilized science and physics was initially raised by school members, spurred by an elevated curiosity in these fields amongst college students and employers. In only one decade, for instance, the college’s mixed whole of bachelor’s diploma graduates in laptop science and physics grew by over 206%.
In spring 2022, the college started exploring the potential of a faculty in session with school and employees round campus. William & Mary’s Board of Guests voted unanimously in November 2023 to approve the proposed college’s administrative construction, and the State Council of Greater Schooling in Virginia approved the proposal for a brand new college in July.
As dean, Schmidt shall be chargeable for uniting the varsity’s 4 areas – laptop science, knowledge science, utilized science and physics – right into a cohesive educational unit and rising their analysis, grant funding and doctoral program enrollment. The varsity shall be housed within the Built-in Science Middle, which additionally holds such models as biology, chemistry, neuroscience and psychological sciences, creating elevated alternatives for collaboration.
Schmidt can even be chargeable for establishing a imaginative and prescient with strategic aims that can guarantee the varsity turns into nationally referred to as an inclusive and revolutionary chief in instructing and analysis. As well as, he shall be charged with supporting school of their analysis, instructing and repair work; main fundraising efforts and the monetary administration of the varsity; and constructing or strengthening its strategic partnerships.
“Doug is a pioneering scholar and a prolific writer with a powerful dedication to service. An innovator via and thru, he brings an lively and collaborative spirit to his work that may be a pure match for a brand new college,” mentioned Provost Peggy Agouris. “He’s additionally a two-time William & Mary alumnus, which is an particularly significant testomony to the ability of a W&M training. I’m thrilled to welcome Doug again to campus as he helps put together new generations of scholars for careers that make a distinction.”
A frontrunner throughout authorities, business and better ed
Schmidt was appointed to his present place by U.S. President Joe Biden final 12 months and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate this spring. Because the DOT&E, he serves as senior advisor to the secretary of protection on testing and evaluating Division of Protection weapon methods. His workplace additionally offers impartial reporting and unbiased assessments of system efficiency to Congress.
In his greater than 20 years at Vanderbilt, he has held many roles, from affiliate chair of laptop science and engineering via a variety of management positions, together with affiliate chair of the pc science division, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering in Laptop Science and affiliate provost of analysis growth and applied sciences. He was instrumental in constructing Vanderbilt’s digital studying initiatives, launching that faculty’s first huge open on-line course in 2013 and regularly growing revolutionary applications to serve college students. In 2022, Fortune journal ranked Vanderbilt’s on-line Laptop Science skilled grasp’s diploma primary within the nation.
All through his profession, he has labored at a variety of different main universities, together with the College of California, Irvine; Trinity Faculty Dublin; and Washington College, Saint Louis. He was additionally visiting scientist and chief know-how officer for the Software program Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon College.
Schmidt and his household have remained intently linked to William & Mary since his commencement, and his dad and mom created the Schmidt Household Cyber Know-how Speaker Sequence Endowment. Final 12 months, Schmidt gave a lecture on the way forward for synthetic intelligence-augmented analysis and training as a part of that collection throughout Homecoming & Reunion Weekend.
“As an undergraduate and graduate scholar with levels in sociology from William & Mary, I couldn’t have conceived of the place I’d find yourself: coming again to alma mater to function the inaugural dean of its first new college in additional than 50 years,” mentioned Schmidt. “I’m thrilled past phrases at this unimaginable alternative, and my companion Karen Perry and I stay up for becoming a member of your complete neighborhood in January. My mom — who graduated from William & Mary in 1960 — and father are additionally trying ahead to returning to Williamsburg, which is a spot they love.”
Following his W&M training, Schmidt grew to become an internationally revered researcher whose work focuses on patterns, optimization strategies and empirical analyses of frameworks and model-driven engineering instruments that facilitate the event of distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) middleware frameworks and cellular cloud computing functions. His most up-to-date analysis focuses on immediate engineering strategies and immediate patterns that improve massive language fashions (LLMs) and generative augmented intelligence platforms.
He’s a extremely cited writer with virtually 50,000 citations to this point and has printed greater than 700 papers and co-authored greater than 10 books. He has additionally developed widely-used open-source DRE middleware, model-driven engineering instruments and cellular cloud computing apps.
Along with larger training, Schmidt has served in a variety of roles with authorities businesses. He labored as a program supervisor and deputy workplace director for the Protection Superior Analysis Tasks Company (DARPA) and served as a member of the Air Power Scientific Advisory Board and an advisory board for the joint Navy/Military Future Airborne Functionality Surroundings (FACE) initiative. He was additionally co-chair for the federal authorities’s Software program Design and Productiveness Coordinating Group, a collaborative IT analysis effort between main federal science and know-how businesses. Schmidt has additionally labored for a variety of personal firms, together with Prism Applied sciences and Zircon Computing.
William & Mary launched a world seek for a dean of the Faculty of Computing, Information Sciences & Physics final 12 months. The search committee included school, employees and college students and was chaired by Derek Aday, dean of the Batten Faculty of Coastal & Marine Sciences and director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
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