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Computer volunteer
New chair of the Department of Computer Science mixes work with
professional service
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As if assuming the chair of the Department of Computer Science at Iowa
State was't enough, now Carl Chang wants to be president of his professional
organization.
Volunteerism isn't anything new for Chang, professor of computer science.
A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),
Chang has been an active volunteer leader for the past decade in the IEEE
Computer Society, the world's oldest and largest professional association
of people in computing.
Currently a vice president of that organization, Chang oversees the Educational
Activities Board. He has served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Software from
1991-94 and was on that publication's editorial board from 1997-2000 as
editor-in-chief emeritus.
As a well-recognized scholar in software engineering, Chang co-founded
the IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering. That was
just one of several international conferences for which he has served
as program chair and/or co-chair of.
And this fall Chang is running for president of the IEEE Computer Society,
an organization with over 120 staff members to serve 100,000 members worldwide.
"It's basically a volunteer run society even with all the staff members,"
Chang said.
Chang says the IEEE Computer Society is active on several fronts including
helping governmental agencies set policies in information technologies
and looking for ways to improve technology and service to society.
The new chair of the Department of Computer Science has been extremely
active in another area of the IEEE Computer Society. For the past four
years, Chang has led a joint task force charged with the development of
new computer science curriculum at the undergraduate level.
Most undergraduate computer science programs in the country follow 1991
or earlier recommendations. Chang says the recently completed recommendations
were sent out to 1,000 undergraduate programs and major two-year colleges
in the U.S.
The recommendations will also be submitted at a European educational conference
this year and he has been invited to the People's Republic of China to
discuss the task forces' findings. Chang plans to implement the recommendations
with Iowa State's curriculum as well.
"I'm proud of this work," Chang said. "The steering committee
would like to see how we can work with the accreditation body and see
if this can be one of the major recommendations."
Chang comes to Iowa State from Auburn University where he was a professor
of computer science and director of the Institute for Reconfigurable Smart
Computers (IRSC). He was previously the director of the International
Center for Software Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Prior to working in academia, Chang was employed at the GTE Automatic
Electric and Bell Laboratories.
His research in software engineering emphasizes on providing solutions
to the analysis, design and project management of developing large-scale
software systems. His research in net-centric computing focuses on agent-based
collaboration framework for software engineering applications.
He has received the Computer Society's Outstanding Contribution Award
and the Golden Core Award. In 2000, he was presented the IEEE Third Millennium
Medal for his research contributions in the areas of software and software
development.
Chang says he was attracted to Iowa State because of the computer science
program's strong emphasis in theory and the up-and-coming bioinformatics
program.
"Bioinformatics is the emerging industry for the next century,"
he said, "and we're very strong in that here at Iowa State.
"My vision is to continue to build on that solid foundation on theory,
and expand into experimental research with new faculty hires in software
engineering and computer networks."
Around LAS
August 26 to September 8, 2002
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