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By Phil Williams
pwilliam@franklin.uga.edu
Three professors have joined the University of Georgia’s department of computer science this fall as part of Yamacraw, a strategic economic development initiative to make Georgia a world leader in the design of telecommunications infrastructure hardware and software.
Surendar Chandra and Ben Bishop will join Naveen Ashish as new Yamacraw professors at UGA. David Gries joined the department of computer science as UGA’s first Yamacraw professor in 1999. Ashish originally joined the department as a visiting assistant professor this past January.
Within the next five years, Yamacraw seeks to create 2,000 additional jobs in Georgia for design professionals, educate 2,000 more computer engineers and computer scientists in relevant disciplines, help at least 10 companies expand their operations in Georgia and increase venture capital in Yamacraw research areas fourfold.
The original plan was put together by government and business leaders in secret in 1998. Since then, the University System of Georgia has hired 41 faculty members at eight participating state institutions to help move the state toward global recognition as the place to be for education in the design of semiconductor chips and packaging, embedded software and system prototyping.
“We are really delighted to be a part of Yamacraw, which promises to change the face of economic development, education and industry in Georgia,” says Rod Canfield, head of the UGA computer science department. “These faculty members will join Dr. Gries and the others in our department to create a formidable team.”
Ashish received his doctorate this year from the University of Southern California. He received his B-tech degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He is interested in developing and applying database and artificial intelligence techniques to databases and Web sources.
Bishop earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Penn State earlier this year. He received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Penn State in 1996. His research interests include multimedia systems, computer graphics and processor architecture.
Chandra also earned his doctorate this year from Duke University. He finished a master’s from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., in 1993 and his bachelor’s degree in 1988 from Anna University in Madras, India. His research will focus on mobile computing, distributed systems and operating systems, among other things.
Other professors in the computer science department teach Yamacraw curriculum, though their salaries are not funded by the project. Among them is Khaled Rasheed, who will teach Yamacraw courses and assist in Yamacrawsponsored research.
The state of Georgia’s eight Yamacraw universities are UGA, Armstrong Atlantic State, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Savannah State and Southern Polytechnic State University.
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