Investiture ceremony held for four CS faculty

Andrea Poet | Posted on October 04, 2024
From left: Cornelia Caragea, Bing Liu, Barbara Di Eugenio, and Michael E. Papka
Jim Young
From left: Cornelia Caragea, Bing Liu, Barbara Di Eugenio, and Michael E. Papka

The computer science department honored four faculty members this semester who have earned the high honor of holding endowed professorships. These positions recognize individuals who have had a significant impact on their field through scholarship, creativity, and leadership, and provide dedicated resources for innovative research and teaching.

This year, four faculty members received endowed professorships, and were honored at an investiture ceremony September 20. They include Cornelia Caragea, Barbara Di Eugenio, Bing Liu, and Michael E. Papka.

  2. Collegiate Warren S. McCulloch Professors of Computer Science Barbara Di Eugenio and Michael E. Papka
    Jim Young
    Professors Barbara Di Eugenio and Michael Papka are the first recipients of the Warren S. McCulloch Collegiate Professor of Computer Science. Their appointments run seven years. Warren McCulloch, a neurophysiologist and cybernetician, was a professor of psychiatry at UIC for about a decade in the 1940s. Together with Walter Pitts, a logician, McCulloch published a groundbreaking paper that proposed a simplified mathematical model of a biological neuron. This model, known as the McCulloch-Pitts neuron, is the basis for deep learning networks. This professorship is funded directly by the computer science department.
  4. Michael Papka
    Jim Young
    Collegiate Warren S. McCulloch Professors of Computer Science Michael E. Papka receiving his medallion from Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Karen Colley, and College of Engineering Dean Peter Nelson
  5. Bing Liu
    Jim Young
    Distinguished Professor Bing Liu was named the Peter L. and Deborah K. Wexler Professor of Computing. Alumnus Peter Wexler (MS ’81) is the co-founder of SpiderCloud Wireless, Inc., and a member of UIC’s College of Engineering Advisory board. He and his wife fund this position, as well as a Wexler Chair in IT position for the College of Engineering.
  6. Cornelia Caragea
    Jim Young
    From L: Professor and Department Head Robert Sloan, Robert V. Kenyon Professor in Computer Science Cornelia Caragea, Professor and Dean Peter Nelson. Professor Cornelia Caragea is the inaugural recipient of the newly established Robert V. Kenyon Professor in Computer Science, the first endowed named professorship that is exclusively bestowed to a professor in the computer science department. The professorship is supported by computer science Professor Emeritus Robert V. Kenyon and his spouse, Cynthia A. Vahlkamp. Robert “Bob” Kenyon has a track record of groundbreaking professional contributions at UIC, where he has been a tenured professor since 1986.
  7. awardees with dean and provost
    Jim Young
    From L; Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Karen Colley with honorees Cornelia Caragea, Bing Liu, Barbara Di Eugenio, Michael E. Papka, and Dean Peter Nelson after the investiture
Modified on October 04, 2024