The University of Washington has appointed Dan Grossman, Vice Director of the Allen School and Paul G. Allen Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, as Interim Director of the school effective August 17. Grossman will succeed current director Magdalena Balazinska, Professor and Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science, at the conclusion of her term. She has served as Allen School Director since her appointment in 2019.
“To me, the Allen School is much more than one of the leading computer science and engineering programs in the world. It has been my professional home since I completed my Ph.D. 23 years ago,” said Grossman. “It was my dream job then, and it’s my dream job now.
“To step in as interim director now is both a great honor and a huge responsibility,” he continued. These are exciting and challenging times for higher education, for the field of computing, and for the state of Washington. The Allen School will continue to educate future innovators and leaders while pursuing groundbreaking research that benefits people everywhere.”
Grossman has served as vice director of the Allen School for nine years. Since he joined the UW faculty in 2003, he has fulfilled a number of service and leadership roles on and off campus. He currently chairs the Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting and is a member of the Provost’s Task Force on Computing and Data Science. Beyond campus, Grossman has been active in the Computing Research Association, including nine years on the Board and two as Vice Chair, and the Association for Computing Machinery, including the Education Board and the Executive Committee of the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN). He received the ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award in 2015 for significant contributions to programming languages education.
Despite increasing administrative and service responsibilities, Grossman has maintained a strong connection to the classroom. He has designed and taught popular courses on programming languages in addition to courses in software design and implementation as well as data structures and parallelism. In 2013, he created one of the first MOOCs (massive open online courses) in programming languages, which thousands of students completed on Coursera over the following decade.
Five years ago, Grossman revamped the Allen School’s direct-admit seminar, which helps first-year majors to thrive academically, personally and socially, and he continues to lead the course each fall. For students thinking about their next step after the UW, he leads the Alumni Career Experience (ACE) seminar, which brings former students back to campus to share advice based on their professional journeys. Grossman also has taught the Allen School’s computer ethics course nine times since its inception in 2018. The course is a reading and discussion seminar that critically analyzes modern sociotechnical systems in their historical contexts.
To step in as interim director now is both a great honor and a huge responsibility. These are exciting and challenging times for higher education, for the field of computing, and for the state of Washington.
Grossman completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Cornell University before joining the Allen School. A member of the Programming Languages & Software Engineering (PLSE) Group, his research encompasses the theory, design and implementation of programming languages. He is best known for his early work on safe programming languages for systems programming and his work on program-analysis techniques for concurrency and parallelism. His research typically applies foundational concepts from programming languages to less standard domains, including 3D-printing, compiler error messages, quantum computing and more. Seventeen students have completed their Ph.D.s working with him and have gone on to join the faculty of top-ranked universities or industry-leading companies.
The Allen School under Balazinska’s leadership significantly expanded in both size and impact while navigating challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and an uncertain federal regulatory and funding environment. Today, the school graduates 50% more students than it did in 2019; over the same period, it hired 40 new faculty members who enhanced the school’s research and teaching in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, theory, systems, computational biology and more.
Balazinska also oversaw the modernization of the school’s core educational programs, including an overhaul of its introductory programming course sequence, the launch of a new undergraduate research program and Graduate Certificate in Modern AI Methods, the creation of new minors in Data Science and — coming soon — in AI, and expanded course offerings in AI and other subjects. To ensure the school would operate effectively at this new, larger scale, Balazinska worked with Grossman and other faculty and staff leaders to overhaul the school’s organizational structure and processes.
“As Director of the Allen School for nearly seven years, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished. My deep thanks to Dan for his willingness to assume this responsibility, and for the wonderful support he has provided to me in his role as vice director,” said Balazinska. “Dan is a thoughtful leader who cares deeply about the success and well-being of our faculty, students and staff. I’m delighted that he agreed to take on this role at such a critical time for computer science education, for our University, and for higher education more generally.”
The interim appointment ensures continuity as University leaders consider the forthcoming recommendations from the aforementioned Task Force on Computing and Data Science, which Provost Tricia Serio convened earlier this year to evaluate how best to advance computing, data science and artificial intelligence across the UW.
“As Interim Director, Dan will provide steady leadership and support the Allen School’s continued excellence in teaching, research, service, and innovation,” said Nancy Allbritton, Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering at the UW. “His appointment will ensure strong leadership and continuity during a period of thoughtful planning for the future.
“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Magda Balazinska for her exceptional service and leadership,” Allbritton continued. “Under her leadership, the school strengthened its standing as one of the nation’s leading computing programs while advancing its impact in AI, data science, and emerging areas across research and education.”
Read the announcement by the College of Engineering and a related story in GeekWire.