Hridesh Rajan

Hridesh Rajan is the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering at Tulane, overseeing a wide range of departments and programs. Before joining Tulane, he was the Kingland Professor at Iowa State University, where he served as the Department Chair of Computer Science. He also held the role of founding Professor-in-Charge of Data Science Programs from 2017 to 2019, during which he established the annual Midwest Big Data Summer School and led several key data science educational initiatives.

As an academic, Rajan is well-regarded for his contributions to Software Engineering and Programming Languages. He is the creator of the Ptolemy programming language, which improved modular reasoning about crosscutting concerns, and the Boa programming language, which simplifies data-driven software engineering. His research has been recognized with numerous awards, including the NSF CAREER award, the LAS Early Achievement in Research Award, and the Facebook Probability and Programming Award. Rajan’s academic influence extends through his editorial work with IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, and his advisory role with the Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages.

Rajan’s leadership at Iowa State University saw significant growth in the computer science department, with increases in student enrollment, faculty numbers, research funding, and philanthropic support. He spearheaded efforts in diversity and inclusion, resulting in a notable increase in female enrollment. He also led the development of new academic programs, including the M.S. degree in Artificial Intelligence and the B.S. degree in Data Science.

Educated at the University of Virginia, Rajan holds a Ph.D. and an MS in Computer Science. He earned his B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi. His professional journey includes a tenure as a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies in Bangalore, India.

Rajan is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fulbright Scholar, and an ACM Distinguished Scientist. His ongoing research continues to push the boundaries of software engineering and programming languages, especially in making AI and ML-enabled systems more reliable and trustworthy.