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Dean of College of Computing and Informatics To Be First Director of the University's North Carolina Complex Systems Institute

Submitted by: John Warner on May 22, 2008 at 9:01 pm Tagged with: Academia, Information Technology Source: UNC Charlotte

Mirsad Hadzikadic will leave his position effective Aug. 1

Dean of College of Computing and Informatics To Pursue New InitiativeCHARLOTTE - May 22, 2008 - Mirsad Hadzikadic, dean of the College of Computing and Informatics, will leave his current position to become the first director of the University's North Carolina Complex Systems Institute (NCCSI), UNC Charlotte's Office of Academic Affairs announced.

Hadzikadic, who will resign from his position as dean effective Aug. 1, was the founding dean of the college, which was established in 2000.

“For the past year, I’ve been working extensively with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development agency for the Department of Defense (DoD), on a social computing project that will substantially enhance the capabilities of the country to understand both short and long-term consequences of events throughout the world,” said Hadzikadic.

“The College of Computing and Informatics has also dedicated a lot of time and resources in working with the DoD on technologies that will be and are currently useful to the country’s military capabilities on the computation and simulation side,” he said. “And, after nearly a year and a half of personal deliberation, I’ve decided to spend more time understanding the social science aspect of that work and become the director of NCCSI.”

Anticipating this new role, Hadzikadic applied and has been accepted to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in its Master of Public Administration program.

“This will allow me to understand how governments are run, how societies are run, and how social structures are put into place,” said Hadzikadic.

Upon his return to UNC Charlotte in May of 2009, Hadzikadic will oversee what is anticipated to be an institute that will involve partnerships with other institutions both here and abroad. It will also include substantial commercialization and economic development capabilities as well as professional education at the master’s level and continuing education. The computation simulation technology that will be developed will not only serve the military and defense contractors but will have commercial applications as well, particularly for financial and healthcare institutions.

This will be a highly interdisciplinary effort that will involve computing, information systems, business, social science, ecology, anthropology, religion, history, chemistry, and statistics, and will draw from expert faculty on the UNC Charlotte campus.

“Dean Hadzikadic has been a visionary leader and has helped the College of Computing and Informatics shape innovative curricula and research programs that serve the Charlotte community and the nation,” said Joan Lorden, UNC Charlotte’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “The planned institute reflects his understanding of the pervasive nature of computing in our society and the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations that bring computation and informatics to bear on a wide range of contemporary problems.”

A committee is being formed to conduct a national search for a new dean of the college. An interim dean will be appointed by Aug. 1, Lorden said.