Peter A. Freeman is the founding

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

's College of Computing, a position he held from 1990 to 2002. Freeman was assistant director of the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

from 2002 to 2007. Freeman has been

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

dean of the Georgia Tech College of Computing since 2007. He is currently the director of the Washington Advisory Group. Freeman is a Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

, the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

, and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Education

Freeman received a Bachelor of Arts in physics and mathematics from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in 1963, a Master of Arts in mathematics and psychology from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1965, and a Ph.D. in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

in 1970.

Early career

After graduation from Carnegie Mellon, Freeman was a researcher, professor, and administrator at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

's Department of Information & Computer Science from 1971 to 1987, where he focused on

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and

software engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...

research, funded primarily by the

. Freeman is one of the founders of software engineering education, starting a course on the subject in 1974. During the course of his career at UC Irvine, Freeman also administered the undergraduate and graduate programs and served as the department chair. In 1987, Freeman became the director of the

's Division of Computer and Computation Research; in this post, he managed about $20 million in grants each year, and helped develop the High Performance Computing and Communications program. For a year after his post at NSF, Freeman served as a Visiting Distinguished Professor at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

(1989–1990) to assist in the creation of a computing program at that university.

Recent career

From 1992 to 1995, Freeman became the chief information officer of the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

, and oversaw their Office of Information Technology (OIT) as it prepared for the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. At the time, OIT had an annual budget of $10 million. When Georgia Tech was reorganized in 1988 under the administration of

John Patrick Crecine John Patrick "Pat" Crecine (August 22, 1939 – April 28, 2008) was an American educator and economist who served as President of Georgia Tech, Dean at Carnegie Mellon University, business executive, and professor. After receiving his early ...

(see

History of Georgia Tech The history of the Georgia Institute of Technology can be traced back to Reconstruction-era plans to develop the industrial base of the Southern United States. Founded on October 13, 1885, in Atlanta as the Georgia School of Technology, the uni ...

), the School of Information and Computer Science was promoted to college status, on the same administrative level as Georgia Tech's mainstay, the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( Dip.Eng.)and (B.Eng.) or ( M.Eng.), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

. Thus the

Georgia Tech College of Computing The College of Computing is a college of the Georgia Institute of Technology, a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. It is divided into four schools: the School of Computer Science, the School of Interactive Computing, the School ...

was created. Freeman was selected as the college's founding dean and oversaw the program's transition and subsequent rapid growth; he would hold this post until 2002. Under his administration, the school added three research centers (including the

Georgia Tech Information Security Center Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of peo ...

), increased research funding from $2 million annually to $10 million annually, hired 55 faculty members, and secured millions in funding for the construction of the College of Computing Building. From 2002 to 2007 Freeman was held the position of Georgia Tech professor while he served as one of seven assistant directors of the National Science Foundation. At NSF, he led the $1 billion Information Technology Research program, helped form the GENI Project, led the Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation Initiative, and led initiatives to revitalize computer science education and attract minorities to computing. In 2007, Freeman was named Emeritus Dean of the Georgia Tech College of Computing; in this position he consults with current administrators, faculty, and students; gives lectures and writes op-eds promoting issues in computer science. Since 2007, Freeman has been the director of the Washington Advisory Group, where he advises on policy issues related to

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

and research in

STEM fields Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context o ...

to companies, universities, governments, and non-profit organizations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Peter A. Living people Rice University alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Carnegie Mellon University alumni Georgia Tech faculty University of California, Irvine faculty United States National Science Foundation officials George Mason University faculty American computer scientists Fellows of the IEEE 2000 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1941 births Chief information officers