Peter A. Freeman is the founding dean of Georgia Tech's College of Computing, a position he held from 1990 to 2002. Freeman was assistant director of the National Science Foundation from 2002 to 2007. Freeman has been

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

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 a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

, 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 member ...

, and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Education

Freeman received a Bachelor of Arts in physics and mathematics from Rice University in 1963, a Master of Arts in mathematics and psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1965, and a Ph.D. in computer science from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 1970.

Early career

After graduation from Carnegie Mellon, Freeman was a researcher, professor, and administrator at the University of California, Irvine's Department of Information & Computer Science from 1971 to 1987, where he focused on artificial intelligence and software engineering research, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation. 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 National Science Foundation'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 (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

(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 or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

, 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 (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

. 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), 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 and research in STEM fields 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 Fellow Members of the IEEE Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1941 births Chief information officers