Johnny Wong, professor of computer science and associate department chair, will serve as interim chair of the Department of Computer Science from July 1 to Dec. 31. Wong will replace outgoing chair Carl Chang, who served in that position since 2002. Wong will remain on the computer science faculty and continue his extensive research program in various areas of software engineering and human-computer interactions, including successful aging.
In January, Gianfranco Ciardo, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Riverside, will begin as permanent chair of computer science.
"I would like to thank Dr. Carl Chang for over a decade of dedicated service," said Liberal Arts and Sciences dean Beate Schmittmann. "The department has made very significant progress under his leadership. I greatly appreciate Dr. Wong’s willingness to steer the department until Dr. Ciardo arrives on campus in January 2014."