Zwicker Appointed Interim Chair of Computer Science

Matthias Zwicker has been appointed interim chair of the University of Maryland’s Department of Computer Science, effective July 20, 2020.

As chair, Zwicker will oversee a department that currently ranks 16th in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report and is one of the largest computer science programs in the country with nearly 4,000 students. The department, along with the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), brings in nearly $30 million in external funding each year.

“I feel extremely honored to be called to serve the department and the broader UMD community as interim department chair,” Zwicker said. “These are extraordinary times, and I am looking forward to working with everybody in the department, the college and the university to manage our challenges in a collaborative spirit.”

In March 2017, Zwicker joined UMD as the Reginald Allan Hahne Endowed E-Nnovate Professor in Computer Science with a joint appointment in UMIACS. Before arriving in College Park, he was a professor of computer science at the University of Bern from 2008 to 2017, where he served as the head of the computer graphics group and the director of graduate and undergraduate studies at its Institute of Computer Science. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at the University of California San Diego from 2006 to 2008.

Zwicker’s research focuses on the intersection of computer graphics and artificial intelligence, and his work is laying the foundation for next-generation platforms for virtual and augmented reality.

Go here to read the full news release on Zwicker’s appointment.