Alumnus Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid (M.S., '81; Ph.D., '85) has received the honor of Fellow from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). Dr. Elmagarmid was recognized for his contributions to database management systems. ACM, the largest scientific and educational computing society, bestows this a highly sought annual accolade on a very select set of members.
Elmagarmid currently serves as the inaugural executive director of Qatar Computing Research Institute, part of the Qatar Foundation. Preceding this position, he was director of both the Indiana Center for Database Systems and the Cyber Center at Purdue University's Discovery Park as well as a professor of Computer Science at Purdue University (Indiana, USA), where he was actively involved in teaching and research duties for 22 years. Professor Elmagarmid's interests have focused on the application of database technology and cyber infrastructure to a variety of societal problems. The areas of his research include digital government, health care and telemedicine, and life science applications.
Honors and awards are a tradition for Ahmed. Early in his career in 1988 he received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator award from then President Ronald Reagan. The Ohio State University (1993) and the University of Dayton (1995) have both named him among their distinguished alumni. He is a fellow of the IEEE and ACM.
This class of new ACM Fellows includes Dr. Xiadong Zhang, CSE department chairperson. Doctors B. Chandrasekeran and Stuart Zweben, both Professors Emeritus, are also ACM Fellows. Previous alumni who have received this honor include Thomas A. Defanti, Anil K. Jain, and M. Tamer Ozsu.
Dr. Elmagarmid was mentored at OSU-CSE by Dr. Ming-Tsan (Mike) Liu.
ACM will formally recognize Dr. Elmagarmid and all the 2012 Fellows at its annual Awards Banquet on 5 June, 2013, in San Francisco.