New Director: Deborah Crawford

Back to Gazette, Fall 2014

On August 15, Dr. Deborah L. Crawford joined ICSI as its new director. Dr. Crawford was formerly the senior vice provost of research at Drexel University, where she was instrumental in the creation of its College of Computing and Informatics.

Crawford received her PhD from the University of Bradford, England, and worked at AT&T Bell Labs, UC Santa Barbara, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before joining the National Science Foundation in 1993. During her 17-year tenure at NSF, she held a number of executive positions.  In 2002, she was named deputy of the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, where she played a leadership role in the development of programs that encouraged the computer science community to imagine bold new futures for the field, such as the Expeditions in Computing program.  She left NSF to join Drexel in 2010.

Crawford has twice received the Presidential Rank Award, given by the president to recognize senior federal executives for leadership, strength, integrity, industry, and commitment to excellence in public service.

“Deb’s unflagging commitment to service and scientific leadership and her remarkable record of creatively and resolutely solving problems make her uniquely suited to lead ICSI,” said Dr. Prabhakar Raghavan, the chair of ICSI’s Board of Trustees. “We are thrilled she has decided to join us.”

“I am delighted to be joining the ICSI community,“ said Crawford.  “While I’ve been able to work with my new colleagues as a member of the ICSI Board of Trustees, I will now work with this world-class community of researchers on a daily basis, united in our passion and commitment to advance computing in ways that are currently just gleams in our eyes.  What a privilege it is to join such a distinguished and dynamic group.”

She succeeds Professor Nelson Morgan as director.