Mathew Palakal has been appointed associate dean for graduate studies and research at the Indiana University School of Informatics
Palakal, a professor of informatics and of computer and information science, assumed his new position on 1 July 2006.
He also will continue to head the Informatics Research Institute.
Palakal replaces Douglas Perry, who becomes dean of the newly established College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University.
In his new duties as associate dean, Palakal will oversee the informatics graduate programmes and research activities at the school's IUPUI campus.
Among those programmes are bioinformatics, chemical informatics, laboratory informatics, human-computer interaction design, media arts and science, and the recently launched doctoral degree programme in informatics.
"Students and faculty will benefit greatly from Dr Palakal's talents, insights and energy as he assumes his new role," said Darrell Bailey, executive associate dean.
"At the same time, we will miss Doug Perry and the vision he has provided to develop and build our graduate programmes.
"Both of these men's contributions to the school have been far-reaching".
Palakal has been a key player in Project Clioh (cultural digital library indexing our heritage), a collaboration between the IUPUI School of Informatics, IU Library system, the Mathers Museum in Bloomington, and the Indiana State Museum.
Clioh develops technologies to collect, archive and disseminate library and museum-compliant information for the world's endangered cultural treasures.
His work also has benefited the local cultural scene.
Palakal was instrumental in the development of ArtXplore, the personal digital assistance/wireless technology created by the IRI for the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
His other research interests include intelligent information management systems and bioinformatics.
He is widely published in professional and trade journals.
Palakal, the former chair of the Department of Computer and Information Science in the School of Science at IUPUI, has received several teaching awards and honours since his initial academic appointment in 1988 as an assistant professor.
The new associate dean earned his doctorate in computer science at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, in 1987.
He also received his master's and bachelor's degrees in computer science from the same institution.
Informatics is an evolving field that explains the impact of information technology and develops new uses for it in areas such as health, science, the arts, education, business and industry.
The IU School of Informatics was established in 2000 - the first of its kind in the USA - and has nearly 1500 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in programmes at campuses in Bloomington, Indianapolis, South Bend, and New Albany.
