Xiong to lead Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science

Jinjun Xiong, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has been named director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (IAD).

Xiong assumed the role Oct. 1. He succeeds SUNY Empire Innovation Professor David Doermann, who was appointed interim chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

“Innovation in artificial intelligence and data science has significant potential to unlock solutions that address some of society’s biggest challenges,” says Xiong. “I am honored to lead the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in continuing its mission of conducting important multidisciplinary research and educational programs. We remain dedicated to our objective of being at the forefront of innovation in AI and data science.”

IAD was established in 2021, combining UB’s Artificial Intelligence Institute and the Institute for Computational Data Science. IAD has helped position UB at the forefront of AI and data science by bringing together faculty and labs from across the university, as well as existing centers of excellence, to promote multidisciplinary research and curriculum development. As a result, UB has been further recognized as an international leader in AI research and in creating, curating and disseminating data and computing-related knowledge and skills.

Xiong also serves as scientific director and co-director of the $20 million National AI Institute for Exceptional Education at UB.

Before joining UB in 2021, he was a senior researcher and program director for AI and hybrid clouds systems at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

Xiong’s research interests are in across-stack AI systems research, which includes AI applications, algorithms, tooling and computer architectures. Much of his work has been adopted in IBM’s products and tools. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed papers in top AI and systems conferences. His publications have won eight best paper awards and eight nominations for best paper awards. He also won top awards in numerous international competitions, including the championship award in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Graph Challenge on accelerating sparse neural networks in 2020.

“We are thankful for David Doermann’s service and leadership as IAD’s inaugural director,” says Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development. “He brought together faculty and labs from across the university, as well as existing centers of excellence, to promote groundbreaking multidisciplinary research and curriculum development. He has established IAD as a pillar of UB’s pursuit of Top 25 status among the nation’s research-intensive universities.”