Palakal Tapped to Lead Informatics Grad, Research Programs at IUPUI

Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Mathew J. Palakal

INDIANAPOLIS – Mathew J. Palakal has been appointed associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research at the Indiana University School of Informatics at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Palakal, a professor of informatics and of computer and information science, assumed his new position July 1. He also will continue to head the Informatics Research Institute. Palakal replaces Douglas G. Perry, who becomes dean of the newly established College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Ky.

In his new duties as associate dean, Palakal will oversee the informatics graduate programs and research activities. Among those programs are bioinformatics, chemical informatics, laboratory informatics, human-computer interaction design, media arts and science, and the recently launched doctoral degree program in informatics.

“Students and faculty will benefit greatly from Dr. Palakal’s talents, insights and energy as he assumes his new role,” said Darrell L. 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 programs. 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 honors 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.