Kafatos Selected to Head School of Computational Sciences
By Robin Herron
ÝÝWhen Menas Kafatos takes the reins as dean of the School of Computational
Sciences (SCS) in July, he'll already have in place his leadership team and a
clear plan of direction for the next two years.
Kafatos, currently associate dean of SCS, emphasizes that two years is not
long enough to make major changes, but he hopes to lay the groundwork for the
school's continued growth. At the same time, he says he doesn't want to change
"the things that are good - our strong reputation and an international presence
in several areas."
Director of George Mason's highly successful Center for Earth Observing and
Space Research (CEOSR), Kafatos has been with George Mason since 1975. He is University
Professor of Interdisciplinary Science and a member of the Physics Department.
He was founding director of the Institute of Computational Sciences and Informatics,
which joined the Institute of Biosciences, Bioinformatics, and Biotechnology to
become SCS in 2000.
In announcing Kafatos's appointment, Provost Peter Stearns said, "Menas will
bring great strength to this position. I am confident he will be able to further
the cohesion of the school, its expansion into selective new research areas, and
the integration of the new teaching programs currently under way."
At the end of Kafatos's term, Stearns expects to collaborate with the SCS
faculty in conducting a national search for a dean. Stearns says the two years
will give the faculty time to resolve issues regarding the school's development.
Kafatos lists Earth systems science and Earth observing; climate dynamics;
materials science; astrophysics and space sciences; and bioinformatics and computational
biology as the five main science areas of concentration of the school, with important
work also being done in data mining and data sciences; computational fluid dynamics;
and computational statistics. Future possible areas of expansion will include
computational social sciences, and quantum computing. Kafatos sees his role as
"enabling those areas and having them grow and flourish more than they are."
SCS's small size - about 25 full-time equivalent faculty members - is both a strength
and a weakness, Kafatos says. "Our strength has been in extending a hand to the
other schools in areas such as physics, math, statistics, and geography. Would
we like more faculty? Yes, absolutely. We have a small faculty even by large department
standards."
With more budget cuts likely, Kafatos admits that trying to "grow" the areas
will be a challenge. He is concerned that limited resources will make the school
less competitive and notes that its computers are outdated. SCS currently is 75
percent funded by grants, and Kafatos sees the need for budget commitments for
faculty and infrastructure. "This is the challenge at the university level," he
says. "I hope to use the school and the dean's position to make those points."
One avenue he hopes to take to increase funding is to initiate fund-raising efforts
with the help of the SCS advisory board, whose members come from private industry
and government.
On the positive side, Kafatos points out that the school is currently negotiating
to bring a new research group to George Mason, the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere
Studies, and he expects SCS will have a growing relationship with the new Center
for Biodefense.
While he plans to remain director of CEOSR while serving as dean, Kafatos
has already delegated responsibilities to others in preparation for his new role.
He also plans to delegate some of the school's leadership to assistant deans,
who will serve in internal administrative roles and external roles as advocates
for SCS. He has asked Peter Becker to continue as assistant dean for graduate
studies, James Gentle to become assistant dean for faculty, and Paul Schopf to
be assistant dean for research. He also plans to name an assistant dean for administration
at the school, and he will fulfill the functions of an assistant dean for bioinformatics
at the Prince William Campus until he appoints someone to that position.
Kafatos expects each area to develop, with the help of the assistant deans,
a vision in the form of a five-year plan. "We'll present it to the provost and
President Merten and see what happens," he says.
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