Rate My Professor Gagan Agrawal

Gagan Agrawal serves as the inaugural Director of the School of Computing and UGA Foundation Professor of Computer Science at the University of Georgia, a position he assumed in July 2023. He holds a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (1991), an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park (1994), and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park (1996). His academic career includes serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Delaware (1996–2001), and at The Ohio State University (2001–2019), where he progressed from Associate Professor to Professor, and held roles as Graduate Director and Interim Department Chair. Most recently, prior to UGA, he was Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at Augusta University's School of Computer and Cyber Sciences, where he directed PhD and MS programs, led the High Performance Computing core, co-chaired the Research Technology Advisory Committee, and expanded the research funding from under $100,000 to over $10 million in three years.

Agrawal's research specializes in high performance computing, cloud and grid systems, scientific data management, data mining, social media analytics, cybersecurity, and applications of machine learning and data science. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, garnering more than 9,000 citations, and has mentored 35 PhD students to completion. As PI or co-PI, he has obtained 27 National Science Foundation grants totaling nearly $22 million ($11 million as PI), in addition to funding from the Department of Energy and National Security Agency. His accolades include the NSF CAREER Award and leading one of the inaugural NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Engine Development Awards. Agrawal has contributed to the field through service on editorial boards of four journals and as program committee co-chair, area chair, or member for numerous conferences.