JaJa Retires Following Four Decades of Stellar Research and Service

A noted expert in high-performance computing, data science, and visualization has retired after four decades of research and service to the University of Maryland.

Joseph JaJa, a professor of electrical and computer engineering with an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), officially stepped down from his full-time role at UMD on July 1.

He plans to remain active, however, continuing his longstanding commitment to supporting key research endeavors, exploring potential collaborations, and supervising his current Ph.D. students—while potentially taking on new ones.

“My commitment to the university and to UMIACS remains strong,” JaJa says, adding that even with more free time and flexibility in his schedule, he plans to come to the Iribe Center several days a week to further advance the critical research partnerships he’s helped build over the years.

JaJa earned his doctorate in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 1977 and came to UMD in 1983 as an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

He was one of the founding members of UMIACS when it was launched in 1985, and became its second director in 1994, succeeding Larry Davis, now a professor emeritus of computer science. (JaJa is currently awaiting confirmation of his own emeritus status.)

JaJa understood early on that the institute’s success depended on cross-disciplinary research. He focused on collaborating with other campus units and researchers, involving them in significant, large-scale UMIACS projects.

This included working with faculty in geography on land use and land cover topics that required powerful remote sensing tools, enhancing the cutting-edge program in computational linguistics, furthering the institute’s groundbreaking work in human-computer interaction and computer vision, and establishing the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

“I aimed to organize UMIACS into a robust mix of large-scale labs and centers, as I found this to be the most effective way to carry out interdisciplinary research,” JaJa says. “This mission has always been important to me, and the institute has flourished as a result.”

He says the success of this approach is evidenced by the continued growth of UMIACS and the establishment of several recent cross-institutional efforts that include the Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society, Center for Medical Innovations in Extended Reality, and NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation.

During his time as UMIACS director, JaJa also recognized the importance of improving the institute’s computing infrastructure and expanding its faculty and support staff. He was able to secure additional resources from the campus to recruit more faculty and technical staff and worked with UMIACS faculty to win several infrastructure awards that resulted in a substantial enhancement of the overall computing infrastructure.

Under JaJa’s 10-year tenure as UMIACS director, the technical staff more than doubled in size, and an external review committee recently described their work as “very strong” while evaluating the institute’s mission and operations.

In parallel with his administrative responsibilities in UMIACS, JaJa pursued innovative research, focusing on new tools and protocols needed for the preservation of digital information as the technology evolved.

His work led to the development of ADAPT, which stands for An Approach to Digital Archiving and Preservation Technology. Funded by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), National Science Foundation and the Library of Congress in collaboration with the San Diego Supercomputing Center, ADAPT has become a vital tool for appraising and archiving vast amounts of born-digital data like electronic documents, emails and photographs.

Mike Smorul, who graduated from UMD with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2002 and subsequently became a lead programmer in UMIACS, worked with JaJa on the ADAPT project from 2003 to 2011.

Reflecting on this experience, as well as working at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis where JaJa was the director of cyberinfrastructure for several years, Smorul shared his appreciation for the positive and collaborative work environment that JaJa fostered.

“During my 10-plus years working with Joseph, I appreciated the challenges he brought to our team, and the respect and trust he showed for all of us,” says Smorul, now a senior program manager at General Dynamics Information Technology. “His leadership style was inclusive. In any project he was part of, he looked to elevate everyone and help us all succeed.”

After leaving his role as director of UMIACS in 2004, JaJa remained available to give counsel as needed to the directors that followed.

“Joseph has been an invaluable resource—he is particularly adept at helping us identify the infrastructure and personnel needed to establish and grow large cross-institutional initiatives in areas of emerging research,” says Mihai Pop, a professor of computer science who is the current director of UMIACS.

JaJa has held several additional leadership roles over his four decades at UMD, including serving as interim chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2018 to 2022.

One of his most challenging roles, he says, was when he was asked to serve as the university’s interim vice president and chief information officer (CIO). Over a one-year period, from 2010 to 2011, JaJa successfully reorganized and improved the morale and efficiency of the Office of Information Technology, which is now known as the Division of Information Technology.

“It was extremely challenging, because it was so different from what I was used to,” JaJa says. “It felt like moving from the heart of a city to a desert. But I’ve always felt that when a crucial responsibility arises, stepping up and leading—even in unfamiliar territory—is vital for the success of a project or organization.”

JaJa has also played a key role in fostering a lasting relationship between UMIACS and the Laboratory for Telecommunication Sciences, located adjacent to the UMD campus. The partnership, a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Defense and academia, spans a wide range of research areas and outreach activities, with current projects addressing machine learning, quantum networks, wireless technology, network security, and visualization.

Looking back at his various roles at UMD—while simultaneously observing the landscape ahead—JaJa firmly believes that interdisciplinary collaboration remains vital for the continued success of the University of Maryland and for UMIACS.

“It's taken a lot of work and effort, but given our advantageous location just outside of Washington, D.C., I’ve always believed in the importance of nurturing strong partnerships with other researchers, federal agencies and industrial labs, both in the region and beyond,” he says.

—Story by Melissa Brachfeld, UMIACS communications group