H.V. Jagadish named Edgar F. Codd Distinguished University Professor of EECS

Bernard A. Galler Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) HV Jagadish has been recognized with a Distinguished University Professorship for his contributions to the field of data science.

Jagadish is a computer scientist who has made important contributions in the development of database systems. He is one of the nation’s most visible and influential researchers in the interdisciplinary field of data science, which uses complex machine-learning algorithms and other methods to derive meaningful information from vast volumes of structured and unstructured data. In addition, he has developed novel structures and algorithms to handle new types of data.

No stranger to U-M honors, Jagadish in 2019 received the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to scholarly research and education. Additionally, he was awarded the David E. Liddle Award for Research Excellence in 2008 and the Herbert Kopt Award for Service Excellence in 2011. 

At Michigan, Jagadish was one of the initiators in creating a data science entity on the U-M campus. With support from all academic units and the Institute for Social Research, the Office of the Provost, and Office of the Vice President for Research, the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) was established in 2015 as part of the university-wide Data Science Initiative to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in data science and artificial intelligence. Jagadish is currently Director of MIDAS.

The institute emphasizes the importance of collaboration over 420 affiliate faculty members from schools and colleges on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses of U-M. From its work with identifying themes of gender and race representation in art at the UMMA to its contribution documenting the after-effects of COVID-19 on the human body, MIDAS displays the impact of data management across subjects and industries. 

Established by the Board of Regents in 1947, the Distinguished University Professorship is the most prestigious honor for senior faculty members at the University of Michigan and recognizes professors with “exceptional scholarly or creative achievements, national and international reputations for academic excellence and superior records of teaching, mentoring and service.”

Each recipient determines the title of their professorship in honor of an influential figure in their field. Jagadish selected Edgar F. Codd, who obtained his PhD from U-M, due to the latter’s groundbreaking contributions to the field of database management systems. Codd’s most widely recognized achievement, the relational model of data, laid the foundations for the field of database management and much of Jagadish’s work. 

Jagadish earned his PhD in 1985 from Stanford University and began his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories before moving into academia at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign then the University of Michigan in 1999. Now a member of the National Academies Panel on Data Governance, and previously a member of panels on Transparency and Reproducibility of Federal Statistics, Jagadish continues his work pursuing interdisciplinary collaborations in the fields of transportation, social work, materials science, finance, medicine, music, and manufacturing.

A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Association for Computing Machinery, Jagadish has been recognized with the ACM SIGMOD (Special Interest Group on Management Data) Contributions Award. He holds 38 patents.