Dan Atkins, founding director of Advanced Research Computing at the University of Michigan (ARC), W.K. Kellogg Professor in Community Information, School of Information, and professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He was honored by the NAE for “leadership in development of radix algorithms and cybertechnical collaborative systems.” NAE’s citation of Atkin’s development of radix algorithms refers to his contributions, dating back to the 1960s, to creation of high-speed arithmetic algorithms that are now widely used in modern computing. Atkins also has been a leader in development of IT-enabled scientific “collaboratories,” in which researchers can interact with colleagues, access instrumentation, share data and computational resources, and access information and data in digital libraries and repositories, all without regard to physical location. Atkins founded the U-M Office of Research Cyberinfrastructure (ORCI) in 2008, when he was serving as U-M’s first Associate Vice President for Research Cyberinfrastructure. ORCI was renamed to ARC in 2013. From 2006 to 2008, Atkins served as the first director of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure. In 2003, he was chair of an NSF blue-ribbon committee that issued a report titled “Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure.” Know as the Atkins Report, it recommended a major advanced cyberinfrastructure program with the goal to revolutionize science and engineering research and education. Atkins also was the first dean of the School of Information in 1992. And in 1982, he served as interim dean of the College of Engineering. Atkins joins 66 other new NAE members elected this year. Total worldwide membership is approximately 2,500. See https://www.si.umich.edu/news/
