College of IST names first associate dean for undergraduate studies

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) has appointed Sharon Huang as its first associate dean for undergraduate studies, effective July 1. Huang joined the college as a tenured associate professor in July 2018 and was promoted to full professor in 2022.

“We are fortunate to have a dedicated researcher and educator at the helm of our undergraduate programs,” said Andrew Sears, dean of the College of IST. “Dr. Huang brings valuable experience and insights to this new position, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we enrich and expand our undergraduate offerings under her leadership.”

In this role, Huang will provide guidance and support to undergraduate students, address student concerns and facilitate collaboration with various partners to foster relationships between the college and relevant stakeholders. She will work with faculty and staff to enhance the undergraduate programs and courses and conduct assessments to ensure their quality and effectiveness. She also aims to contribute to the development of new programs that align with national strategic plans and cater to the evolving needs of the information technology workforce.

“I am proud to be a part of the College of IST and honored to be given the opportunity to lead and shape the undergraduate education within it,” Huang said. “IST is an inclusive and diverse community engaged in innovative interdisciplinary education, research and service at the forefront of information technology. With a student-centered, action-oriented and entrepreneurial approach, the college fosters an environment where faculty and staff are dedicated to our educational mission and committed to ensuring the best student experience, continued student success and academic program excellence.”

Huang earned her bachelor of engineering degree in computer science from Tsinghua University in China and her master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from Rutgers University. She is a member of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State. Her research interests include biomedical image analysis, computer vision and machine learning. Her broader interests include artificial intelligence and data science for healthcare and biomedicine, biomedical informatics, computer graphics, visualization and human-computer interaction.

Huang has served as area chair or program chair of several international conferences or workshops in medical image computing, computer vision and artificial intelligence. She is an associate editor for Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, Medical Image Analysis, Computer Vision and Image Understanding and other scientific journals.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve as the associate dean for undergraduate studies in IST,” she said. “And I am excited about the journey ahead as we propel our undergraduate programs to greater heights of excellence and impact.”

The College of IST currently offers six undergraduate programs: data sciences, cybersecurity analytics and operations, security and risk analysis, information sciences and technology, enterprise technology integration and human-centered design and development. The new leadership position replaces the director of undergraduate programs role, which was held by Nick Giacobe, associate teaching professor of IST, since December 2017.

“IST’s undergraduate programs and enrollments were beginning to experience significant growth when I was selected for the director role,” Giacobe said. “We established program coordinator roles for each of the undergraduate majors to support the faculty with recruiting, advising and policy guidance.”

During Giacobe’s tenure as director, two majors — human-centered design and development and enterprise technology integration — were added to the undergraduate degree offerings. Giacobe was instrumental in the establishment of IUG programs between each of the undergraduate majors and the master’s degree programs in cybersecurity and informatics. He said he now looks forward to consolidating his energy and efforts into cyber education.

“We are grateful to Nick for his contributions as the director of undergraduate programs,” Sears said. “I am confident that Sharon will build on our recent progress through a collaborative approach that inspires impact across our institution.”