Xu named chair of Computer Science and Engineering

by Jane Stoyle Welch

Xu takes the helm from Chunming Qiao, SUNY Distinguished Professor, who has led the department since 2015.

“I am honored to be appointed chair of CSE and build on Chunming Qiao’s successes in leading the department for the past six years,” says Xu. “As chair, I will continue to work towards raising the national and international profile of CSE to help realize UB’s vision to become a top 25 public research university, and to create a more friendly and inclusive environment for our students, faculty and staff, so that everyone will have the best opportunity to advance their study and career.”

“Jinhui brings outstanding leadership experience and dedication to excellence to the role of chair. I am confident that the department will continue to excel in the years ahead under his leadership,” says Kemper Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

“I am also grateful to Chunming Qiao, for all his efforts to deepen the foundation of sustained excellence in CSE. He has been a passionate and dedicated leader, who has positioned the department for increased and long-term success by improving its rankings, increasing research and scholarly activities, expanding educational offerings and accelerating corporate and alumni partnerships,” added Lewis.

Prior to his appointment as chair, Xu served as an associate department chair, where he was part of the department’s leadership team.

A world-renowned researcher in the development of geometric algorithms, machine learning methods, and differential privacy techniques in the areas of medicine, biology, and networking, Xu joined the University at Buffalo after receiving his PhD from the University of Notre Dame in 2000.

Xu's research has been supported by National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Health, NYSTAR, IBM and the University at Buffalo. He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER Award as well as an IBM Faculty Partnership Award.

He has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2017), UB Exceptional Scholar: Sustained Achievement Award (2015) and SEAS Senior Researcher of the Year Award (2015).

An outstanding educator, Xu has graduated over 18 PhD students and four more are working towards their degrees. He has also recently been recognized for his mentoring success with the 2021 UB Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award.  Some of his former PhD students have continued on in academia, becoming tenure-track faculty at institutions such as University of Wisconsin-Madison, UPenn, and Michigan State University, while others have launched successful careers in industry at companies including Google, Microsoft and Bloomberg.