About Me

About Me#

Welcome#

Hi! I’m George K. Thiruvathukal, though just George is fine—most people don’t get Thiruvathukal right on the first try. (Tip: it rhymes with theoretical and topological.) Professor or Doctor work too, though titles aren’t particularly important to me.

Concise Bio#

George K. Thiruvathukal is a full professor and chairperson of the Department of Computer Science at Loyola University Chicago. He is also a visiting computer scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in the Leadership Computing Facility. His research spans high-performance computing, distributed systems, software engineering, programming languages, machine learning, and computer vision. His interdisciplinary interests include digital humanities and music, history of computing, computer ethics, and computing in society. Thiruvathukal received his BS degrees in computer science and physics from Lewis University (with a Mathematics Minor, almost a major) and a PhD in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Apart from his academic roles, he held positions in industry as a software engineer/developer from 1990-1996 at Tellabs and R.R. Donnelley & Sons (Technical Center and Metromail) and was President and CEO of Nimkathana Corporation, funded by the Department of Defense/DARPA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering and Associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Computer magazine, and, beginning October 2026, co-editor (with James C. Davis of Purdue University) of the Practicing AI column in IEEE Computer. He has authored/co-authored over 200 works including journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, and technical reports. His books have been published by MIT Press, Prentice Hall, and Taylor and Francis (CRC Press).

TL;DR Bio and Commentary#

I’m a full professor and chairperson of computer science at Loyola University Chicago, and a visiting computer scientist at Argonne National Laboratory’s Leadership Computing Facility.

I hold BS degrees in Computer Science and Physics from Lewis University (Romeoville, IL), with a Mathematics minor I nearly turned into a third major.

My PhD in Computer Science is from the Illinois Institute of Technology, under Thomas W. Christopher, who helped me see computer science as just one facet of a broader intellectual identity.

My doctoral work built messaging middleware for parallel and distributed computing on clusters and workstation networks (C/C++, Java); my postdoc continued this into Message Passing Interface work for Globus and grid computing under Ian T. Foster at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago.

My research and teaching span high-performance computing, distributed systems, programming languages, software engineering, and machine learning, along with interdisciplinary work in computational science, data science, and the digital humanities and arts/music.

My recent work focuses on energy-efficient computer vision and empirical software engineering, funded by agencies including NSF, DARPA, NSA, and NEH, with research and education–related gifts from industry leaders such as Intel, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.

My career has been somewhat non-linear: from 1990–1997 I held full-time and consulting positions in industry, culminating as a senior member of technical staff serving as both a software engineer and development manager—experience that shaped the leadership and organizational skills a department chairperson needs. Otherwise, I suspect I’d have to be hospitalized.

At Loyola, I’ve served as Undergraduate Program Director (2004) and Graduate Program Director (2004–2006). I was also Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering (2013–2016), Associate EIC of IEEE Computer (2016–2019), and Chair of its Magazine Operations Committee (2017–2018), plus a term on the IEEE Computer Society Publications Board overseeing its transactions and magazines. Beginning October 2026, I co-edit the Practicing AI column in IEEE Computer with James C. Davis (Purdue University).

I currently serve on the IEEE Computer Advisory Board. For the Journal of Open Source Software (Data Science and Artificial Intelligence track), I’m a past Associate Editor-in-Chief and associate editor, concluding the latter role in August 2026.

Beyond department chair and professor duties, I returned to school in January 2023 to study jazz piano with Lara Driscoll—my first real piano teacher—and have learned from other brilliant mentors, including Jack Cassidy, Victor Garcia, Chris Madsen, and Michael Nearpass. A degree in music may not fit my chairperson life, but I’m profoundly grateful to this group for helping me grow as an improviser and composer. Wish me luck.

Books#

Contents