About Me#
Welcome#
Hi! I’m George K. Thiruvathukal. You can just call me George, as most people cannot pronounce Thiruvathukal on the first try. If you practice the English words theoretical and topological, you can learn my name easily.
If you prefer to be formal, you may call me Professor or Doctor, though titles are not particularly important to me. Just saying George will suffice.
A few lighthearted guidelines:
If you use Doctor, please understand that I do not write prescriptions.
If you use Mister, especially Mister T., please know there is only one legit Mr. T. And when I last checked, I do not have his hairstyle. But it’s close!
If you want an additional challenge, you might look to the capital city of Kerala—Thiruvananthapuram—where my father was born.
Ok, and now for the more serious bio…#
I am a full professor of computer science and chairperson of the same at Loyola University Chicago, as well as a visiting computer scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in the Leadership Computing Facility.
I hold Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science and Physics from Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, where I also minored—and nearly majored—in Mathematics.
My PhD in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology was completed under the supervision of Thomas W. Christopher, an influential and creative force in my academic life who helped me realize that computer science was only one facet of my broader intellectual identity.
My doctoral work involved creating messaging middleware to support parallel and distributed computation on computing clusters and networks of workstations (primarily in C/C++ and Java). My postdoctoral work continued this trajectory, focusing on Message Passing Interface for Globus and grid computing under the supervision of Ian T. Foster at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago.
My research and teaching interests include high-performance computing and distributed systems, programming languages, software engineering, and machine learning. I am also committed to interdisciplinary computing, with work spanning computational science, data science, and the digital humanities and arts/music.
My recent work focuses on energy-efficient computer vision and empirical software engineering. My research has been funded by government agencies such as NSF, DARPA, NSA, and NEH, and I have received research and education–related gifts from industry leaders including Intel, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
My academic 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. This experience helped develop the leadership and organizational skills required of a department chairperson—skills I am grateful to have. Otherwise, I suspect I would have to be hospitalized.
At Loyola, I have served as Undergraduate Program Director (2004) and Graduate Program Director (2004–2006). Beyond my university service, I was Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering (2013–2016), Associate EIC of IEEE Computer (2016–2019), and Chair of the Magazine Operations Committee (2017–2018) after my EIC term. I also served on the IEEE Computer Society Publications Board, overseeing its transactions and magazines.
Currently, I am a member of the IEEE Computer Advisory Board and an editor for the Journal of Open Source Software (Data Science and Artificial Intelligence track).
Beyond the roles of department chair and professor, I returned to school in January 2023 to study jazz piano performance with Lara Driscoll—my first actual piano teacher. I have also been fortunate to learn from other brilliant mentors, including Jack Cassidy, Victor Garcia, Chris Madsen, and Michael Nearpass. I’m not sure my chairperson life will allow me to complete a degree in music and jazz performance, but I am profoundly grateful to this group of musicians for bringing out the best in me and helping me grow as an improviser and composer. Wish me luck.
Concise Bio#
George K. Thiruvathukal is a full professor and chair 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, machine learning, and computer vision. His interdisciplinary interests include digital humanities and music, the history of computing, computer ethics, and computing in society. Thiruvathukal received his bachelor’s degrees in computer science and physics from Lewis University and a PhD in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology.