Amir Asif has been appointed Chair of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in the Faculty of Science & Engineering for a five-year term beginning July 1.
Left: Amir Asif
"I think we are fortunate to have a colleague of Amir’s calibre serving in this role," said Faculty of Science & Engineering Dean Nick Cercone in announcing the appointment.
Asif received his masters of science in 1993 and a PhD in 1996, both in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. His general research areas include statistical signal processing and communications.
Prior to his appointment as Chair, Asif was the director of the Computer Engineering Program at York. He joined York University in 2002 as a professor of computer science with earlier tenures at the Technical University of British Columbia and Siemens Engineering Company. Asif has served on a number of committees including the tenure and promotion track committee, the computer engineering planning committee and the graduate executive committee. He is also involved in the department’s undergraduate and graduate programs in computer science and computer engineering.
He is the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the Faculty of Science & Engineering in 2004 and the Mildred Baptist Teaching Excellence Award from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in 2003 and 2007.
Asif will take over from Peter Cribb, whose term as Chair ends on June 30. "I would also like to take this opportunity to publically thank Peter Cribb for his tremendous efforts on behalf of CSE and FSE over two terms as Chair," said Cercone. "The past five years have been challenging to computer science and engineering all over North America, York included. Peter has managed CSE with dignity and quality. I think the CSE program at York, while not the largest in Canada, can hold its collective head high for maintaining a high degree of quality over a difficult period. Peter deserves much credit for his easy going, yet firm, hand in putting forward the case for CSE."