Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Chair Professor Georgios Theodoropoulos has been elected Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS).

Professor Theodoropoulos joined Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in 2017 from Durham University. He was the inaugural Executive Director of the Institute of Advanced Research Computing (iARC).

His work spans more than 25 years in both academia and industry. He has been a senior scientist with IBM Research. He has held senior faculty positions in world-class universities, including the University of Birmingham, Trinity College Dublin, and Nanyang Technological University.

His interests and contributions are in modeling and distributed simulation, complexity and multi-agent systems, info-symbiotic systems, high-performance computer architectures, and data-intensive systems. His current efforts focus on large scale data-driven simulation infrastructures for prescriptive system-of-systems analytics, targeting global challenges as defined by the UN SDGs.

WAAS was founded in 1960 on the initiative of Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer. Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, Joseph Needham (founder of UNESCO), and Brock Chisholm (inaugural Director-General of WHO) are amongst its prominent charter members. Today the Academy is composed of about 700 Fellows from 80 countries, including scientists, leading artists, politicians, statesmen, heads of research institutes and international organizations, Nobel Prize winners, and business leaders. WAAS is a member of the Interacademy Partnership, the global network of science, engineering & medical academies.

An election into WAAS is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded to a scientist. Election of a Fellow is based on distinction and leadership in their profession, interdisciplinary accomplishments, a record of public service, and a global perspective. To be a Fellow of the Academy is to be a member of the global civil society, concerned for the welfare of the increasingly interconnected global civilization with a demonstrated commitment to addressing issues of global importance.