Dr. Peter A. Freeman

Biography

Peter A. Freeman advises on university and R&D strategy and management, especially in information technology, cyber- infrastructure, research networks, and software development.

Previously, Dr. Freeman was Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), leading the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), served as the Founding Dean of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology (where he is a Professor Emeritus), and held positions at George Mason University, NSF, and the University of California, Irvine. He has authored, co-authored, and edited seven books and numerous technical papers in computer science, and consulted and lectured internationally for a variety of corporations, governments, and universities.

As an Assistant Director of NSF Dr. Freeman was part of the senior management team that helped formulate national science policy and that operated the agency. He was responsible for a number of activities that have major impact on computing, including: the Information Technology Research Program, elevation of cyber-infrastructure to a major activity across NSF, initiating the GENI Internet Research project, coordinating homeland security research across NSF and starting several key new programs. As a division director at NSF in the 1980’s he was part of the team that drafted the Government’s influential High-Performance Computing Initiative.

Under Dr. Freeman’s leadership, the College of Computing became one of the strongest and largest computing research and education groups in the country. He spearheaded the creation of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center, served concurrently for three years as the university's Chief Information Officer, and was a key part of the team that prepared the campus to host the 1996 Olympics.

Dr. Freeman received his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University, an M.A. in mathematics and psychology from University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in physics and mathematics from Rice University. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and the AAAS.