August 8, 2019
Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community:
It is with great pleasure that I am announcing that Martial Hebert, a highly acclaimed researcher in computer vision, robotics and artificial intelligence, longtime Carnegie Mellon University faculty member and director of our Robotics Institute since 2014, will be the new dean of CMU's world-renowned School of Computer Science.
After a thorough and diverse international search, we realized that Martial, who is one of the leading roboticists in the world, is without a doubt the ideal person for the job. In his 35 years at CMU, he has led major research programs in autonomous systems for ground and air vehicles, making vital contributions in the areas of perception for the environment, human interaction and introspection.
Martial's research focuses on computer vision, and he created the nation's first master's degree in that field. He has led pioneering research on fundamental components, such as scene understanding, object recognition and applying machine learning to computer vision. Martial also has conducted research on applications that allow older adults and people with disabilities to live more independently.
Martial's leadership ability is unquestioned. As director of the highly successful Robotics Institute — the largest robotics education and research operation on the planet — he has led more than 800 faculty members, students and staff. The institute and its National Robotics Engineering Center have spun off dozens of startups, and its work has attracted an increasing number of companies, such as Google, Facebook, Argo AI, Uber and Caterpillar, to establish Pittsburgh offices.
I want to thank the 20-member search committee, co-chaired by Lorrie Cranor and Roni Rosenfeld, for their dedication and diligence in recruiting a diverse pool of candidates and in recommending Martial for this important role. I also want to express my sincere thanks to Tom Mitchell, who has done an excellent job serving as interim dean since last October. Tom plans to return to teaching and his groundbreaking research in machine learning.
Martial will assume his new post on August 15, and will continue to direct the Robotics Institute until an interim successor is named. I know Martial is excited to engage with all of the intellectual power, innovative ideas and real-world impact that live in the School of Computer Science.
You can learn more about Martial by reading the announcement on the Carnegie Mellon website. Please join me in congratulating Martial on his new position.
Regards,
James H. Garrett, Jr.
Provost
Thomas Lord Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering