Arvind Gupta (computer scientist)
Indo-Canadian computer scientist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arvind Gupta (born c. 1961) is an Indo-Canadian computer scientist who was the 13th President of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the former CEO of Mitacs Canada.
Arvind Gupta | |
|---|---|
| 13th President of the University of British Columbia | |
| In office 2014–2015 | |
| Preceded by | Stephen Toope |
| Succeeded by | Martha Piper (interim) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1961 Jalandhar, Punjab, India |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Spouse | Michelle Pereira |
| Children | 3 daughters: Leandra Gupta |
| Occupation | Administrator |
| Profession | Academic, Mathematics, Computer Scientist |
Arvind Gupta | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | McMaster University, University of Toronto |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Constructivity Issues in Tree Minors [1] (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | Stephen Cook, Alasdair Urquhart |
Early life and education
Gupta was born in Jalandhar in the Indian state of Punjab.[2] Both his parents were academics. His mother was one of the first women to teach mathematics at a college in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.[3]
Gupta lived in India and spoke Punjabi for his first five years until his family moved to Detroit where his father, a chemistry professor, had started a fellowship at Wayne State University. He then learned to speak English. Within two years, they moved to Timmins, Ontario after his father earned a job as a pollution chemist with a mining company.
He obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario before earning a master's and a PhD at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Stephen Cook and Alasdair Urquhart.[1] His family knew some of the victims killed in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182.[3]
Academia
Gupta spent 18 years in the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University before being recruited by UBC in 2009 as a professor of computer science. In 2012, he joined the federal government's Science, Technology and Innovation Council.[4]
From 2000 until his appointment as President of UBC in 2014, Gupta served as CEO and scientific director of Mitacs Canada, a national non-profit that worked with government and industry to fund student researchers.
In his inauguration, Gupta committed to increasing UBC's focus on research.[5] Gupta resigned abruptly from his position as President of UBC on August 7, 2015, after 13 months of service. The reasons for his resignation were not revealed[6] and caused some public controversies.[7]
In October 2015, the University of Toronto announced Gupta's joining them as a distinguished visiting professor for one academic year.[8]
References
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