Name: Dharma Agrawal
Title: Professor
Company: University of Cincinnati, ECECS Department
Contact Info:
http://www.ececs.uc.edu/~dpa
How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): I have been fascinated with research from my early childhood. I enjoy teaching and have been in this profession ever since, initially in India, and then in USA after completing my D.Sc in Lausanne, Switzerland.
How I organize my day: If I have a class and I have not completely prepared that on previous night, I do spend time organizing that before leaving home. Once I am in the office, life is hectic. Once I am in the office, I check if there are any priorities or deadlines, take care of that. At the same time, look at the e-mails and respond to urgent ones. Other message are handled as per my priority. I chat with my students and see what they are doing in the lab. See, if they need any help or if they have any questions. Look at the regular mail, talk to colleagues and keep working till I am tired.
Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): In the office, I am in by 9:30 and stay till 8 pm. Then I go home and spend about 2 hours in the night and 2 hours in the morning, primarily doing office work.
What I do to get myself thinking creatively: I listen to music, watch TV, try to sleep over issues. and revisit later.
My problem-solving strategy: I scan all periodicals I receive, talk to my students and have discussions. Many times, I ask them a lot of questions.
What I do to relieve stress: I go out and walk, listen to music.
My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: My dad, he encouraged me to do the best and I believe, he is behind my success.
What I do to mentor those who work for me: I talk to them, look at global issues (graduate students), encourage them to do the best they can.
How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: The sudden death of my Dad. There was a period of uncertaintity. That is the time I went for higher education.
One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: I could be efficient in programming as I am efficient in new concepts.
What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: Being frank, honest, sincere, committed, willing to help others.
What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: A number of people are counting on my leadership role and I do want to justify my presence.
Biography: IEEE Fellow, 1987; ACM Fellow, 1998
Dr. Agrawal received the B.E. in Electrical Engineering from the Ravishanker University, Raipur, India, in 1966, the M.E. (Honors) degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from the University of Roorkee, Roorkee, India, in 1968, and the D.Sc. Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1975.
Dr. Agrawal joined the faculty of the Wayne State University, Detroit, in 1977 and moved to the N.C. State University, Raleigh, NC in 1982. Currently, he is the Ohio Board of Regents Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of Cincinnati, OH. He has been a consultant to the General Dynamics Land Systems Division, the Battelle, Inc., and the U.S. Army. He has held visiting appointment at the AIRMICS, Atlanta, and the AT&T Advanced Communications Laboratory, Whippany, NJ. He has published a number of papers in the areas of Parallel System Architecture, Multicomputer Networks, Routing Techniques, Parallelism Detection and Scheduling Techniques, Reliability of Real-Time Distributed Systems, Modeling of C-MOS Circuits, and Computer Arithmetic. The recent sabbatical leave at AT&T Advanced Communications Laboratory in Whippany, NJ led to several patent filings in the area of cellular networks and he has recently been concentrating in the area of mobile networks.
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Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/dharma_agrawal.html