Papka named deputy associate director for Computing and Life Sciences at Argonne

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ARGONNE, Ill. (Feb. 22, 2007) — Michael E. Papka has been named deputy associate director for Computing and Life Sciences at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

Papka joined Argonne in 1992. He was named research manager of the Futures Laboratory in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division in 2001 and was promoted to co-director in 2005.   He has led the visualization effort at the University of Chicago's Flash Center since 2000. He is the co-principal investigator and visualization architect for the National Science Foundation's TeraGrid resource at the University of Chicago and a senior fellow of the Argonne/University of Chicago Computation Institute. 

“Mike has played a key role in our work in high-performance computing and advanced scientific visualization,” said Rick Stevens, associate laboratory director of Computing and Life Sciences. “His expertise and innovative thinking will help Argonne advance the frontiers of science by responding to new opportunities at the intersection of computing and biology.”

“Advanced computing touches almost every area of science today,' Papka said, "and its continued integration will strongly influence science of the future, especially in the intersection of biology and computing. I welcome the challenge of helping to expand Argonne 's efforts in these exciting areas.”

Papka is the coauthor of numerous research articles on visualization, collaboration technology and scientific computing. He has been actively involved in the integration of collaboration technology and science, co-founding the yearly Workshop on Advanced Collaborative Environments in 2001 and helping establish the Access Grid project.

Papka received a B.S. in physics from Northern Illinois University in 1990, an M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1994, and an M.S. in computer science from the University of Chicago in 2002.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Eleanor Taylor (630/252-5510 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.