Dr. Ovidiu Daescu

The chair was established anonymously to support the research and scholarly activities of a faculty member in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and is designated for the head of the computer science department. Daescu has held this chair since 2022.


“My academic home for more than two decades, UT Dallas has enabled my research in developing efficient solutions for hard-to-solve real-world problems and enhanced my overall career path. As department head now, I am looking forward to the multidimensional growth of the department and helping the research leaders of tomorrow.”

Dr. Ovidiu Daescu, an internationally recognized expert in algorithm design and optimization, computational geometry, and biomedical computing, leads one of the nation’s largest university-housed computer science departments.

Daescu has developed some best-to-date, and often optimal, solutions for a number of well-known problems in facility location, proximity queries and automated decision support for digital histopathology. His algorithms, for example, could be used to assess tumors and predict treatment outcomes for children with bone and soft tissue cancer.

Since joining The University of Texas at Dallas’ Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science as a faculty member in 2000, Daescu has served as associate department head, director of undergraduate education and computer science faculty lead on the joint computer science/mathematical sciences bachelor’s degree in data science. Under his leadership as director of undergraduate education, the computer science department expanded to more than 4,000 undergraduate students, and received regional and national recognition for excellence.

In 2022 Daescu was named department head; he oversees a computer science program that awarded the fourth-highest number of bachelor’s degrees in the nation in 2021, according to the American Society for Engineering Education.

In addition to his leadership in building the computer science department, Daescu has been instrumental in the expansion of  bioinformatics, bioengineering and data science at the University. Daescu also served as the UTD site director for the iPerform Center for Assistive Technologies to Enhance Human Performance, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center.

Daescu is an author of more than 200 publications. He has graduated 12 PhD students and advised master’s and undergraduate students. His research has been supported by the NSF, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Children’s Health and industry partners.

Daescu earned an undergraduate degree in computer science and automation from the Technical Military Academy of Bucharest, and a master’s degree and PhD in computer science and engineering from the University of Notre Dame.