Chief Information Officer, Library & Technology Services (LTS), Wellesley College, Nov 2010-present
Associate Provost, Wellesley College, July 2016-present
Associate Dean for WellesleyX, Wellesley College, Jan 2013-June 2016

As the CIO, I manage a merged Library/IT organization. I also began managing the Registrar’s Office since May 2015. I help coordinate our collaboration with edX to help produce and distribute MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).

Since my arrival, we have reorganized into a highly efficient organization and some of the major accomplishments are listed below:

• Helped move the College to Zoom Phone in 2020.
• My team was instrumental in the COllege moving to Remote Learning environment and I am a member of the College’s operations team responsible for managing the COVID crisis. I am responsible for all technologies and communications related to testing and results logistics.
• Implement a 4-year transition plan from Banner to Workday. We have successfully completed the transition to HCM – Phase 1 and are in the process of implementing Finance – Phase 2 for production in summer 2017. We also completed Workday Student and went live in Feb 2019.
• Move to Google Apps for Education that began in August 2011 and completed in Nov 2011. All alumnae also have email accounts in Google Apps.
• Move to Drupal as the Content Management System in Feb 2012 leading to a more lively website that is refreshed often and used a lot. User satisfaction is highest in terms of being able to maintain the content.
• Adopted an Institutional Repository – http://repository.wellesley.edu during Feb 2011
• Authored a LAMP stack framework for application development that has resulted in over 80 applications which has vastly simplified business processes. Our web applications programmers have adopted this methodology and this has become the de facto process for developing most of what we do including being the interface to Workday, our ERP.
• Helped develop and implement a cloud strategy through which most of our core processes have been moved to the cloud – ERP, Email, Calendaring, LMS (happened prior to my arrival), Webserver, Telephone to name a few.
• Introduced serious fiscal controls to bring the Budget management to be in line with the strategic plan for LTS. Reallocated more funds to some of the perennially underfunded academic initiatives.
• Helped develop a short term strategic plan for LTS.

I coordinate all activities around Wellesley’s collaboration with edX. Since the fall of 2013, we have produced several MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and a SPOC (Small Private Online Course). We received a large Mellon grant to develop several blended courses at Wellesley and LTS will be involved in supporting these activities, which was a very successful endeavor.

Vice President for Information Technology Services and the Chief Information Officer (CIO), ITS, Pace University, August 2009 – November 2010

As the CIO, I was responsible for managing all computing support for a complex multi-campus institution comprising of six schools/colleges at Pace University. The geographical distribution of facilities between Westchester, White Plains and New York City is unique for a Higher Education environment and poses special challenges. My organization had 95 full time staff members and over 100 student and part time staff members and a budget of $12 million. Within a short period of time, I successfully transformed the IT organization at Pace to be a first class service organization with a serious engagement in the core academic mission of the institution.

• Helped implement several new initiatives (a link to this has been removed by Pace University)– Web 2.0 systems (blogs, and podcasts), Introduction of Apple hardware, New Web Content Management System (Drupal), Open Source E-portfolio (Mahara), Wireless in the Dorms, Electronic Classrooms (Crestron), State of the art Video Conferencing rooms (Tandberg) in three campuses, iStrategy Datawarehouse and Microsoft Business Intelligence, and Inigral Facebook Application for Community Building.
• Saved significant money annually by renegotiating Telephone, Cable TV and other ITS contracts.
• Co-recipient of two Verizon Foundation Thinkfinity grants – one on visualizing the network flow data and another for training students in hands on security assessment.
• Helped prepare a Disaster Recovery Plan, currently being reviewed by the Senior Administration.

Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services, ITS, Wesleyan University, June 2006 – August 2009

As the head of ITS, I was responsible for managing an organization with 60 staff members. I was involved in setting strategic goals for ITS in line with the institutional goals, ensuring the delivery of highest quality of service to the user community, help manage a complex budget and be involved in vendor negotiations.

• Helped implement several key systems – Web 2.0 systems (blogs, wikis, podcasts), Centralized Web based file storage (Xythos), and Microsoft Exchange.
• As the Chair of the Network Infrastructure Advisory Council of the State of Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology, I helped negotiate a safe harbor location for member institutions to be able to implement their IT business continuity plans.
• Helped choose and negotiate the implementation of PeopleSoft Financials at Wesleyan, a year long, multi-million dollar project.
• Helped secure a $200,000 NSF instrumentation grant for the creation of a High Performance Computing Cluster at Wesleyan as well as helped establish the Scientific Computing and Informatics Center (SCIC). Was a member of the Advisory Board of Quantitative Analysis Center (QAC) and advocated for its permanent funding.
• Helped create New Media Lab in ITS to oversee technology and design support for the new Integrated Communications initiative of President Michael S. Roth as well as  support a wide range of multimedia intensive academic computing initiatives (including continued support of the Learning Objects).
• Collaborated with the Library on many projects to support both existing initiatives such as Info Commons, EZproxy, Financial transaction integration with PeopleSoft, Eres, search for a new Web Content Management System as well as looked for new collaborative opportunities including digitization of music library holdings and special collections and archives.
• Collaborated with the library on an institutional repository project that resulted in WesScholar, a Wesleyan branded Digital Commons from bepress.

Director, Technology Support Services, ITS, Wesleyan University, Sep. 1995 – June 2006

As the Chief Technologist, I was responsible for overall management of technology infrastructure of the University including research & development and recommending future directions. I managed several groups at ITS: Systems and Operations, Telecommunications, Digitization, Network Infrastructure Management, Web Management, and Application Development. I also directed the Electronic Portfolio project. My group was also responsible for the maintenance of CTW (Conn College, Trinity and Wesleyan) library consortium systems. I also was responsible for the User services, Computer Store and Service Center, Helpdesk and Training during the first 5 years.

• Managed several major transitions – VAX/VMS to Unix; Solaris to Linux; PMDF to sendmail;
• Managed and co-authored several systems – WesMaps (online curriculum), Electronic Portfolio, RSS Channel Manager, Events Calendar, Online Course Registration, many applications that run under Electronic Portfolio.
• Managed major network infrastructure transitions – from hubs to 10 Mb switches to 100 Mb switches; implementation of Cable modems in 200 undergraduate houses; wireless; VLAN reorganization; connection to Connecticut Education Network and I2;
• Manage Telecommunication projects – witnessed the steep decline in landline take rates and telecom revenues and through aggressive vendor negotiations brought down costs; implemented cell coverage inside new buildings where there was no coverage due to the environment friendly windows;
• Managed TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) backup solution project – totally automated and hands free backup solution for not only servers but also for faculty and staff desktops;
• Managed the Active Directory project – transition to a single source for user information; Vintela Authentication services for single password;
• Planning Disaster Recovery – second backup tape silo in a different location on campus for servers; failover WWW server in Trinity College’s network; Satellite Data Center;

Manager of Scientific Computing, Wesleyan University, 1991-1995

In this role, I was responsible for supporting the scientific computing needs of the University. I was responsible for the design, implementation and support of over 30 Unix workstations and servers in the Chemistry, Astronomy, Mathematics and Computer Science departments. I helped Physics and E&ES departments design their Unix environments. The combined power and resources of the Unix infrastructure was more than the central computing resources. I managed the support structure through department-designated system managers. I also helped implement and support a computer science computing lab of 25 X-terminals served by a dual processor SPARCServer 1000. As the only ITS staff member knowledgeable in Unix, I provided the support for any Unix activity on campus.

Manager of Computer Graphics, Wesleyan University, 1986-1991

In this role, I helped develop CHEMNet, a local area network in the Chemistry department for performing resource intensive molecular modeling calculation and visualization. A state-of-the-art molecular modeling facility consisting of three MicroVaxen (One with an array processor for parallel computing), Evans and Sutherland PS330 graphics workstation, the first Cisco terminal server on campus and over 1 GB disk constituted the facility in 1987. I was a co-investigator in the original NSF proposal for internet access, which provided funding for Wesleyan to join the Internet. I helped establish the supercomputer access for research groups in the Chemistry department at Pittsburgh and San Diego supercomputing centers. I also was a part of the system management team at the Wesleyan Computing Center and authored several networking software.

Research/Teaching Experience

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Wesleyan University, 1991-2009

My area of expertise is in the molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) methodologies applied to large biomolecular systems such as DNA, protein and protein-DNA complexes. I collaborated with Professor David Beveridge’s group in the Chemistry Department. I rewrote WESDYN, a locally developed MD software to conform to modern programming practices. I also developed a parallelized Network Linda version of WESDYN in collaboration with Scientific Computing Associates in New Haven, CT. This software distributed the computing amongst several networked Unix workstations.

I am the author of MDToolchest Version 2.0, a software suite consisting of over 60 graphical analysis tools used to analyze gigabytes of data produced by typical MD or MC simulations. It is being used by over 100 research labs all over the world. I directed the development and am a co-author of a graphics package called WesGraph used for very large data visualization using graphical data structures usually not available in commonly used packages. WesGraph will be placed in the public domain in August 1996.

I taught a course on Molecular Modeling once every two years until 1994.

Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, Wesleyan University, 1988-1991

I participated in several collaborative research studies with Prof. David Beveridge’s group on the MD and MC on DNA. I was the author of MD Toolchest version 1.0, distributed to over 60 research groups.

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, Hunter College of City University of New York (CUNY), 1984-1986

I taught two undergraduate courses in computer science every semester. The courses I taught include Compilers, Data Structures and Computer Graphics.

Research Associate, Hunter College of CUNY, 1984-1986

I performed research in the area of MC and MD of DNA in Prof. David Beveridge’s group.

Education

Ph.D. in Chemistry, CUNY, 1978-1984. Thesis title: “Computer Simulation Studies of the Hydrophobic Effect”. Thesis advisor: Professor David L. Beveridge.

M.A. in Computer Science, Queens College of CUNY, 1982-1984. Thesis title: “Variance Reduction in Computer Networks”.

M.Sc. in Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 1976-1978. Thesis title: “Vibrational Spectrum of Biuret”. Thesis advisor: Professor Surjit Singh.

B.Sc. in Chemistry, SRKMV Arts College, Coimbatore, India, 1973-1976.

Professional Activities

Member, EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel, 2022-2023

The EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel includes individuals from EDUCAUSE member institutions to provide quick feedback to EDUCAUSE on current issues, problems, and proposals across higher education IT.

Member, EDUCAUSE Nominations and Leadership Development Committee, 2018-2021

Member, CHECS Advisory Board, 2013-2017

CHECS is the Center for Higher Education CIO Studies which conducts annual surveys of Higher Educaiton CIOs and recently Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and produces valuable reports for senior administration.

Member, NERCOMP Board of Trustees, 2011-2013

As a board member of  NERCOMP (Northeast Regional Computing Program), I was influential in developing data analysis to understand the trends in membership, institutional loyalty to SIGs and annual conferences.

Member, NERCOMP Program Committee, 2006-2013

NERCOMP  has over 240 member institutions and holds a three-day annual conference. The program committee members help set the theme for the conferences, help solicit presentations and review the presentations.

http://nercomp.org

Chair, Network Infrastructure and Services Advisory Council (Commission for Educational Technology, State of Connecticut), 2006-2009

The Advisory Council makes recommendations regarding Connecticut Education Network (CEN), the state funded high-speed network connecting all K-12 schools, libraries and the higher education institutions. The council helps develop policies, recommends upgrades and new services (such as content filtering for schools), and reviews budgets.

http://www.ct.gov/ctedtech/cwp/view.asp?a=2674&Q=329238&ctedtechPNavCtr=|#45634

Grants Received

NECUSE Grant, Feb. 1993 – Dec. 1994. “Development of Molecular Modeling Curriculum using HyperChem”. Co-PI: Prof. Paul Dobosh, Mt. Holyoke College. Amount: $18,900 to Wesleyan.

Shannon Award, NIH, Jul. 1992 – Jun. 1994. “A Biomolecular Dynamics Analysis Toolchest”, Co-PI with Prof. David Beveridge. Amount: $100,000.

NIH Grant, DRR R03-RR06039-01, Mar. 1990 – Feb. 1991. “Macromolecular Modeling on the Prophet System”. Amount: $42,675.

Community Activities

Middletown Technology Committee, 2004 – 2007. Managed the Middletown Wi-Fi project by negotiating with the vendors (Cisco, SBC and others) and designing a free access wireless network in Main Street.

Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society, 2000-2005.

I led the Publications and Communications group and was responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Temple’s website – http://www.cvhts.org. I was also responsible for sending emails about the temple events and produced and distributed the temple’s magazine Nivedan.

Connecticut Tamil Sangam, 1999-2003.

I was the Secretary and then the Vice President of the Sangam whose mission was to promote the Tamil culture and increase the awareness of the Tamil culture to our youth. I was instrumental in bringing the use of technology to accomplish this mission and helped maintain a website (http://www.cttamilsangam.org) , as well as increase communication through a mailing list .Also helped organize many cultural events.

Haddam-Killingworth School District Technology Committee – 2000-2001.

As a member of the school district technology committee, I brought attention to various opportunities that were available to the school such as cost savings in internet connectivity and technology training and informed them about various grant opportunities that they can take advantage of. I also strongly suggested the need for collaborations with Universities and colleges nearby from where the teachers can learn how to use the technology in teaching and learning.

Haddam-Killingworth School District Math Curriculum Committee – 1999-2000.

As a member of this group I suggested various ways in which the curriculum can be changed to address the immediate need to address the decline in interest in Math.