David Hung-Chang Du

David Hung-Chang Du is a Professor and Qwest Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He served as the Center Director of the NSF multi-university I/UCRC Center of Research in Intelligent Storage (CRIS) from 2009-2021, which was sponsored by 18 companies with $3.35M industrial membership funding. Prior to that, he organized an Intelligent Storage Consortium at Digital Technology Center with industrial funding from 2002-2009. He was also a Program Director at the National Science Foundation CISE/CNS Division from March 2006 to August 2008.

Dr. Du received his B.S. degree in Mathematics from National Tsing-Hua University (Taiwan) in 1974 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Washington (Seattle) in 1980 and 1981 respectively. He joined University of Minnesota as a faculty member in 1981 and has been there for over 40 years. He has also been a visiting professor in Germany, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Dr. Du's research focuses on intelligent storage systems, sensor/vehicular networks, and cyber physical systems. His early career work included parallel processing and database design, followed by Computer-Aided Design for VLSI circuits in the 1980s and 1990s. From the late 1980s to present, he has worked on computer networking and its related applications including multimedia computing. Starting from 2000, his research has focused on new memory and storage technologies for handling extremely large volumes of available data and long-term data preservation. His current research focuses on hyper-converging infrastructure, recognizing that the Internet has become the largest existing computer system where data collection, storage, and networking must be integrated.

His recent publications (2019-2022) demonstrate continued innovation across multiple domains including DNA storage technologies, hybrid storage systems, key-value store optimization, and edge computing. These works reflect his ability to adapt to emerging technological landscapes while maintaining focus on fundamental storage and systems challenges. The publications show strong industry collaboration, particularly with major technology companies like Facebook, where his team has characterized and optimized key database workloads.

• IEEE Fellow (since 1998)
• Fellow of the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute
• ACM Recognition of Service Award (2013)
• IEEE Certificate of Appreciation (2012, 2007)
• NSF Director's Award for Collaborative Integration (2008)
• Best Paper Award, International Conference on Internet of Vehicles (2015)
• Best Paper Award, International Conference on Computer Design (1998)

Dr. Du has been highly active in professional service, serving as Editor of IEEE Transactions on Computers (1993-1998), member of several editorial boards, and holding leadership positions in numerous conferences including General Chair for IEEE Security and Privacy Symposium (2009), Program Committee Co-Chair for International Conference on Parallel Processing (2009), and General Chair for IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (2010-2011). He has graduated 67 Ph.D. students (58 as single adviser and 9 jointly supervised) and 109 Master's students over his 40+ year career. His research has been supported by substantial grants from NSF, industry partners, and other funding sources totaling millions of dollars.