The Department of Computer Science is delighted to welcome Gagan Chopra to the External Advisory Council.
Gagan Chopra was born and raised in Panjab, India. Post schooling, he followed in his father's footsteps (Anand Chopra, MS '48 Electrical Engineering), and came to Iowa State to study Computer Science. Following his graduation from Iowa State, he joined Microsoft in Redmond, WA, in 1993, where he is currently a Group Program Manager.
The first half of his career was spent in software design engineering, and architect roles focused on enterprise computing software (high performance transaction processing systems, business solutions, mobile productivity solutions). Gagan has spent the second half of his career in a product design role, focused on AI and big data driven consumer and marketing solutions, primarily the Bing search engine, and Microsoft Advertising R&D.
Gagan's current areas of interest are AI and big data driven auction marketplaces, multi-discipline high performance team cultures, collaboration enablement, personal and professional productivity, rhythms, history, cultures, wildlife photography, and travel.
He and his wife Rashmi, and their son Rohan, a middle schooler and an avid birder, live in Redmond, Washington.
"On behalf of the Council Chair, George Strawn, and the department, we are honored to welcome Gagan Chopra to the Council," says Hridesh Rajan, Kingland Professor of Data Analytics or Cognitive Machine Learning and chair of computer science. "With the department's increased focus on Data Science, AI, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, we will significantly benefit from Chopra's counsel."
The Computer Science External Advisory Council was formed in 2010. The committee assists the department in gaining insight and offering input into the department's mission, programs, and activities; facilitates the department in establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with individuals and corporations; actively participates in department fundraising efforts; and assists in identifying and prioritizing resource needs of the department.