Rao Named SUNY Distinguished Service Professor

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

H. Raghavendra Rao, professor of management science and systems in the School of Management, is one of three University at Buffalo faculty members who have joined the ranks of distinguished professors appointed by the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Rao has been appointed a Distinguished Service Professor in recognition of extraordinary service to the community, region, state, nation or world.

The rank of distinguished professor, the highest faculty rank in the SUNY system, is an order above full professorship and has three co-equal designations: distinguished professor, distinguished service professor and distinguished teaching professor.

A UB faculty member since 1987, Rao is an expert in management information systems, decision support systems, e-business, emergency response management systems and information assurance. He focuses his work on computer system and network security, the outsourcing and management of information technology, and the integration of information technology in health care and electronic commerce.

He is co-director of the Center of Excellence in Information Systems Assurance Research and Education (CEISARE), which oversees graduate education and coordinates UB research in computer security and information assurance.

Among his numerous awards are prestigious Fulbright and University Lilly Teaching fellowships and a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Rao is the author or co-author of more than 150 technical papers, and his work has received best-paper and best-paper runner-up awards from professional organizations in his field. He also recently was ranked No. 11 on the list of researchers for the number of articles published in the top nine information systems journals.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; an MBA from the University of Delhi, India; and a doctorate from Purdue University.

Also named distinguished professor were Leonard Epstein, UB Distinguished Professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Social and Preventive Medicine, and Mark Karwan, a professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school also has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.