PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Aidong Zhang

Aidong Zhang is a computer scientist at the University of Virginia whose machine learning work spans bioinformatics, health informatics and AI for science. After a Purdue doctorate in 1994, she worked at the University at Buffalo, where she became a full professor in 2002. She chaired Buffalo's computer science department from 2009 to 2015, helped found the ACM Special Interest Group on Bioinformatics, and became an ACM Fellow in 2017. From 2015 to 2018 she was a program director at the National Science Foundation, and in 2023 ACM gave her its Distinguished Service Award. As of October 2026, she is a Linville Professor of Computer Science at the University of Virginia, with a joint appointment in the School of Data Science.

Timeline

  1. 1994–2002

    Purdue doctorate, then Buffalo

    In 1994 she earns a computer science doctorate at Purdue University and joins the University at Buffalo. There she becomes a full professor in 2002.

  2. 2006–2009

    Two books on biological data

    She publishes Advanced Analysis of Gene Expression Microarray Data in 2006 and Protein Interaction Networks: Computational Analysis in 2009.

  3. 2009–2015

    Department chair and an ACM group

    She chairs the computer science department at the University at Buffalo from 2009 to 2015. She helps found the ACM Special Interest Group on Bioinformatics.

  4. 2015–2018

    Program director at the NSF

    She takes leave from Buffalo in 2015 to serve as a program director at the National Science Foundation until 2018.

  5. 2017

    ACM Fellow and journal editor

    She is named an ACM Fellow in 2017 for her contributions to bioinformatics and data mining. She becomes editor-in-chief of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2017.

  6. 2019

    Moving to the University of Virginia

    She joins the faculty of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia in 2019.

  7. 2023

    The ACM Distinguished Service Award

    ACM gives her its 2023 Distinguished Service Award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Linville Professor at UVA

    She is Thomas M. Linville Professor of Computer Science at the University of Virginia, with a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the School of Data Science. Her research interests include machine learning, AI for science, bioinformatics and health informatics.

Sources and credits

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  1. Aidong Zhang - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. UB People Profile - University Libraries - University at Buffalo library.buffalo.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Association for Computing Machinery Honors Professor Aidong Zhang — School of Data Science datascience.virginia.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. ACM-BCB 2015 acm-bcb.bme.gatech.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Aidong Zhang - Professor of Computer Science at University of Virginia cs.virginia.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Zhang Appointed Interim Chair of the Department of Computer Science — School of Data Science datascience.virginia.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Aidong Zhang — School of Data Science datascience.virginia.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.