PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Shih-Fu Chang

Also known as Shih Fu Chang, 張世富, S.-F. Chang, S.F. Chang

Shih-Fu Chang is a Columbia University researcher whose 1990s work on content-based image and video search is among the earliest in the field. He earned a BS in 1985 from National Taiwan University and a PhD in 1993 from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2011 he received an ACM SIGMM award for Outstanding Technical Contributions to Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications, and in 2017 he became an ACM Fellow. In 2021 he became interim dean of Columbia Engineering, and in 2023 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He is dean of Columbia Engineering, and he holds that post in 2025.

Timeline

  1. 1985–1993

    Degrees from Taiwan and Berkeley

    He earns a BS from National Taiwan University in 1985 and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993.

  2. 1990s

    Early image and video search

    In the 1990s his group develops VisualSEEk and VideoQ, among the earliest content-based image and video search systems.

  3. 1993

    Teaching at Columbia

    He begins teaching at Columbia Engineering in 1993.

  4. 2011

    A SIGMM technical award

    In 2011 the ACM Special Interest Group on Multimedia honors him with its award for Outstanding Technical Contributions to Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications.

  5. 2017

    An ACM Fellow

    In 2017 he is named an ACM Fellow for contributions to large-scale multimedia content recognition and multimedia information retrieval.

  6. 2021

    Interim dean and AI center

    In 2021 he becomes interim dean of Columbia Engineering. He is the inaugural director of the Columbia Center of AI Technology, in collaboration with Amazon.

  7. 2023

    A National Academy of Engineering seat

    In 2023 he is elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to multimedia search and retrieval.

  8. 2025

    Dean of Columbia Engineering

    In 2025 he is dean of Columbia Engineering, and he appears as Engineering Dean at the Class of 2029 convocation.

Sources and credits

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  1. Shih-Fu Chang | Knight First Amendment Institute knightcolumbia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Shih-Fu Chang - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. SIGMM Award 2011 | ACM SIGMM - the Special Interest Group on Multimedia sigmm.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Shih-Fu Chang Named Interim Dean of Columbia Engineering | Columbia Magazine magazine.columbia.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. ACM Fellows in the SIGMM Community – ACM SIGMM Records records.sigmm.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. National Academy of Engineering Class of 2023 | IEEE AESS ieee-aess.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. News Briefs | Columbia College Today college.columbia.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.