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Contact Information

Name Michael E. Papka
Professional Title Argonne Distinguished Fellow and Professor
Email papka@{uic.edu, anl.gov}

Professional Summary

Warren S. McCulloch Professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois Chicago and Argonne Distinguished Fellow / Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory.

Experience

  • 2022 - Present

    Chicago, IL

    Warren S. McCulloch Professor, Department of Computer Science
    University of Illinois Chicago
    • Professor (2022 – Present), Visiting Professor (2022)
    • Courtesy appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2024 – Present)
    • Courtesy appointment in Biomedical Engineering (2026 – Present)
    • Member, Honors College
  • 2025 - Present

    Lemont, IL

    Argonne Distinguished Fellow
    Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2024 - Present

    Lemont, IL

    Founding Co-Director, George Crabtree Institute for Discovery
    Argonne National Laboratory
    • Joint institute between UIC and Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2010 - Present

    Lemont, IL

    Division Director, Argonne Leadership Computing Facility
    Argonne National Laboratory
    • Home to Polaris (HPE Apollo 6500 Gen10+) and Aurora (Intel CPU/GPU, one of the fastest AI systems)
  • 2006 - Present

    Lemont, IL

    Deputy Associate Laboratory Director, Computing, Environment and Life Sciences
    Argonne National Laboratory
    • Strategic planning and management of Biosciences, Computational Science, Data Science and Learning, Environmental Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science divisions, and ALCF
  • 1992 - Present

    Lemont, IL

    Research Scientist
    Argonne National Laboratory
    • Senior Scientist - RD6 (2012 – Present)
    • Scientist - RD5 (2004 – 2012)
    • Scientist - RD4 (2001 – 2004)
    • Scientist - RD3 (2000 – 2001)
    • Assistant Scientist - RD2 (1996 – 2000)
    • Scientist Associate - RD1 (1992 – 1996)
  • 2018 - Present

    Chicago, IL

    Senior Scientist, Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering
    University of Chicago
  • 1999 - 2018

    Chicago, IL

    Senior Fellow, Computation Institute
    University of Chicago
    • Senior Fellow (2004 – 2018), Fellow (1999 – 2004)
  • 2012 - 2023

    DeKalb, IL

    Presidential RSA Professor, Department of Computer Science
    Northern Illinois University
    • Visiting Distinguished Professor (2022 – 2023)
    • PRSA Professor (2020 – 2022)
    • Professor (2017 – 2020)
    • Associate Professor (2012 – 2017, tenured 2015)
    • Founded the Data, Devices, and Interaction Laboratory (ddiLab)
  • 2021 - 2023

    Chicago, IL

    Research Professor, Department of Computer Science
    Illinois Institute of Technology

Education

  • 2009

    Chicago, IL

    Doctor of Philosophy
    University of Chicago, Computer Science
    • Dissertation: Visualization and Collaboration Technologies to Support High-Performance Computing Research
  • 2002

    Chicago, IL

    Master of Science
    University of Chicago, Computer Science
    • Thesis: Development and Analysis of a Movie Playback Tool for Use in Tiled Display Environments
  • 1994

    Chicago, IL

    Master of Science
    University of Illinois Chicago, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
    • Thesis: Extending Genetic Programming for Discrete Volume Visualization
  • 1990

    DeKalb, IL

    Bachelor of Science
    Northern Illinois University, Physics

Executive Education

  • 2013

    Cambridge, MA

    General Management Program
    Harvard University Business School
  • 2012

    Chicago, IL

    Essentials of Effective Management
    University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • 2012

    Stanford, CA

    Design Thinking Boot Camp: From Insights to Innovation
    Stanford University, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
  • 2008

    Chicago, IL

    Argonne's Strategic Laboratory Leadership Program
    University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Awards

  • 2025
    Best Paper — Machine Learning Driven Auto-tuning for Non-uniform All-to-All Collectives
    IEEE HiPC 2025
  • 2025
    Best Visualization Award — Real-time Scientific Visualization and Interactive Steering for HPC Simulations
    PEARC Conference
  • 2025
    Distinguished Fellow
    Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2024
    Distinguished Senior Research and Development Award
    IEEE Chicago Chapter
  • 2024
    Best Paper — Bridging Gaps in Simulation Analysis through a General Purpose, Bidirectional Steering Interface with Ascent
    IEEE/ACM ISAV
  • 2024
    Gordon Bell Finalist — MProt-DPO: Breaking the ExaFLOPS Barrier for Multimodal Protein Design Workflows
    ACM
  • 2024
    Distinguished Alumni Award
    Northern Illinois University
  • 2023
    Best Paper — Scaling Computational Fluid Dynamics: In Situ Visualization of NekRS using SENSEI
    IEEE/ACM ISAV
  • 2023
    IEEE SciVis Contest Winner: Best Overall and Best Workflow — Neuronal Network Simulations of the Human Brain
    IEEE
  • 2023
    Commercialization Excellence Award for Delivering Impact
    Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2023
    Board of Governors' Distinguished Performance Award
    Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2023
    Honorable Mention, Best Paper — ChemoGraph: Interactive Visual Exploration of the Chemical Space
    EuroVis
  • 2022
    ACM Gordon Bell Special Prize for HPC-Based COVID-19 Research — GenSLMs
    ACM/Supercomputing
  • 2022
    Board of Governors' Pinnacle of Education Award
    Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2021
    The Secretary of Energy Achievement Award
    U.S. Department of Energy
  • 2020
    Excellence in Teaching Award
    Northern Illinois University
  • 2019
    Top Recognition for Exemplary Blend of Networking, Computing, and Storage
    SCinet Technology Challenge
  • 2016
    Excellence in Teaching Award
    Northern Illinois University
  • 2014
    Best Paper — Exploring Void Search for Fault Detection on Extreme Scale Systems
    IEEE Cluster
  • 2014
    University of Illinois Chicago City Partner Award
    University of Illinois Alumni Association
  • 2012
    Argonne National Laboratory Pacesetter, Extraordinary Contribution
    Argonne National Laboratory
  • 2011
    Honorable Mention, ACM Gordon Bell Prize — A New Computational Paradigm in Multiscale Simulations
    ACM
  • 2007
    R&D 100 Award — Access Grid 3.0
    R&D Magazine
  • 2005
    SC05 HPC Analytics Challenge — Real-Time Change Detection and Alerts from Highway Traffic Data
    SC'05
  • 2001
    Best Panel — Commodity Graphics Accelerators for Scientific Visualization
    IEEE Visualization Conference