Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President

Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Nagarajan Ranganathan

Name

Nagarajan Ranganathan

College

Engineering

Department

Computer Science and Engineering, Distinguished University Professor

Undergraduate Degree

B.E. (Honors) in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, 1983

From

University of Madras, India

Doctoral Degree

Ph.D. in Computer Science, 1988

From

Uni. Central Florida, Orlando

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Faculty at USF since 1988

Area of Specialization / Research

VLSI system design, VLSI design automation, hardware algorithms, computer architecture, and biomedical information processing.

Current Course Offerings

EEL 6764 Graduate Computer Architecture

How and when did you first become interested in your field of study?

In 1983 my senior project involved computer aided design of an electric motor and I became interested in learning more about computer science.

What made you decide to pursue a career in higher education?

My first teaching experience was when I was a Phd student and I taught a senior level course in computer architecture at UCF and the experience was very rewarding. I liked the idea of doing state of the art research without the restrictions found in industry. At the same time, teaching in classroom the state of the art material to students training them to be at the forefront of technology. Thus, I changed my mind from going to industry towards a faculty career when I realized how much I enjoyed teaching and research.

Why did you choose to be a part of the academic community at USF?

When I graduated from UCF in 1988, there was a ton of momentum in terms of microelectronics research at USF. USF was a young and growing university developing, in terms of being a research university and I saw the opportunity to build a solid computer engineering and VLSI curriculum at USF.

What do you enjoy about teaching the students of USF?

The student community is diverse and students are very interested in learning and focused on making a career and thus they are serious about their goals. I like to see them compete in quality with the topmost schools such as MIT, Princeton etc.

What do you like about the university community?

The university community is diverse, friendly, and highly motivated to achieve high standards in a large variety of disciplines on campus. Also, Tampa is a great place to live in every way!