Brachman to lead Jacobs Technion

Cornell Tech announced May 25 that Ron Brachman, a computer scientist and internationally recognized authority on artificial intelligence, will join the campus as the new director of the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. He will start his new position July 1.

The Jacobs Institute, an academic partnership between Cornell University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology at Cornell Tech, emphasizes moving beyond traditional structures of academia to offer a global perspective on research, education, technology transfer, commercialization and entrepreneurship.

As director, Brachman will lead the Jacobs Institute's strategic vision as it continues to grow its nontraditional, multidisciplinary, cutting-edge faculty research, degree programs and the Runway startup postdoctoral program. Brachman will become a member of Cornell Tech's computer science faculty and will succeed Adam Shwartz, who returns to the Technion as senior executive vice president. Leadership of the Jacobs Institute is shared by the Technion and Cornell, with the directorship rotating between the two universities. As part of this rotation, Shwartz will become chair of the Jacobs Institute board of directors.

"We are very excited to welcome Ron to the campus. His distinguished research record, industry and team-building career and multifaceted experience developing new research initiatives will continue the great work at the Jacobs Institute as we broaden and grow," said Cornell Tech Dean Dan Huttenlocher. "The Jacobs Institute serves as a sandbox of experimentation at Cornell Tech, with the growing success of its Runway startup program and groundbreaking research in the fields of connective media, health tech, cybersecurity and more."

"I’m so proud of the Jacobs Institute's growth and success over the past three years, launching a first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary dual-degree program – and seeing its first graduates – and commercializing impactful, deep research through the Runway startup postdocs program," said Shwartz. "Ron's expertise creating and leading high-level research teams and his work developing successful new initiatives at top industry and government organizations makes him the perfect choice to grow the institute."

Said Brachman: "The Jacobs Institute is an amazing, unique undertaking, and I am extremely excited about the opportunity to lead it in its next phase of growth and groundbreaking innovation in education, research and impact. Under the leadership of Adam Shwartz, the Jacobs Institute is already leading the way in showing how academia can drive real-world innovation. I am eager to build on this work in developing the Jacobs Institute's world-class dual degree programs and innovative approach to research and industry partnership."

Brachman was Yahoo's chief scientist and head of Yahoo Labs, where he oversaw all of Yahoo's science activities worldwide, including teams in Haifa, Israel, and New York, providing leadership at the intersection of research, applied science and academic partnerships. He was one of the founders of Yahoo Research and the creator of Yahoo's Academic Relations group, and throughout his 10 years at Yahoo helped drive the creation of experimental initiatives and hired and managed top talent.

As director of the Information Processing Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Brachman established the cognitive systems initiative, which developed the technology that led to the creation of Siri. At Bell Labs and AT&T Labs, he drove the overall vision and technical direction of multiple research labs and built world-class groups in artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-computer interaction, security and other critical technology areas.

He has won multiple awards, has served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), serves on the board of the Computing Research Association and is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and AAAI. He also advises Segovia Technology, a New York startup that builds software systems to bring cash payments to the world's poorest people, working to eliminate poverty in emerging economies and provide humanitarian relief.

"Throughout the search process, we were consistently impressed with Ron's dedication to breaking new ground, both when creating new partnerships at DARPA and Yahoo Labs and in his research," said Cornell Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff. "Cornell University is proud to partner with the Technion through the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech, and I’m confident that Ron will take the institute to new levels."

The Jacobs Institute is named for Irwin Mark Jacobs ’54, founding chairman and CEO emeritus of Qualcomm, and his wife Joan Klein Jacobs ’54, who donated $133 million to create the institute in 2013.

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