Michael McRobbie
{{Short description|Australian–American computer scientist and university administrator}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{use American English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Michael McRobbie
|honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=AUS|AO}}
|image = Michael McRobbie.jpg
|imagesize =
|caption = McRobbie in 2016
|order = 3rd
|title = University Chancellor of Indiana University
|term_start = July 1, 2021{{cite web |title=About |url=https://universitychancellor.iu.edu/about/index.html |website=Office of the University Chancellor |publisher=Indiana University |access-date=14 July 2021}}
|predecessor = Kenneth Gros Louis
|order1 = 18th
|title1 = President of Indiana University
|term_end1 = June 30, 2021
|predecessor1 = Adam Herbert
|successor1 = Pamela Whitten
|birth_name = Michael Alexander McRobbie
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|10|11}}
|birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
|death_date =
|death_place =
|nationality = Australian, American
|profession = University administrator
|alma_mater = University of Queensland
Australian National University{{cite web |title=History of IU Presidents |url= http://www.indiana.edu/~pres/pastpres.shtml |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091225111434/http://www.indiana.edu/~pres/pastpres.shtml |archivedate= December 25, 2009 |accessdate= June 18, 2013 }}
|footnotes =
|spouse = {{ublist|Andrea Shirley Gibson (1973–2003, died){{cite news |url=http://ww.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2003/11/16/obit.obits.sto |title=Obituaries - November 16, 2003 |newspaper=Bloomington Herald-Times |date=November 16, 2003 |author=}}|Laurie Burns (2005–present)}}
|website = {{URL|https://universitychancellor.iu.edu/}}
|module =
{{Infobox academic | child=yes
| thesis_title = A proof theoretical investigation of relevant and modal logics
| thesis_url = https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/138934
| thesis_year = 1979
| doctoral_advisor = {{ublist|Robert K. Meyer|Richard Routley}}
| academic_advisors =
| influences =
| era =
| discipline = Philosophy
| sub_discipline = Artificial intelligence, automated theorem proving
| workplaces = {{ublist|La Trobe University|University of Melbourne|Australian National University}}
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| main_interests =
| notable_works =
| notable_ideas =
| influenced =
}}
}}
Michael Alexander McRobbie {{postnominals|country=AUS|AO}} (born October 11, 1950) is an Australian–American computer scientist and university administrator. He served as the 18th president of Indiana University from 2007 to 2021. Upon stepping down from the IU presidency, McRobbie was replaced by Pamela Whitten, who became the 19th president of Indiana University on July 1, 2021.{{cite news |url=https://news.iu.edu/stories/2021/04/iu/releases/16-pamela-whitten-named-19th-president.html |title=Pamela Whitten named 19th president of Indiana University: A visionary scholar and accomplished educator, Whitten will lead one of the nation's leading research universities starting July 1 |date=April 16, 2021 |work=Indiana University}} On July 1, 2021, he assumed the titles of university chancellor, president emeritus and university professor.{{cite web |title=About |url=https://universitychancellor.iu.edu/about/index.html |website=Office of the University Chancellor |publisher=Indiana University |access-date=14 July 2021}} He is the third person to serve as university chancellor in the university's more than 200-year-old history.
Early life and education
McRobbie is an Australian. Born on October 11, 1950, in Melbourne, Victoria, he grew up in Gold Coast, Queensland.{{Cite news |title= The Grill: Michael McRobbie on how to go from CIO to Indiana U's president |magazine=Computer World |date=October 15, 2007 |first=Eric |last=Lai |url= http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/303811/The_Grill_Michael_McRobbie_on_how_to_go_from_CIO_to_Indiana_U_s_president_ |accessdate= June 18, 2013 }} He graduated with a B.Sc. with First Class Honours from the University of Queensland in 1974, and with a Ph.D. from the Australian National University in 1979.{{cite thesis |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/138934 |title=A proof theoretical investigation of relevant and modal logics |date=1979 |publisher=Australian National University |type=Ph.D. |last=McRobbie |first=Michael Alexander |oclc=222143545}} His early work was in philosophy, artificial intelligence and automated theorem proving.{{Cite book |date= August 1, 1986 |author1=Paul B. Thistlewaite |author2=Michael A. McRobbie |author3=Robert K. Meyer |title= 8th International Conference on Automated Deduction |chapter= The KRIPKE automated theorem proving system |series= Lecture Notes in Computer Science |volume= 230 |pages= 705–706 |doi= 10.1007/3-540-16780-3_147 |isbn= 978-3-540-16780-8 }}{{Cite journal |title= Relevant analytic tableaux |journal= Studia Logica |volume=38 |number=2 |pages= 187–200 |date= June 1, 1979 |author1=Michael A. McRobbie |author2=Nuel D. Belnap Jr |doi= 10.1007/BF00370441 |s2cid= 118082271 }}
Career
File:Richard Lugar and Michael McRobbie.jpg in 2007]]
File:Southwest Central Indiana Region Grant Announcement photo.jpg
After a postdoctoral fellowship in philosophy, he founded an automated reasoning project, the ANU Centre for Information Science Research and the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Computational Systems.{{Cite web |title=Citation for an Honorary Degree |publisher= Australian National University |author-link=Ian Chubb |first=Ian |last=Chubb |date=July 16, 2010 }}
McRobbie was a 1988 [https://www.fulbright.org.au/ Fulbright Scholar] in Computer Science from [http://www.anu.edu.au/ The Australian National University] to the [https://www.anl.gov/ Argonne National Laboratory].{{Cite news |url=https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/b-iu-trustees-name-mcrobbie-as-th-university-president-b/article_1733c893-5d91-5944-bc95-db8e5aebc944.html |title=IU trustees name McRobbie as 18th university president |last=Udell |first=Emilly |newspaper=Northwest Indiana Times |access-date=2018-10-10 |date=March 1, 2007 }} From 1990 through 1996 he was a professor at the Australian National University. He had a growing interest in international research collaborations. In 1996 he and Kilnam Chon proposed what became Asia Pacific Advanced Network at a symposium held at Tsukuba, Japan.
In 1997 he became the first vice president for information technology at Indiana University.{{Cite news |title=IU provost honored as founder of Asia Pacific Advanced Network |work=Indiana University |date=July 27, 2006 |url= http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3819.html |accessdate=June 18, 2013 }}
The network operations center for the Abilene Network was established at IU under his direction,{{Cite news |title= Abilene Gets 10-Gig Upgrade |date= February 17, 2003 |work= Light Reading |url= http://www.lightreading.com/abilene-gets-10gig-upgrade/240022819 |accessdate= June 18, 2013 }} and the Pervasive Technology Laboratories were established with a $29.9 million grant from the Lilly Endowment in 1999.{{Cite news |title=Pervasive Technology Labs at Indiana University achieve economic development milestone |work=Indiana University |date=June 19, 2013 |url=http://ovpitnews.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7125.html |accessdate=June 19, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121228164806/http://ovpitnews.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7125.html |archivedate=December 28, 2012 }}
McRobbie was principal investigator of a project sponsored by the US National Science Foundation to connect US and Asian national research and education networks called TransPAC.{{Cite web |title= TransPAC Annual Report 2001–2002 |date= March 27, 2003 |url= http://transpac.org/old-site/documents/2002_transpac_ar.pdf |accessdate= June 17, 2013 }}
The state-funded $5.3 million I-Light project connected all campuses of the IU system with fiber-optic communications (further expanded in 2010).{{Cite news |title= $25.1M federal stimulus grant to connect Ivy Tech campuses to I-Light network |date= February 19, 2010 |url= http://insendems.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/25-1m-federal-stimulus-grant-to-connect-ivy-tech-campuses-to-i-light-network/ |accessdate= June 19, 2013 }}
In 2003 he became the vice president for research of IU.
In 2005, the TransPAC2 project was funded as a follow-on to TransPAC.{{Cite news |title= International TransPAC2 Inaugurated |work= HPCwire |date= April 8, 2005 |url= http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2005-04-08/international_transpac2_inaugurated-1.html |accessdate= June 18, 2013 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130620034322/http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2005-04-08/international_transpac2_inaugurated-1.html |archive-date= June 20, 2013 |url-status= dead }}
He was chairman of the steering committee for the Indiana Metabolomics and Cytomics Initiative (METACyt), which was the largest outside funded project in the history of Indiana University Bloomington.{{Cite web |title= METACyt Initiative Retrospective |date= March 4, 2008 |url= http://metacyt.indiana.edu/sites/metacyt.indiana.edu/files/METACyt_Retrospective033108.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120928170328/http://metacyt.indiana.edu/sites/metacyt.indiana.edu/files/METACyt_Retrospective033108.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= September 28, 2012 |accessdate= June 18, 2013 }}
McRobbie served as interim provost and vice president of academic affairs of the Bloomington campus in 2006.{{Cite news |url=http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070228/LOCAL/70228021 |title=IU provost to succeed Herbert |last=Hupp |first=Staci |date=February 28, 2007 |accessdate=June 17, 2013 |newspaper=The Indianapolis Star |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303162119/http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070228%2FLOCAL%2F70228021 |archivedate=March 3, 2007 |url-status=dead }}
He increased external funding by securing millions of dollars in grants for life science initiatives.{{cite web|url=http://www.iu.edu/~upira/reports/standard/doc/fact%20book/fact_book_0809.pdf |title=IU Fact Book 2008-09 |accessdate=2009-05-31 |publisher=Indiana University |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310034058/http://www.iu.edu/~upira/reports/standard/doc/fact%20book/fact_book_0809.pdf |archivedate=2009-03-10 }}
On a July 2006 trip through China he established a cooperative research program with Tsinghua University in Beijing.{{Cite news |title= IU Partners With University in Beijing to Enhance Internet |date= July 10, 2013 |work= Inside Indiana Business |url= http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=18717 |accessdate= June 19, 2013 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20060714193949/http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=18717 |archivedate= July 14, 2006 }}
By September 2006, the then president of Indiana University, Adam Herbert, announced he wanted to leave office before July 2008.{{Cite web |title=Presidential Search |publisher=Indiana University |url= http://www.indiana.edu/~nextpres/ |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907023100/http://www.indiana.edu/~nextpres/ |archivedate= September 7, 2006 |accessdate= June 17, 2013 }}
On March 1, 2007 McRobbie was selected as IU's 18th president and took office on July 1, 2007.{{Cite news |title=IU Trustees select Michael A. McRobbie as 18th president |work=Indiana University |date=March 1, 2007 |url=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5034.html |accessdate=June 17, 2013 }}
He served on the board of directors for ChaCha (the Indiana-based search engine). Some press were critical of a deal that used IU librarians as "guides", although McRobbie resigned from the board before becoming president of the University.{{Cite news |title=Indiana University and ChaCha's Scott Jones have same idea |first=Tim |last=Faulker |date=October 12, 2007 |work=Gawker |url=http://gawker.com/310335/indiana-university-and-chachas-scott-jones-have-same-idea |accessdate=June 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222523/http://gawker.com/310335/indiana-university-and-chachas-scott-jones-have-same-idea |archivedate=March 3, 2016 }}{{Cite news |title=McRobbie under fire for ties to ChaCha University officials dismiss as clerical error discrepancy in when IU president left company's board of directors |first=Steve |last=Hinnefeld |date= August 9, 2007 |newspaper=Bloomington Herald-Times |url=http://info.law.indiana.edu/news/page/normal/6135.html |accessdate= June 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130620034416/http://info.law.indiana.edu/news/page/normal/6135.html |archivedate= June 20, 2013 }}
McRobbie has served on the board of trustees for Internet2 since 2009, and was named chair of the board starting in 2012.{{Cite news |title=IU President Michael McRobbie to Become Chairman of Internet2 Board |work=Indiana University |date=August 11, 2011 |url=http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-08-11/indiana_university_president_michael_a._mcrobbie_to_become_chairman_of_internet2_board_of_trustees.html |accessdate= June 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816215624/http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-08-11/indiana_university_president_michael_a._mcrobbie_to_become_chairman_of_internet2_board_of_trustees.html |archivedate= August 16, 2011 }}
In 2012 he announced a new supercomputer called Big Red II at IU.{{Cite news |title=McRobbie announces new supercomputer, tuition deal for IU |date=October 10, 2012 |newspaper=Bloomington Herald-Times |first=Mike |last=Leonard |url=http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2012/10/10/news.mcrobbie-announces-new-supercomputer-tuition-deal-for-iu.sto }}
Although other universities operate larger computers, by some measures this Cray XK7 was expected to be the largest for use by a single US university and not a consortium or national resource.{{Cite news |title= Indiana U. Inaugurates Most Powerful U.S. University Supercomputer |work= Slash Dot |first=Mark |last=Hachman |date=April 29, 2013 |url=http://slashdot.org/topic/datacenter/indiana-u-inaugurates-most-powerful-u-s-university-supercomputer/ |accessdate=June 19, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503041505/http://slashdot.org/topic/datacenter/indiana-u-inaugurates-most-powerful-u-s-university-supercomputer/ |archivedate=May 3, 2013 }}
The original Big Red computer was installed in 2006.{{Cite news |title= Hoosiers to get the world's fastest academic super: Alley-oop for privately paid for petaflops |newspaper=The Register |first=Timothy Prickett |last=Morgan |date=October 10, 2012 |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/10/indiana_university_big_red_ii_super/ |accessdate=June 19, 2013 }}
On August 14, 2020, McRobbie announced that he planned to retire at the end of June 2021 after 14 years as the head of the university and that a search committee was being formed to find his replacement.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-iu-mcrobbie-retire-st-0817-20200814-pdiviywgbzcgrabuaw5rezf42q-story.html |title=IU President McRobbie to retire next year after 14 years |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 14, 2020 |author=}}
Personal life
While still an undergraduate at The University of Queensland, McRobbie married Brisbane native Andrea Gibson in 1973. They had three children together. She died from brain cancer in 2003. A fellowship was named in her memory.{{cite web |url=https://medieval.indiana.edu/graduate/funding-opportunities/mcrobbie-fellowship-recipients.html |title=Andrea S. McRobbie Fellowship in Medieval History |work=Indiana University}}
McRobbie has three children and three stepchildren. His second wife, Laurie Burns McRobbie, was born in Michigan and worked as a technologist for 20 years. Both of them had been widowed before they married in 2005.{{Cite news |title= 20 Questions for IU's President |first=Elisabeth |last=Andrews |work= Bloomington Magazine |date=February 2012 |url=http://www.magbloom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Bloom_20Questions_13.pdf |accessdate=June 18, 2013 }}
Laurie McRobbie was the executive director of member and partner relations for Internet2, and an adjunct faculty member in IU's School of Informatics.
After living in Indiana for 13 years, McRobbie became a US citizen in October 2010 while still retaining his original Australian citizenship.{{Cite news |title= IU President McRobbie becomes U.S. citizen |work= Kokomo Perspective |date= October 12, 2010 |url= http://kokomoperspective.com/news/iu-president-mcrobbie-becomes-u-s-citizen/article_5c8d2bb2-d644-11df-bfbc-001cc4c03286.html |accessdate= June 19, 2013 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/No-Lingering-Questions-About/124856 |title=No Lingering Questions About This President's Citizenship |newspaper=Chronicle of Higher Education |date=October 10, 2010 |first=Don |last=Troop}}
Honors and awards
McRobbie was made a Sagamore of the Wabash, the highest honor the state can bestow, in 2007 by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
That same year he received an honorary degree from the University of Queensland.
In 2008 he received an honorary degree from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea,{{cite web |url= http://www.iu.edu/~pres/about/biography.shtml |title=Biography |work= Office of the President web site |publisher= Indiana University |accessdate= June 17, 2013 }}
and one from the Australian National University in 2010.
Also in 2010 he was named an officer of the Order of Australia.{{cite web |url=https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/qb/qb2010/Media%20Notes%20AO%20%28final%29.pdf |title=2010 Officer (AO) in the general division of the order of Australia |publisher=Governor-General of Australia |date=2010 |page=9}}
References
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{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=Adam Herbert}}
{{s-ttl|order=18th|title=President of Indiana University|years=2007 — 2021}}
{{s-aft|after=Pamela Whitten}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|last=Kenneth Gros Louis}}
{{s-ttl|order=3rd|title=Chancellor of Indiana University|years=2021 — present}}
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{{s-end}}
{{Indiana University presidents}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McRobbie, Michael}}
Category:Scientists from Melbourne
Category:University of Queensland alumni
Category:Australian National University alumni
Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences