On Wednesday, May 1, the College of Computing & Informatics (CCI) hosted a ceremony to honor the establishment of the Auerbach Berger Chair in Cybersecurity, during which Spiros Mancoridis, PhD, was installed as the inaugural holder of this endowed professorship. The Chair position was established with the generous support of Carol Auerbach and Albert Berger through their family foundations, the Isaac and Carol Auerbach Family Foundation and the Berger Family Fund with Jewish Communal Fund, respectively. 
In his opening remarks at the dedication ceremony, Drexel University President John Fry spoke of the historical significance of endowed Chair installation, which dates back more than 350 years with the creation of the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1663 with a gift from Sir Henry Lucas, a member of the British Parliament. “At Drexel and CCI, endowed chairs and professorships are among our highest philanthropic priorities,” said Fry. “With these awards, we can recruit and retain academic talent from around the world, and provide our students with the best and most dedicated teachers and mentors.”
CCI Dean and Isaac L. Auerbach Professor Yi Deng spoke next, recognizing Mancoridis’ position as a leader in the field of cybersecurity research. “Cybersecurity has long been a research and academic priority for the College. This professorship represents the future of the College’s strategic direction. Drexel will be a leader in cybersecurity solutions for industry, government and beyond,” said Deng.
Mancoridis provided a brief acceptance speech, followed by remarks from Carol Auerbach and Albert Berger, who both serve as honorary members of the CCI Deans Executive Advisory Council.
The dedication ceremony was followed by a dinner for distinguished guests, held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
About Dr. Macoridis
Spiros Mancoridis has been a leading researcher and teacher in cybersecurity and software engineering, and has served in various leadership roles as faculty at Drexel. Mancoridis is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and a Technical Fellow of the Cybersecurity Institute. He served as the Head of the Department of Computer Science (2012-2015) and as the interim Dean for the College of Computing and Informatics (2015-2016). Dr. Mancoridis’ expertise includes malware detection and classification, autonomic computing, software design and architecture, reverse engineering, software security, genetic algorithms, and software engineering education. He has over 20 years of experience of research and teaching in these areas. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation 1998 CAREER Award. His research has also been supported by premier federal agencies and corporations, including the US Army, the US Air Force, Lockheed Martin, and DARPA. Dr. Mancoridis has authored or co-authored more than 90 refereed publications and 4 patents. He served as the General Chair of the International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM) in 2006 and was recognized with the Outstanding Researcher Award from the College of Engineering at Drexel University in 2008. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto in 1996, and is a senior member of the IEEE and ACM.