Joined department in 1999

Walid G. Aref is a professor of computer science at Purdue. His research interests are in extending the functionality of database systems in support of emerging applications, e.g., spatial, spatio-temporal, multimedia, biological, and sensor databases. He is also interested in query processing, indexing, data mining, and geographic information systems (GIS). Professor Aref's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, Purdue Research Foundation, CERIAS, Panasonic, and Microsoft Corp. In 2001, he received the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and in 2004, he received a Purdue University Faculty Scholar award. Professor Aref is a member of Purdue's Discovery Park Bindley Bioscience and Cyber Centers. He is on the editorial board of the VLDB Journal, a senior member of the IEEE, and a member of the ACM. He is the vice chair of the newly formed ACM Special Interest Group on Spatial Information (SIGSPATIAL).