Aidong Zhang facts for kids

Aidong Zhang is a brilliant computer scientist. She studies how computers can learn and understand biology. This field is called bioinformatics. She is a professor at the University of Virginia. There, she teaches computer science. She also helps with biomedical engineering and data science programs.

Becoming a Computer Scientist

Aidong Zhang earned her PhD degree in 1994. She studied at Purdue University. A PhD is the highest degree you can get in a field.

Teaching and Leading

In 1994, she started teaching at the University at Buffalo. She began as an assistant professor. By 2002, she became a full professor. This means she was a top teacher and researcher.

She was named a "Distinguished Professor" in 2012 and 2014. This is a very special honor. From 2009 to 2015, she led the computer science department.

Working for the Nation

From 2015 to 2018, she worked for the National Science Foundation. This is a U.S. government agency. It supports science and engineering research. In 2019, she moved to the University of Virginia. She is now a professor there.

Leading in Her Field

Aidong Zhang helped start a special group. It's part of the ACM. This group focuses on bioinformatics and data science. She led this group from 2011 to 2015.

Since 2017, she has been the main editor. She works on a big science magazine. It's called IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.

Books by Aidong Zhang

Aidong Zhang has written important books. These books help other scientists. They explain her research and findings.

• Advanced Analysis of Gene Expression Microarray Data (2006)
• Protein Interaction Networks: Computational Analysis (2009)

Special Honors and Awards

Aidong Zhang has received many awards. These awards show her great work. They recognize her contributions to computer science.

IEEE Fellow

In 2009, she became an IEEE Fellow. This is a high honor from the IEEE. It was for her work on multimedia data. She helped organize and find information in videos and images.

ACM Fellow

In 2017, she was named an ACM Fellow. This award is from the ACM. It recognized her work in bioinformatics. It also honored her contributions to data mining. Data mining is about finding patterns in large amounts of information.