Dr. Xiaoqing (Frank) Liu, professor of computer science at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been named interim chair of the Missouri S&T computer science department. The position takes effect Jan. 1, 2013. Dr. Jennifer Leopold, associate professor of computer science, will serve as interim graduate coordinator.

Liu will take over the position from Dr. Ali Hurson, who has served as chair since 2008. Hurson came to Missouri S&T after a 28-year research and teaching career, primarily at the Pennsylvania State University. He plans to remain in the department in a teaching and research capacity. A national search is under way to select a new department chair. The university plans to have a new chair in place at the start of the fall 2013 semester.

“Dr. Hurson has served the department for five years, and during his tenure as chair, the department has experienced exceptional growth in undergraduate and graduate enrollments, especially doctoral students, and good growth in research,” says Dr. Warren K. Wray, Missouri S&T provost.

Liu has been a member of the Missouri S&T faculty since 1995. His research interests include software engineering, software quality management and process improvement, requirements analysis and testing, web-based collaborative systems, and fuzzy logic and knowledge-based systems. Liu is a productive researcher with 110 referred publications. He has served as principal and co-principal investigator on sponsored research projects totaling more than $6.5 million. His personal share of credit for the research funding is $1.6 million.

“I am grateful for Dr. Liu’s willingness to lead the computer science department during this time of transition,” Wray says. “His expertise in software engineering combined with his knowledge of and familiarity with the university makes him an ideal person to serve as interim chair.”

Liu earned a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1995. He teaches courses in data structure, software engineering, software requirements engineering, testing and quality assurance, and object-oriented analysis and design.