Dean's Message

I am pleased to announce that UC San Diego Computer Science and Engineering Professor Mohan Paturi will take on a new role in the Jacobs School of Engineering: Associate Dean for Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Implementation. The appointment formally begins on 1 July 2026. 

In this new role, Professor Paturi will work with me and our existing Associate Deans in the Jacobs School. He will engage with Jacobs School department chairs, faculty and staff, and others across the campus, to devise an overarching Jacobs School strategy for the continued development, implementation and evaluation of artificial intelligence tools in support of our missions in education and research.

This new role builds on Mohan’s accomplishments as a thoughtful computer science educator and researcher. He is the leader of the team that created an AI Tutor platform within the Laboratory for Emerging Intelligence. This custom AI Tutor is LLM agnostic and puts the teaching priorities of instructors, and the learning needs of students, front and center. Humans are at the center of the educational endeavor, which has attracted funding from the State of California and other sources. Part of Mohan’s charge as Associate Dean is to continue leading development, implementation and evaluation of the AI Tutor platform. 

He will also work across the Jacobs School, and across campus, to lead strategic planning and implementation coordination of AI tools in education and research. There are many great AI projects and tools being developed at the Jacobs School and across campus. And there are many other tools we have access to. While we want to maintain flexibility in terms of AI tool adoption, we also need sufficient strategic coordination to ensure the most effective tools and workflows can be scaled in a timely manner without requiring everyone to reinvent the wheel again and again. 

Please join me in welcoming Mohan into this new Associate Dean role here at the Jacobs School.

Sincerely,