John McGee has been appointed as Assistant Vice Chancellor for ITS Research Computing after serving as interim Director of the UNC-Chapel Hill group since March 2019.
Research Computing presents institutionally scoped research cyberinfrastructure to faculty, post-docs, staff, students and research collaborators.
Accomplishments as interim
During this interim period and amid the challenges of the pandemic, Research Computing has streamlined processes for the Secure Research Workspace, presented the Open OnDemand computing service, fostered key collaborations between researchers, managed hundreds of millions of jobs, and computed on and/or stored petabytes of data.
“Throughout his service as interim Director, the Research Computing operations and engagement teams continued to offer foundational cyberinfrastructure services — and John led key enhancements, operational adjustments and new approaches,” said J. Michael Barker, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer.
Looking ahead
McGee will lead Research Computing to continue its foundational cyberinfrastructure services while also planning for and adapting to pressing needs and emerging opportunities, Barker said. McGee also will position Research Computing as a leader among institutionally oriented university research cyberinfrastructure computing centers.
McGee leads more than 15 team members.
Supporting and enabling research are fundamental to Carolina’s mission.
Wealth of experience
Before he was interim Director, McGee fulfilled myriad research-oriented roles. For the five years immediately prior, he led the design and implementation of software, services and infrastructure to manage research and operations of UNC-Chapel Hill’s High Throughput Sequencing Facility. This came after nine years at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), ending as Director of Cyberinfrastructure.
His career extends to Senior Project manager and Co-Executive Director of the GRIDS Center at the University of Southern California and includes time in industry at Fetch Technologies, Microsoft and Nissan Motor Corp. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from University of Maryland, College Park.