Dr. Richard Demillo

Biography

Richard DeMillo has held senior leadership positions in industry, government, and academia. He served as the Chief Technology Officer for Hewlett-Packard and as Vice President of Computing Research at Bell Communications Research, where he led the development of now-ubiquitous e-commerce technologies that enabled the Internet. DeMillo has launched transformational programs as the Director of the Computer Research Division at the National Science Foundation and as the Director of the Software Test Evaluation Project in the Secretary of Defense's Office. His academic research encompasses 100 articles, books, and patents in computer science and cybersecurity, addressing fundamental problems at the intersection of digital technology and public impact. His influential 1979 paper titled "Social Processes Proofs Theorems Programs" has been reprinted several times and cited in over 50 significant papers in computer science. He currently researches election voting system security, with his work cited in numerous court cases, including a 2019 Federal Court decision that declared paperless voting machines unconstitutional. Additionally, he has served as a foreign election observer for the Carter Center and as a member of the Michigan Election Security Commission. An educator at heart, DeMillo founded and led the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U), a living laboratory for fundamental change in higher education, and was named a Lumina Foundation Fellow for his innovative contributions. His book, "Revolution Higher Education" (MIT Press, 2015), received the 2016 PROSE Award from the American Association of Publishers, and he co-chaired the Commission Creating Education which won the 2019 Achievement Award from the Association for Educational Communications Technology.

Research Interests