Dr. Susamma (Susan) Barua

Dr. Susamma (Susan) Barua served as the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) during July 2016 – May 2025. She currently serves as the  Strategic Advisor for the new ECS Innovation Hub scheduled to open in Summer 2027. Prior to her appointment as Dean, Dr. Barua served eight years as the Associate Dean of the college from 2008 to 2016. She is also a Professor Emerita of Computer Science and Computer Engineering. Dr. Barua received her Ph.D degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and joined CSUF faculty in 1988.

Dr. Barua played a critical role in securing a $67.5 million investment from the state for the new ECS Innovation Hub, which will be designed to provide an optimal educational environment for engaged learning that transforms student experience. Under Dr. Barua’s leadership as the ECS Dean, the college put into practice initiatives to increase student retention and graduation rate, and deliver enhanced student services to a growing student population. Since 2016, enrollment increased by 30% and the four-year graduation rate increased from 6.5% to 23.3%. She facilitated the launch of the ECS Corporate Partners Program to leverage corporate support for student capstone design projects; Innovation Academies; new Collaboratives in software development, sustainability, and construction management; Manufacturing Day; Entrepreneur in Residence Program; and the ECS Leadership and Diversity Summit. Dr. Barua was instrumental in shaping the 2023 inaugural Engineering Social Justice competition, challenging students to identify a social issue, conceptualize a solution, and pitch their idea. She led the establishment of an endowment for the ECS Women in Computer Science and Engineering (WiCSE) Learning Community, which also received a multiyear support from Pivotal Ventures for expanding the pipeline of female students from local community colleges. In collaboration with faculty, she successfully navigated the merger of the Electrical Engineering Department and the Computer Engineering Program to form the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and helped foster greater interdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, she enabled innovative curricular opportunities in biomedical device engineering, cybersecurity, navigation, and AI. She also led three successful ABET accreditation visits in 2008, 2014 and 2021.

Dr. Barua led the development of the BS degree program in Computer Engineering, first as the chair of the steering committee and later as the coordinator of the program for nearly 10 years. During this period, an MS and a four-year Integrated BS-MS degrees were added, new faculty members were hired and the research activities significantly increased. 

The research contributions, external funding record and scholarly productivity of Dr. Barua are extensive. Her research interests include computer performance analysis, high performance computing, computer networking, web-based database and interactive multimedia systems. She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications and supervised nearly 125 graduate research projects. She is the recipient of several external grants, such as the NSF "ECS Academic Catalyst for Excellence (ACE) Scholarship Program”, NSF "CSUF ADVANCE IT-Catalyst Project" and the Department of Labor “Orange County Bridge to Engineering Project” to name a few.

Dr. Barua’s service record at CSUF is vast and impressive. She has served on a number of college and university committees, including the Planning, Resource and Budget Committee, University Curriculum Committee, Faculty Development and Education Innovation Committee, Faculty Affairs Committee, Outstanding Professor Committee, University Advancement Committee and Closing the Gap Taskforce. She was a member of the Academic Senate from 1999 through 2002 and has served on many important search committees in the university.

A recipient of Outstanding Service and Outstanding Teacher/Scholar awards several times, Dr. Barua is a leader in engineering educational reform and is an experienced developer of innovative education programs. She has been actively involved in mentoring female and underrepresented students in computing for most of her career. She served as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Education and is a Golden Core Member of the IEEE Computer Society.