João Barros named CMU-Africa associate director

João Barros has been named associate director of Carnegie Mellon University Africa. Barros will work in partnership with the leadership team to advance the mission of CMU-Africa. He will oversee several administrative functions including business operations, enrollment management, and student affairs. In his role, he will focus on leading process improvement activities for the College of Engineering’s Kigali, Rwanda location. He will also be responsible for creating professional development opportunities for staff and students and strengthening the research culture at CMU-Africa. The associate director will serve as the institutional representative at times when the director is unavailable.

"João Barros will be an important addition to the CMU-Africa leadership team. His research, entrepreneurship, and leadership experience will be strategic in advancing our mission," said Conrad Tucker, director of CMU-Africa and associate dean for international affairs-Africa in CMU’s College of Engineering.

With close to 25 years of experience, Barros has been a tech leader in advancing wireless networking, cybersecurity, and AI technologies through both academic research and entrepreneurial ventures. Barros is an IEEE Fellow and has extensive academic expertise at leading research universities such as Technische Universitaet München in Germany, Universidade do Porto in Portugal, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Cornell University. He has held several leadership roles, which include serving as the national director of the CMU-Portugal program (a $77M research initiative of the Portuguese Government in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University), and as co-founder and chief executive officer for successful tech startups Streambolico and Veniam.

Since joining CMU-Africa in spring 2024 as a full research professor with courtesy appointments in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, Barros has made significant contributions, including building a research team focused on Edge AI technologies and developing a digital twin for Kigali’s mobility ecosystem in collaboration with a wide range of partners, mentoring junior faculty members, and co-supervising students with five different colleagues.

Tucker thanks the search advisory committee for their hard work and diligence throughout the selection process and all CMU-Africa faculty and staff members for providing nominations and feedback to the committee. The search advisory committee for the associate director role included Chipiwa Zimbwa (chief operating officer for CMU-Africa), Daniel Giammatteo (chief business officer for CMU’s College of Engineering), and Richard Mundy (chief operating officer for CMU’s College of Engineering).