Bettina Kemme appointed Assistant Dean, Global Engagement
The Faculty of Science is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Bettina Kemme (School of Computer Science) as the inaugural Assistant Dean, Global Engagement. She began her five-year term on October 1.
In this role, Prof. Kemme will support the Faculty of Science’s growing global engagement efforts by fostering international partnerships, welcoming visiting delegations, and working with departments to advance Faculty- and University-wide global initiatives.
“The Faculty of Science has many exciting opportunities ahead of us to build connections with institutions and researchers around the world," said Alanna Watt, Dean of the Faculty of Science. "I am thrilled that Prof. Kemme has taken on this role to strengthen our engagement with the global scientific community.”
A professor in McGill’s School of Computer Science since 2000, Kemme is a leading researcher in distributed information systems, with expertise in large-scale data management and distributed computing.
Kemme brings extensive experience leading international research collaborations to this role. In 2024, she was awarded a $1.65 million NSERC CREATE grant to lead the Sustainable Data Systems for Data Science (SDSDS) training program, an interdisciplinary initiative that brings together academic and industry partners to train the next generation of computer scientists in sustainable approaches to AI, machine learning and data-intensive computing.
In 2025, she received the CSCAN|INFOCAN Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her exceptional leadership and contributions to Canada's computer science research community. She previously served as Director of McGill’s School of Computer Science from 2016 to 2021 and has served as Interim President of CSCAN|INFOCAN since May 2026.
“I am delighted to take on the role of Assistant Dean, Global Engagement, for the Faculty of Science,” Kemme said. “We already have an amazing network of connections and collaborations around the world through our research, student exchanges and field courses. I look forward to supporting these existing engagements and building new, inclusive partnerships in research and education that benefit all partners.”