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Randy Marchany was inducted into the Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science Academy of Distinguished Alumni, while Ashwin Aji received the department’s Distinguished Early Career Alumni Award for leadership in cybersecurity, high-performance computing, and AI research. Both alumni's careers demonstrate the profound impact of faculty mentorship at Virginia Tech in shaping advancements in crucial computing fields, embodying the university's spirit of service.
Randy Marchany, a distinguished alumnus of Virginia Tech’s Department of Computer Science, was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni, an honor recognizing his extensive and impactful career. Marchany commenced his academic journey at Virginia Tech in the 1970s, a period when computer science was an evolving and nascent field. He attributes much of his success and the collaborative spirit of the department to its early faculty, particularly the founding department head, George Gorsline, who instilled a culture of experimentation, mutual support, and the principle of 'paying it forward' among students. After earning his undergraduate degree in computer science in 1981, Marchany dedicated decades to elevating Virginia Tech to a prominent national leader in both cybersecurity operations and education. In his pivotal roles as the university’s longtime IT security officer and the director of its IT Security Lab, he played an instrumental role in formulating early cybersecurity standards and establishing one of Virginia Tech's pioneering hands-on cybersecurity training environments for students. Marchany’s influence in cybersecurity extended significantly beyond the university campus, as he actively contributed to numerous foundational national regulatory initiatives, cyberdefense efforts, and critical incident responses. The IT Security Lab under his direction was highly productive, graduating 14 Ph.D. students and 15 or 16 master's students, and securing three cybersecurity patents from their innovative work. Furthermore, Marchany was instrumental in the establishment of the Virginia Cyber Range, a sophisticated cloud-based cybersecurity education platform that is now widely utilized by K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, thereby significantly broadening access to crucial cybersecurity training.
Ashwin Aji, another highly recognized alumnus, was awarded the Department of Computer Science's Distinguished Early Career Alumni Award, signifying his remarkable achievements early in his professional life. Aji's journey to Virginia Tech began in the mid-2000s when he arrived from India to pursue his graduate studies in computer science. He credits Professor Wu Feng for profoundly altering his life by 'taking a chance on a very raw aspiring master’s student from India,' highlighting the significant impact of faculty mentorship. Aji successfully completed both his master’s degree and his doctorate at Virginia Tech. Currently, he holds a significant position as a principal member of the technical staff at AMD Research, where his innovative work spans AI systems optimization and high-performance computing. His groundbreaking contributions have been crucial to several scientific computing advancements, most notably his involvement with Frontier, which is recognized as the first exascale supercomputer in the United States. Aji shared a formative experience from his time at Virginia Tech, recalling a particularly challenging early research presentation that, despite its difficulty, taught him invaluable lessons in resilience and fundamentally shaped his approach to research and innovation. He reflected on the 'liberating' feeling after the presentation, realizing that from that point, 'there was only one direction I could go from there — it was up.' The recognition of both Marchany and Aji through these distinguished alumni awards collectively underscores the enduring influence of the Department of Computer Science across multiple generations of its alumni. Their work continues to drive innovation in critical areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and advanced computing research, ultimately contributing to better lives for people. Marchany's advice, 'Don’t be afraid to try something. Dare to suck. You’re going to learn from your mistakes,' encapsulates the spirit of perseverance and learning that is celebrated in these awards.