Dr. Valafar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Carolina. His main research interests are three broad areas of Computational Biology, Bioinformatics and Computational Medicine. More specifically, his current focus in on structure and dynamics of proteins, and development of Artificial Neural Network based clinical diagnostic tools.
Biomedical Sciences, Health Disparities, Science and Engineering (Other), Health Sciences, Computational Sciences
Personal Focus Areas
Computational biology, bioinformatics, and medical informatics, Protein folding, Protein/ligand and protein/protein interaction
Professional Preparation(Education & Training)
Dates
Institution
Location
Degree
Field of Study
1995
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
PhD
Electrical and Computer Engineering
1990
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
M.S.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
1988
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan
B.S.
Electrical Engineering
Memberships & Professional Activities
Dates
Type
Description
Institution/Entity
01/1984 - Present
Membership
Member of Phi Kappa Phi
01/1984 - Present
Membership
Member of Eta Kappa Nu
01/2006 - Present
Membership
Member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon
01/2009 - Present
Membership
Member of IEEE
01/2010 - Present
Membership
Member of ACS
01/2010 - Present
Membership
ACM
Positions & Appointments
Dates
Description
Institution/Entity
1995 - 1998
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia
1998 - 2000
Post Doctoral Fellow
CCRC, UGA
2000 - 2004
Project Coordinator, Computational Biology
Southeastern Collaboratory for Structural Genomics, University of Georgia
2004 - 2008
Assistant Professor
Computer Science and Engineering, U of SC
2007 - 2010
Graduate Director
Biomedical Engineering, U of SC
2008
Associate Professor
Computer Science and Engineering, U of SC
2010 - 2015
Adjunct Associate Professor
Bioscience, Clemson University
01/2015
Full Professor
Computer Science and Engineering, U of SC
Recognition Awards, Honors, & Fellowships
Dates
Type
Description
Foundation/Entity
2002
Award
Achievement Award from 2003-2006 International Multi-Conferences in Computer Science and Computer Engineering
2006
Award
Member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society
2007
Award
NSF Career Award
Award
Young Research Investigator Award, College of Engineeering and Computing, University of South Carolina
Award
IR7 (highest) level specialist award from the International Technology Institute, in recognition of research contributions to the field of Bioinformatics
The two sections below (Awards and Pending Proposals) are only viewable by PIs, business managers, chairs, and deans.