Our Crowdfunding Groups
One of the strengths of the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media is the innovative mindset and creative spirit embodied in our faculty and staff, and one way to encourage the further manifestation of that is by supporting the David Miller Innovation Fund. This fund will provide seed grants to help the CDM team put their ideas into actionable initiatives. The Miller Fund will recognize and help launch these entrepreneurial and emerging ideas, adding to the education of our students and broadening CDM’s impact on the world around us.
The Miller Fund will be utilized to encourage innovation in arts and technology, allowing the CDM dean to support small and medium scale projects initiated by faculty, staff or students through a flexible source of dollars.
Thank you for your support of this important fund!
Meet the people behind the fund!
David Miller
David Miller was a founding member of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems who joined DePaul as an assistant professor more than 40 years ago. He served as associate dean, acting dean and, from 2007 to 2022, as dean of what is now the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media. Under his leadership, the college significantly developed its offerings in film, animation and design and grew to include the three highly regarded Schools of Computing, Cinematic Arts, and Design. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1981.
Lucia Dettori
Luci
a Dettori became interim dean of the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media in July 2022. An associate professor in CDM’s College of Computing, she joined DePaul in 2000 and has served as an associate dean at CDM since 2007. Before joining CDM, Dettori held visiting positions at Brown University and Southern Methodist University.
Born and raised in Italy, Dettori earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in applied mathematics from the University of Parma. She has a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Paris XI in France.
Her research interests span from computational fluid dynamics to medical image processing and computer science education. She has published extensively in those areas and is the recipient of multimillion dollars in grants from federal agencies and private companies, including the National Science Foundation, CME Foundation, IBM and Google.
A recognized national leader in computer science education, Dettori has made it a priority throughout her career to make computing accessible to all. She is a co-founder of the Chicago Alliance for Equity in Computer Science, also known as CAFÉCS. This collaboration between DePaul, University of Illinois, Loyola University, Chicago Public Schools and the Learning Partnership aims to give all Chicago students access to a high-quality computer science education.
True to her passion, Dettori helped spread equity-focused, inquiry-based introductory computer science curriculum throughout CPS. In 2018, Dettori took a sabbatical from teaching at DePaul to serve as the director of the Office of Computer Science at CPS. In the first 10 years of the project, more than 90,000 CPS high school students have taken the introductory computer science course. More than 200 CPS teachers also have received training. As a result of CAFÉCS' efforts, computer science is now a high school graduation requirement for all CPS students.
Bob and Beth Acton
We express our deepest appreciation to Bob and Beth for their most generous gift to launch the David Miller Dean’s Innovation Fund. Bob and Beth met at Indiana University where they both received their MBAs. They began their careers in Chicago in the late 1970’s. As Bob moved into sales of computer hardware and software at Burroughs, he decided to enroll at DePaul in its newly launched Department of Computer Science. He received his MS in Computer Science in 1986 with honors. Bob is also an avid bird photographer. Beth spent her career in both the banking industry and the automotive industry, ending as EVP and CFO of Comerica Bank. The Actons have two sons, Will and Daniel. Will graduated from CDM in 2014 with a BS in Animation, also with honors like his father. He spent 7 years in U.S. Army Aviation, rising to the rank of Captain. He is presently employed by Johnson and Johnson.
