Intrigued by a sea of digital information, Susan Gauch envisioned—and developed—search engine improvements that have impacted the way people surf the web.  Susan utilizes intelligent agents that assist with information discovery and fusion from the World Wide Web and content-based searching of digital video libraries.  These advancements have helped internet users to surf the sea of information even when searching through highly technical databases.  Her work has resulted in multiple software licenses and awards.

Gauch looks towards a future for search very different from today.  "It seems like a strange goal for someone who does research into search, but my vision is that search engines will entirely disappear.  Search should become embedded into what we do electronically, with good results related to our activities being continually available, discreetly suggested, by an unobtrusive electronic assistant.  Instead of looking for information, the information should be looking for us."

These days, Gauch spends her time investigating conceptual and personalized information retrieval within the context of the Citeseer archive of computer science literature.  Her work there is focused on recommending relevant research papers to users of the digital library.  "The goal of this project is to provide a 'grad student in a box' - an assistant that can help professors keep up on relevant literature in their field or help students complete a comprehensive literature survey for a new area of research."

As head of the department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Gauch also leads her faculty and staff to new heights in teaching and research.  Award winning faculty and students are a testament to the strength of Susan’s department.

“I’m very excited about the direction we are heading, with the move to our new building, and new faculty being recruited, the entire department is experiencing a time of growth and rejuvenation.”