Faculty Highlight: Matthew Turk

Faculty Highlight: Matthew Turk

After six years of dedicated leadership, Matthew Turk will conclude his term as President of the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC) at the end of August 2025. Since stepping into the role in 2019, he has guided the Institute through a period of growth, strategic development, and renewed focus on community and academic excellence. Prior to joining TTIC, Matthew served as Chair of the Computer Science Department at UC Santa Barbara, where he is now a Professor Emeritus. At UCSB, his primary appointment was in the Department of Computer Science, and he also held a secondary appointment in Media Arts and Technology, which he chaired from 2005 to 2010.

Matthew earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University, and a B.S. from Virginia Tech. He is recognized as an ACM Fellow, an IEEE Life Fellow, an IAPR Fellow, an AAIA Fellow, and an AIIA Fellow, and he was the recipient of the 2011-2012 Fulbright-Nokia Distinguished Chair in Information and Communications Technologies. His primary research interests include computer vision and machine learning, augmented and mixed reality, and human-computer interaction.

During his presidency, he remained active in academia, publishing papers, giving several keynote presentations, and authoring two books: Computer Vision: Challenges, Trends, and Opportunities (co-edited with Md. Ahad, U. Mahbub, and R. Hartley) published by Chapman and Hall/CRC Press in 2024, and Advanced Methods and Deep Learning in Computer Vision (co-edited with E.R. Davies), published by Elsevier in 2021, with two more in the pipeline.

Matthew also contributed as a member of the TTIJ Board of Councilors, the International Advisory Board for the Idiap Research Institute, and the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council of the Computing Research Association (CRA). He has acted as General or Program Chair for several major conferences, and served as associate editor, general chair, area chair, advisory committee, and in other roles for journals and conferences.

Throughout his presidency, Matthew oversaw a period of steady and institutional evolution. One of his early goals was to ensure TTIC’s long-term financial sustainability. Through strategic planning and collaboration with the Board of Trustees and TTIC’s CFO, the Institute developed a clearer understanding of its economic future. He also prioritized updating and formalizing Institute policies to align with current practices and values.

Another significant initiative under Matthew’s leadership was the establishment of the Community and Campus Life (CCL) Committee in August 2020. Composed of faculty, staff, and students, the committee aims to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment while advising TTIC’s outreach efforts in the broader community.

“TTIC did not have anything like this committee before,” Matthew said. “It’s easy in academia to lose sight of the fact that we’re all in a community, and people have different roles with different sets of backgrounds and experiences. Even in a small organization, community doesn’t always function perfectly, so it’s helpful to assess the community and see what can be done better to ensure that people feel welcomed and accepted, and that they belong.”

Since its formation, the CCL Committee has hosted events, invited guest speakers, donated books to the library, and promoted diversity and inclusion through training and educational content.

TTIC also achieved significant academic milestones during Matthew’s presidency. In 2024, the Institute celebrated its largest graduating class of Ph.D. students and welcomed its largest incoming class to date. In 2025, it received a record number of Ph.D. applications. Matthew also advocated for faculty growth, which was essential for ensuring TTIC’s continued momentum and impact in the field.

“There are general trends of more students applying to graduate schools in computer science,” Matthew noted, “but we’ve been doing especially well thanks to our strong research visibility, our former students and RAPs who spread the word about TTIC, and our growing number of workshops, which expose more people to TTIC.”

Among his fondest memories was TTIC’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, which took place at the Langham Hotel in Chicago. The Institute also hosted the 20th Anniversary Academic Symposium on November 9-10, 2023.

“It was wonderful to have alumni, faculty, staff, and Board members all gathered together,” he said. “It’s a very special thing to be able to look back on TTIC’s origins, appreciate how far we’ve come, and also recognize the accelerating path forward.”

For Matthew, the most rewarding part of the job was interacting with students.

“I enjoy hanging out with the students, and having the opportunity to understand where they’re at, what their challenges are, and to celebrate their successes,” he said. “It’s great to hear about someone making research progress, getting a paper accepted, or receiving a job offer. I’m so proud of our students.”

Leading a smaller institution came with unique challenges, particularly during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when TTIC had fewer resources and less infrastructure than larger universities. But Matthew believes the Institute’s size is also what makes it so special.

“The size, and focus, and excellence of TTIC are what set us apart,” he explained. “We have a research environment that’s very different from other places. Faculty and students share intellectual interests, leading to collaboration—whether that’s whiteboard discussions, publishing together, or just exchanging ideas. This atmosphere fosters true innovation.”

Looking ahead, Matthew remains very optimistic about TTIC’s future and hopes to keep in touch with the community.

“I expect TTIC to continue on its path of being a special place for research, learning, and work,” he said. “I believe we’ll gain even greater recognition across academia and industry, thanks to the impactful work we do. I look forward to seeing the remarkable contributions of our administrative staff, faculty, students, and their collaborators.”