Kazimierz Wiatr

Professor Kazimierz Wiatr was born on February 18, 1955, in Krakow. In 1980, he graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Automatics, Computer Science and Electronics of the AGH UST. In 1987, he received a doctor’s degree; in 1999, he obtained postdoctoral qualifications; and in 2002, he was conferred the title of professor.

He has been working at the AGH UST since 1980, currently as a professor in the field of computer science and electronics and head of the Reconfigurable Computing Systems Team. He is also director of the AGH UST Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET, and he chairs the Council of the PIONIER – Polish Optical Internet. He supervises the projects of the PL-Grid Polish Infrastructure for Supporting Computational Science in the European Research Space. Within the framework of the projects, the largest supercomputers in Poland were constructed, including CYFRONET’s Zeus and Prometheus, which were ranked multiple times among the first 100 supercomputers in the world.

Professor Wiatr is a specialist in the fields of computer process control, multiprocessor systems, programmable systems, reconfigurable computing systems, and hardware acceleration. He has been the leader of numerous research projects, including those within the framework of grants awarded by notable Polish research institutions. His works include the following books: Building a National Distributed e-Infrastructure – PL-Grid (Springer-Verlag) and Akceleracja obliczeń w systemach wizyjnych (WNT), more than 300 articles, papers, and patents. He serves as a reviewer in international journals. He accomplished more than 30 implementations related to computer control of technological lines and industrial robots, as well as the automation of measurement processes. He received numerous awards for his research and didactic work, including an award by the Minister of Science and Higher Education.

Professor Wiatr was associated with the democratic dissident movement. He co-created an independent scouting movement. During martial law in Poland (1981-1983) and later, he worked in the governing body of the conspiratorial Scouting Movement of the Republic of Poland. For this activity, he had suffered at the hands of the communist regime. After 1989, he co-organised the Scouting Association of the Republic of Poland and was its president. He is the Chancellor of the Chapter of the Honorary Cross of the Scouting Association of the Republic of Poland.

His works include numerous articles and reports on the upbringing and situation of children and adolescents; he co-authored a report on the state of Polish families (1998) and a programme of the state’s pro-family policy (1999).

In 1990, for his activities in the interest of independence, he was decorated with the Knight’s Cross Order of Polonia Restituta, awarded by Ryszard Kaczorowski, the President in exile of the Republic of Poland.

He is president of the Tarnów Scientific Society, a member of the Polish Information Processing Society, EUROMICRO (The European Organisation for Information and Microelectronics), IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering), and IEEE – Computer Society.

He has been a Senator of the Polish Parliament for the VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X terms of