Eunice Santos, the Ron Hochsprung Endowed Chair and Professor of Computer Science, was named to the Crain’s Chicago Business “Tech 50” list of people to know in Chicago’s tech ecosystem. Other winners included people like Eric Lefkofsky, founder of Groupon; J.B. Pritzker, managing partner of Pritzker Group Venture Capital; and Rishi Shah, founder and CEO of ContextMedia. Santos was one of only four academics named to the list, and the only computer science department chair.

Santos joined Illinois Tech in 2015. Crain’s notes that with 1,000 computer science students, Illinois Tech “has long been one of the best-kept secrets in Chicago technology” and that Santos is helping to bring the computer science department to the next level in terms of national reputation and recognition. It also notes her expertise in cybersecurity, cloud computing, and computational modeling. Chris Gladwin, founder of Cleversafe and an Illinois Tech Trustee, is quoted as saying of Santos, “She’s ridiculously smart, but she’s also really good at building a community. She has an infectious energy and enthusiasm.”