Terry Benzel Wants to Lead the IEEE Computer Society Through Computing’s AI Inflection Point

Terry Benzel, managing director of USC Information Sciences Institute within the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Stevens School of Computing and AI, is running for 2027 president-elect of the IEEE Computer Society, with voting open from August 14 to September 15. Her platform focuses on member value, retaining early-career members, and strengthening ties among universities, companies, and government, while addressing AI's impact on research integrity and ethics.

Terry Benzel https://www.isi.edu/directory/terry-benzel/ has spent decades developing trust in computing systems. Now she wants to make trust a defining principle of the organization representing the global community of computing professionals. Benzel, managing director of USC https://viterbischool.usc.edu/ Information Sciences Institute https://www.isi.edu/ within the USC Viterbi School of Engineering https://viterbischool.usc.edu/ and the USC Stevens School of Computing and AI https://stevens-computing-ai.usc.edu/ , is a candidate for 2027 president-elect of the IEEE Computer Society https://www.computer.org/ . As vice president this year, she has made ethics and integrity a focus as AI challenges long-standing practices in research, publishing and conferences. Voting opened Friday August 14 and closes Sept. 15. Members can vote at: https://eballot.app/ieee Among her main priorities are member value: making sure members see clear, meaningful benefits from belonging to the society; retaining students and early-career members who might drift away as careers change; and building tighter connections among universities, companies and government. “Now is exactly the time for me to run,” Benzel said. “My whole career and professional life have positioned me to be in this place right now.” A Year of Groundwork Benzel is the society’s current vice president, a role she has used to address a problem facing nearly every research organization: how AI is changing long-standing practices around the integrity of publishing and conferences. At the president’s request, she is representing the Computer Society on the CRA https://cra.org/ CLEAR Task Force. The task force is actively engaged in meeting with groups across organizations to understand where AI is straining existing policies and practices. Its report will provide a detailed taxonomy, a discussion of impact and a set of recommendations. Benzel said this work serves to “increase awareness around ethics and integrity in our communities.” Over her decades-long association with the society, Benzel has taken on a wide range of leadership roles, including two terms on its Board of Governors and one as vice president for technical and conference activities. She has also led work involving finances, publication integrity and nominations, including efforts that broadened participation in the nominating process. The society has honored her with its Golden Core Award and service awards. Benzel’s experience outside the IEEE Computer Society is equally broad. She has led research teams of more than 70 people at USC, served as a division vice president at Network Associates, now McAfee https://www.mcafee.com/consumer/en-us/landing-page/direct/sem/search-campaign.html?csrc=bing&csrcl2=text-ad&cctype=search&ccstype=&ccoe=direct&ccoel2=sem&pkg id=665&affid=1487&utm source=bing&utm medium=paidsearch&utm campaign=%5BEN-US%5D%5BSearch%5D%5BBrand%5D+Brand&utm content=%5BBrand%5D+McAfee+Core&utm term=mcafee&msclkid=702c3f964e371f8eeffe55157fe3c26d&&msclkid=702c3f964e371f8eeffe55157fe3c26d&gclid=702c3f964e371f8eeffe55157fe3c26d&gclsrc=3p.ds&gad source=7&gad campaignid=24081510650 , and created DETER, an open testbed that has enabled more than 1,000 researchers worldwide to study cyberattacks safely. Trust in the Age of AI Artificial intelligence sits at the center of Benzel’s presidential platform, not as a threat to dismiss but as a force to manage openly. She uses AI tools herself and sees both the opportunities and the risks up close: fabricated references, floods of AI-assisted research paper submissions, and reviews where it is unclear who, or what, did the work. For Benzel, the challenge extends beyond publications and conferences. She sees computing itself at an inflection point, as AI changes how technology is researched, developed, taught and deployed. “The Computer Society should be the most trusted society in the world as a source for technology and understanding technology,” she said. “That doesn’t mean we resist AI. It means we’re honest about how it’s used, so our conferences and publications still mean something.” Her emphasis is on clear, transparent policies, so members understand when and how AI use is appropriate. More Value, More Voices Benzel’s vision centers on a basic question: Are the society’s 370,000 members, spread across nearly every country, “receiving sufficient value as a member? And do they really perceive that and feel that way about it?” she asked. She wants closer links between regional chapters and technical groups, clearer paths for young professionals to lead, and more opportunities for members to connect across the society. Benzel credits her involvement with the IEEE Computer Society for much of her professional success. She volunteered at her first conference as a graduate student and found herself talking with researchers whose papers she had studied. “My career wouldn’t be what it is if I hadn’t joined the society,” she said. Three Roles, One Term The Computer Society, part of IEEE, https://www.ieee.org/ publishes research, sets technical standards, and supports education and nearly 200 conferences a year. Its presidential leadership runs in a three-year cycle: the president-elect supports the president, the president leads the volunteer board the next year, and the past president advises the incoming leader. That structure, Benzel said, gives her something a one-year term would not: time to listen before acting. She calls herself “a fixer,” tempered by years of weighing competing views. She returns often to one idea: that academia, industry and government need each other more urgently than ever, and that the IEEE Computer Society is uniquely positioned to bring them into the same room. Benzel said: “That connection must be much, much tighter than it’s ever been before. The government funds much of the research we publish. Industry needs to know what we’re discovering now, not years from now. And we’re better researchers when we understand the real problems they’re facing.” Published on August 17th, 2026 Last updated on August 17th, 2026