David J. DeWitt is a Technical Fellow in the Data and Storage Platform Division. DeWitt’s new role is creating and leading the Microsoft Jim Gray Systems Lab, a new advanced development center in Madison, Wisconsin for Microsoft, in association with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Computer Sciences Department.

Prior to Microsoft, David J. DeWitt joined the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin in September 1976 after receiving his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan. He served as department chair from July 1999 to July 2004. He held the title John P. Morgridge Professor of Computer Sciences when he retired from the University of Wisconsin.

DeWitt is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1998), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007), and an ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Fellow (1995). He received the 1995 SIGMOD Innovations Award for his contributions to the database systems field. SIGMOD is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Management of Data.

DeWitt has authored over 120 technical publications and served on numerous program committees and NSF (National Science Foundation) Review Panels. He was a member of the NSF CISE (Computer and Information Science and Engineering) Advisor Committee from 2000-2003, the CSTB (Computer Science and Telecommunications Board) from 2005-2007, and has served on several NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) study panels. He was the program chair of the 1983 SIGMOD conference, program co-chair of the 1988 VLDB (Very Large Data Base Endowment) conference, and general chair of the 2002 SIGMOD Conference. He has graduated thirty-three Ph.D. students.

DeWitt lives in Madison, Wisc. with his wife Julie DeWitt. He has two daughters Anne and Elizabeth.  Anne is a Ph.D. student in English Literature at Yale and Elizabeth is a 4^th year medical student at Einstein in New York. DeWitt is an avid woodworker and swimmer.