Dr. Fred Piazza is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the LSU AgCenter and LSU College of Agriculture. He is responsible for the Information Technology efforts for the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station and the Louisiana State University College of Agriculture. Fred has an MBA from Southeastern Louisiana University and a PhD from Louisiana State University in Human Resource Education and Workforce Development with a research emphasis on the effectiveness of web-based learning tools.

Over the years Dr. Piazza has received numerous international awards from the Association for Communications Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences. He has received a “Pioneer” award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU,) as well as an Honor Award for Excellence from the United States Department of Agriculture for his work in helping found the national eXtension initiative.

Dr. Piazza has been with the LSU AgCenter since 1997,beginning his LSU career as a software developer. Since assuming the role of CIO in 2007, he hasled an innovative team consisting of information technology support technicians, distance education professionals, Web and software developers, training professionals, and computer networking and security analysts. As CIO, Dr. Piazzais vigilant in investigating new technologies that can be used to improve organizational efficiencies as well as provide enhanced services to clientele and stakeholders of the LSU AgCenter.