School of Data Science and Society welcomes second faculty cohort

UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Data Science and Society has welcomed 16 new faculty members to the Carolina community in its second faculty cohort. Some members have a joint or secondary appointment with another department or school. 

“We’re thrilled to welcome this second cohort of faculty,” said Stan Ahalt, dean of the School of Data Science and Society. “We recruited talented researchers and educators who work at the intersection of AI and health as well as hired jointly with three additional disciplines: communication, sociology and maternal fetal medicine. Data science is a team science and a team sport, and I’m excited about our growing group of faculty.” 

The new faculty includes: 

• David Adalsteinsson is a professor with joint appointments in the SDSS and the College of Arts and Sciences’ mathematics department. He is also the founder of Visual Data Tools and the director of undergraduate studies for the SDSS.
• Wai-Tong (Louis) Fan will join as an associate professor in January 2025 after serving in the mathematics department at Indiana University.
• Melissa Haendel will hold a secondary appointment at SDSS. She is the director of precision health and translational informatics and the Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor in the UNC School of Medicine’s genetics department.
• Sun-ha Hong will join as an associate professor in July 2025 with joint appointments in the College’s communication department and the SDSS.
• Lauren Kucirka is joining the faculty in the medical school’s obstetrics and gynecology department, with a secondary appointment in the SDSS.
• Steve Marron will have a joint appointment in the SDSS. In the College, he is the Amos Hawley Distinguished Professor of Statistics and Operations Research in the statistics and operations research department and an adjunct professor in the computer science department. He is a professor in the public health school’s biostatistics department.
• Julie McMurry is a professor of the practice in the SDSS. She has a secondary appointment in the medical school’s genetics department.
• Lina Montoya is an assistant professor with a secondary appointment in the public health school’s biostatistics department.
• Rei Sanchez-Arias is a teaching assistant professor and faculty director for the Master of Applied Data Science program.
• Jack Snoeyink is a professor with joint appointments in the SDSS and the College’s computer science department.
• Justin Sola joins UNC-Chapel Hill as an assistant professor with joint appointments in the SDSS and the College’s sociology department.
• David Yokum joins SDSS as a professor of the practice. He also serves as North Carolina’s chief scientist in the Office of State Budget and Management.
• Ran Zhang will join the SDSS as an assistant professor in July 2025 after completing postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington.
• Weitong Zhang is an assistant professor. He recently completed his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles.
• Chudi Zhong joins Carolina as an assistant professor with joint appointments in the SDSS and the College’s statistics and operations research department.
• Tarek Zikry will join the SDSS in July 2025 after serving as a postdoctoral research scientist in the Columbia University statistics department and Zuckerman Institute. He will also be a faculty member in the medical school’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biology T32 training program.

For more information about SDSS faculty, visit the SDSS website.