SDIS welcomes first faculty cohort

Published Aug. 24, 2026

The UNC School of Data and Information Sciences was founded in July 2026 by joining the UNC School of Information and Library Science and the UNC School of Data Science and Society. SDIS brings together longstanding excellence in information and library science with leadership in data science, including computational and statistical methods, and societal applications.

As SDIS begins its first full academic year, the school welcomes 13 new faculty members, with expertise spanning artificial intelligence, health informatics, archives, youth and information, human-computer interaction and data science.

Keep scrolling to meet the first SDIS faculty cohort.

Amina Abdu

SDIS assistant professor and faculty researcher at the Center for Information Technology and Public Life, starting January 2027

UNC’s strong history in libraries and archives offers a valuable and often overlooked perspective on contemporary technologies: a deep understanding of how information is organized, preserved, accessed and made meaningful in social contexts. Combined with the technical expertise of colleagues in data science and a shared commitment to sociotechnical questions, I see an exciting opportunity for SDIS to develop distinctive approaches to studying (and shaping) the intersection of technology and society.

Jimmeka Anderson

SDIS assistant professor and camp creator, co-founder and executive director of Black Girls Film Camp

I’m super geeked to step into my first full-time faculty role after six years as an adjunct, especially at UNC, my late father’s favorite school as a true Tar Heel fan! It feels like a full-circle moment. I’m looking forward to building connections with brilliant students and faculty to do impactful and meaningful work together in both practice and scholarship.

Guorui (Gary) Chen

SDIS assistant professor, starting July 2027 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University under former Carolina faculty member Joe DeSimone

I hope to show students that technological innovations can — and should — be translated into tangible benefits for society. More broadly, I hope our work will help build a data-driven healthcare paradigm that shifts care from episodic, hospital-centered services toward continuous, accessible and personalized care in everyday life, ultimately enabling longer, healthier lives for all.

Sourojit Ghosh

SDIS assistant professor and founding director of the UNSEEN Lab, where his research investigates how generative AI tools cause harm to historically marginalized populations

I’m excited to collaborate with wonderful faculty colleagues and students at CITAP, as I establish research programs in responsible AI and AI for social good within SDIS. I look forward to positioning SDIS as one of the leading schools in the country for this research, attracting the very best minds from North Carolina and beyond.

Mohammad Golam Kibria

Teaching assistant professor in SDIS’s Carolina Health Informatics Program, studying tools for early identification of pregnancy-related risks and patient-centered interventions

I am passionate about teaching and mentoring because I love connecting with students and helping them grow. That’s why I’m thrilled to return to UNC, where I hope to give students a well-rounded foundation in informatics approaches while also equipping them with hands-on, real-world skills they can carry into their future endeavors.

Nitzan Koren

SDIS assistant professor, studying information, political and digital literacies for and with youth from immigrant backgrounds

I hope to advance knowledge about how information science can empower all young people with the literacy they need to make informed decisions in their lives.

Ashok Krishnamurthy

SDIS tenured professor and former director of the Renaissance Computing Institute, with work focused on biomedical research, research infrastructure and data ecosystems

I’ve always been motivated to use AI, data science and advanced computing to solve problems in human health and the environment. Carolina is an extraordinary place to do that. There are world-class researchers across so many fields who are not only willing to collaborate but eager to bring you into their work. That openness creates an environment where ideas emerge naturally — and where you can move quickly from a conversation to a meaningful project. It’s both professionally rewarding and genuinely fun.

Joungwon (Jo) Kwon

SDIS teaching assistant professor, studying the use of augmented reality in urban planning visualizations and the application of AI to community engagement

I’m excited to return to UNC-Chapel Hill as a Tar Heel alum and now a faculty member. Beyond developing strong technical skills, SDIS is committed to cultivating students who think critically about data, ethics and the needs of the communities their work serves. Being part of a community that values technical excellence and critical, responsible thinking is what excites me most.

Franklin Mingzhe Li

SDIS assistant professor, with research bridging human-computer interaction (HCI), accessibility and ubiquitous computing to close the cyber-physical gap in AI systems.

I hope my work can demonstrate that technological innovation and social impact do not have to be separate goals. Through my research in HCI, accessibility and AI, I want to explore how emerging technologies can support people’s autonomy and agency rather than simply automate tasks for them. For students, I hope to encourage them to think beyond what technology can do and ask what it should do, who it serves, and how we can design it to be more inclusive and empowering.

Kaiying O’Hare

SDIS teaching assistant professor, studying various data science and machine learning problems, including graph neural networks, partial optimal transport and graph clustering

I am excited to work with talented students and help them develop the knowledge and skills they will need in data science. I hope my students have fun learning data science and gain the confidence to apply what they learn in class to solve real-world problems.

Satpreet (Sat) Singh

SDIS assistant professor, starting in November after his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Data science and computing are undergoing a period of accelerated change. I hope to create a lab where trainees can critically engage with the latest technological developments and use them to address important scientific questions.

Ana Roeschley

SDIS associate professor and director and principal investigator at the Archives Learning Lab, aimed at improving archival and information services for refugees and displaced populations

I am absolutely thrilled to be coming to UNC because of the community-engaged work that is being done across the different information science and data science disciplines by SDIS faculty and students. That work reflects something I believe deeply: that our research and teaching should be in relationship with the communities we conduct research with and serve, not at a distance from them. Seeing that commitment shared across so many areas of the school tells me this is a place where that value is structural, not just aspirational.

Jing Zhao

SDIS teaching assistant professor, with research focused on helping organizations leverage data and AI to improve decision-making

I hope my work helps students develop the confidence and curiosity to thrive in a rapidly evolving world shaped by data and AI. Beyond learning technical skills, I want students to become critical thinkers, effective collaborators and responsible leaders who can use technology to solve societal problems.

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