Faculty & Staff

Elke A. Rundensteiner
Professor
As founding Director of the interdisciplinary Data Science program here at WPI, I take great pleasure in doing all in my power to support the Data Science community in all its facets from research collaborations, new educational initiatives to our innovative Graduate Qualifying projects at the graduate level.
Having served as primary advisor and mentor of over 35 PhD students who have secured successful professional careers in computing, I'm proud of all the great accomplishments of students I have had the opportunity to collaborate with. ... View Profile

Mohamed Y. Eltabakh
Associate Professor
Professor Eltabakh’s research is in the broad area of Database Management Systems and Information Management. In particular, his work is in the areas of query processing and optimization, indexing techniques, scientific data management, and large-scale data analytics. Prof. Eltabakh is currently exploring possible extensions to both database management systems and Hadoop framework to support scientific applications and health-care systems. He is a member of the Database Systems Research Group (DSRG) and a faculty member of the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) program. ... View Profile

Fatemeh Emdad
Teaching Professor-Data Science
Professor Fatemeh Emdad completed her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Applied Mathematics at Colorado State University. She is the recipient of the top-ranked student academic award from the President of Shiraz University. She is the author of the book High Dimensional Data Analysis and more than 20 journal and conference articles. She completed her postdoctoral degree with the University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Hospital for Children Burn Unit when she was the NIH postdoctoral scientist fellow (under Ruth L. ... View Profile

Torumoy Ghoshal
Assistant Teaching Professor
During his doctoral research efforts, Dr. Ghoshal developed three novel methods to expand the usability of convolutional neural networks beyond image data. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Science with a Computer Science major from the University of Mississippi in 2020. He then joined Lyon College as a Visiting Assistant Professor and led the development of their brand new data science program. His research interests include feature engineering, deep learning, and natural language processing. ... View Profile

Lane T. Harrison
Associate Professor-Computer Science
Information visualization is a powerful means for understanding data and informing human minds. As people begin to rely on visualizations to make high-impact and even life-critical decisions, there is a growing need to ensure that information can be perceived accurately and precisely. My research addresses these challenges by leveraging cognitive and perceptual principles to quantify and model user performance with visualizations. ... View Profile

Xiangnan Kong
Associate Professor-Computer Science
Professor Kong’s research interests focus on data mining and machine learning, with emphasis on addressing the data science problems in biomedical and social applications. Data today involves an increasing number of data types that need to be handled differently from conventional data records, and an increasing number of data sources that need to be fused together. Dr. Kong is particularly interested in designing algorithms to tame data variety issues in various research fields, such as biomedical research, social computing, neuroscience, and business intelligence. ... View Profile

Nima Kordzadeh
Assistant Professor
Dr. Kordzadeh joined the faculty of the Business School at WPI in July 2017. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration with an emphasis on Information Technology from the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests include health informatics, social media, information privacy, and business intelligence and analytics. ... View Profile

Kyumin Lee
Associate Professor
Dr. Lee’s research interests are in social computing, information retrieval, data science, and cybersecurity over large-scale networked information systems like the Web, social media, crowdfunding, and crowd-based systems. My research focus has both positive and negative dimensions. On one hand, I focus on threats to these systems and design methods to mitigate negative behaviors; on the other, I look for positive opportunities to mine and analyze these systems for developing next generation algorithms and architectures that can empower decision makers.
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Yanhua Li
Associate Professor-Computer Science
My broad research interests are in analyzing, understanding, and making sense of big data generated from various complex networks in many contexts, including urban network analysis, large-scale network data sampling, measurement, online social behavior modeling. My recent research focuses on exploring the challenges in managing and analyzing big data from urban networks, with an ultimate goal of improving human life quality and designing smarter cities. ... View Profile

Associate Professor @ CS and DS
Xiaozhong Liu
Associate Professor
Dr. Xiaozhong Liu is an Associate Professor at Computer Science and Data Science, WPI. Before that, he was Associate Professor at School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering Indiana University Bloomington. His research interests include natural language processing (NLP), text/graph mining, information retrieval/recommendation, metadata, and computational social science. His dissertation at Syracuse University (advisor Dr. Elizabeth D. Liddy) explored an innovative ranking method that weighted the retrieved results by leveraging dynamic community interests. ... View Profile

Oren Mangoubi
Assistant Professor
My research is focused on the design and analysis of fast algorithms for machine learning, optimization and data science. I am especially interested in Markov chain and stochastic gradient-based optimization and sampling algorithms. These algorithms are used to rapidly explore a high-dimensional or non-convex function or probability distribution in applications such as deep learning and Bayesian statistics. I am also very interested in the application of these algorithms to problems in machine learning, data science, theoretical computer science, and statistics. ... View Profile

Chun-Kit Ngan
Assistant Teaching Professor
I completed my Ph.D. in Information Technology from the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University. Before that, I received MBA in Management Information Systems from California State University, Chico and BEng in Electronic Engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology respectively. My teaching interests include Database Management Systems, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Machine/Deep Learning, Data Analytics, Decision Support System, Data Structures, Computational Algorithms, and Software Application Programming. ... View Profile

Randy Clinton Paffenroth
Associate Professor
My research focuses on compressed sensing, machine learning, signal processing, and the interaction between mathematics, computer science and software engineering. My interests range from theoretical results to algorithms for tackling practical applied problems, and I enjoy problems most when mathematical results lead to efficient software implementations for big data. I am looking forward to working with students at all levels and backgrounds who share an interest in mathematics, software, or data. ... View Profile

Carolina Ruiz
Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences
Carolina Ruiz is the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Harold L. Jurist ’61 and Heather E. Jurist Dean's Professor of Computer Science. She joined the WPI faculty in 1997. Prof. Ruiz’s research is in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Mining, and their applications to Medicine and Health. She has worked on several clinical domains including sleep, stroke, obesity and pancreatic cancer. Prof. ... View Profile

Diane M. Strong
Professor & Department Head
WPI provides an environment that values both teaching and research, which is ideal for me. I enjoy teaching at WPI because students are interested in learning and willing to work hard. My teaching focuses on how business, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations can best use computing technologies, such as database systems, electronic health records systems, and mobile apps. Students in my classes learn to design computing applications that meet the needs of organizations. ... View Profile

Andrew C Trapp
Associate Professor
I am Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), with courtesy professorships in Mathematical Sciences and Data Science. I hold a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. My objective is to use science and technology to assist real human need by improving systems that serve vulnerable peoples, such as refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of human trafficking, and children in the foster care system. ... View Profile

Seyed A. Zekavat
Professor
Seyed A. (Reza) Zekavat received his PhD from Colorado State University in 2002. He is the Author of the textbook "Electrical Engineering: Concepts and Applications" published by Pearson, and the editor of the book “Handbook of Position Location: Theory, Practice and Advances,” published by Wiley/IEEE. He holds a patent on an active Wireless Remote Positioning System. ... View Profile

Frank Zou
Associate Professor-Mathematical Science
Professor Zou's research focuses on financial time series and spatial statistics with applications to epidemiology, public health and climate change. His most recent research on statistical theory and methodology addressed a wide range of challenges including high dimensionality, complex dependencies, and space and time variations. His research in high-frequency financial data tackled problems with high dimensionality, which is currently a hot topic in statistics. ... View Profile
Affiliated Faculty
NAME | DEPARTMENT / PROGRAM |
---|---|
Emmanuel O. Agu, | Computer Science, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology |
Ivon Arroyo, | Social Science and Policy Studies, Learning Sciences and Technologies |
Nathaniel Drew Bastian | Data Science |
Joseph Beck | Computer Science, Learning Sciences and Technologies |
Marcel Y. Blais | Mathematical Sciences |
Donald Brown | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Luca Capogna | Mathematical Sciences |
Ki H. Chon | Biomedical Engineering |
Soussan Djamasbi | The Business School |
Jim Doyle | Social Science and Policy Studies |
Thomas Eisenbarth | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Michael Elmes | The Business School |
Brenton Faber | Humanities & Arts |
Loris Fichera | Robotics Engineering and Biomedical Engineering |
Tian Guo | Computer Science |
Adrienne Hall-Phillips | The Business School |
Neil T. Heffernan | Computer Science, Learning Sciences and Technologies |
Micha Hofri | Computer Science |
Xinming Huang | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Mayer Humi | Mathematical Sciences |
Sharon Johnson | The Business School |
Chickery Kasouf | The Business School |
Renata Konrad | The Business School |
Dmitry Korkin | Computer Science |
Lifeng Lai | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Roger Liu | Mathematical Sciences |
Yehia Massoud | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Fabienne Miller | The Business School |
Rodica Neamtu | Computer Science |
Sarah D. Olson | Mathematical Sciences |
Joseph Petruccelli | Mathematical Sciences |
Michael Radzicki | Social Science and Policy Studies |
Elizabeth Ryder | Biology & Biotechnology, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology |
Adam Sales | Mathematical Sciences |
Marcus Sarkis | Mathematical Sciences |
Gabor Sarkozy | Computer Science |
Stephan Sturm | Mathematical Sciences |
Berk Sunar | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Dalin Tang | Mathematical Sciences |
Steven Taylor | The Business School |
Bengisu Tulu | The Business School |
Bogdan Vernescu | Mathematical Sciences |
Justin Wang | The Business School |
Jacob Whitehill | Computer Science |
E. Vance Wilson | The Business School |
Zheyang Wu, fall 2016 | Mathematical Sciences, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology |
Amy Zeng | The Business School |
Ziming Zhang | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
Joe Zhu | The Business School |
Professor Emeritus
NAME | DEPARTMENT / PROGRAM |
---|---|
Domokos Vermes |
Mathematical Sciences |
Homer F. Walker | Mathematical Sciences |
Administrative Staff

Pamela Paskalis

Mary Racicot
Administrative Assistant VI
Email: mracicot@wpi.edu
Office: Unity Hall, 27 Boynton Street, Worcester, MA 01609 | Office 366
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x4883
Data Science
WPI Unity Hall, 366
27 Boynton Street, Worcester, MA 01609
mracicot@wpi.edu
508.831.4883
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