AFFILIATES

Yared Alemu

Adjunct – Morehouse School of Medicine

yalemu@tqintelligence.com

Bio: Dr. Alemu leads the effort with The Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Program at Morehouse School of Medicine to build a Computational Psychiatric Program to ensure this emerging area of research and clinical practice includes BIPOC and other marginalized communities. This program aims to foster innovative computational approaches to identify and validate novel mechanisms, biomarkers, and treatment targets relevant to preventing and treating psychiatric disorders. As the Founder and CEO of TQIntelligence, Dr. Alemu’s digital mental health solutions address the stubborn disparities in mental health treatment outcomes.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Computational Neuro, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Mustapha Alhassan

BSW Program Director/Associate Professor of Social Work – Clark Atlanta University

malhassan@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Alhassan is the Director of the BSW Program and Associate Professor at Clark Atlanta University. His research interests include health disparities and its impact on minorities and human trafficking.

Interests: Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction, Data-driven Urban Planning and Sustainability

Karcheik Sims-Alvarado

Assistant Professor and Director of Public History and Historic Preservation – Morehouse College

falechiondro.sims@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado performs empirically based research to understand African Americans' quest for freedom more fully during the 19th-century Emigration Movement to Africa, the antebellum and Reconstruction years, and the long Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Sims-Alvarado is leading the study to examine quantitative and qualitative data on behalf of the Fulton County Reparations Task Force, the only county-led reparations task force in the United States.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Mentewab Ayalew

Associate Professor of Biology – Spelman College

mayalew@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Mentewab Ayalew is an Associate Professor of Biology at Spelman College and is on the faculty advisory board of the AUC Data Science Initiative. Her research examines antibiotic production by soil bacteria and resistance mechanisms in plants. She uses a variety of data science tools for sequence analysis and mathematical modeling to interrogate the plant microbiome and the effect of antibiotics on plants. She has put considerable emphasis on the integration of research, teaching and student development as well as supporting an ecosystem that enables Teacher-Scholars at a liberal arts institution. Dr. Ayalew is also the co-director of the Living and Learning in and Interdisciplinary Community of STEM Scholars (LINCS), a program initiated in fall 2015 to foster the intellectual engagement and provide mentoring and development opportunities to students in STEM.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining; High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation; Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Jennifer Baker

Assistant Director of Programs & Special Projects – Morehouse College

jennifer.baker@morehouse.edu

Bio: Professor Jennifer Baker manages projects that educate and elevate economic development for Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color. She has over 30 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and nonprofit management, with executive-level roles in the arts and education.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

H. Justin Ballenger

Assistant Professor of STEM & Innovation – Morehouse College

dr.justin.ballenger@gmail.com

Bio: Dr. H. Justin Ballenger is an Assistant Professor of STEM & Innovation in the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at Morehouse College, where his research focuses on broadening participation in STEM. His ongoing projects with community-based organizations engage K-12 students in data science.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Education - K-12

Peter Baltrus

Associate Professor of Community Health and Preventative Medicine – Morehouse School of Medicine

pbaltrus@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Baltrus is a social epidemiologist that studies racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic health disparities across a wide-range of outcomes using many data sources including: Medicaid Claims data, nationally representative data sets, and data collected via the Morehouse‐Emory Center for Health Equity(MECA).

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Brian Bentley

Associate Dean/Assistant Professor – Clark Atlanta University

bbentley@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Brian Bentley has a vast experience in higher education and has held positions such as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Campus Director of Academic Operation, Department Chair for Digital Filmmaking & Video Production/ Visual Effects & Motion Graphics, Co-Director of Broadcast Training, Faculty, and is currently the Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences teaching in Mass Media Arts. In addition, Dr. Bentley has worked in television news as a news producer while sharing time in production. He has worked in video post-production as a film colorist and currently works as an independent documentary filmmaker, educational trainer, and consultant

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Social Networking, Communication and Emerging Media

Mitchell A. Blount

Associate Project Director of Research – Morehouse School of Medicine

mblount@msm.edu

Bio: Mitchell A. Blount, MPH, PMP is an experienced epidemiologist, researcher, and project administrator with 15 years of experience working with diverse populations and health practitioners. He leads projects that address inequities and advance health equity as Associate Project Director of Research at the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine. He currently leads the Digital Health Tools Study (DHTS) which assesses the rapid adoption/use of digital health tools (DHTs) such as telemedicine, electronic health records, patient portals, and more, by primary care clinicians in the Southeastern US.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Bryan Briones

STEM Reference Librarian – Robert W. Woodruff AUC Library

bbriones@auctr.edu

Bio: Bryan Briones is STEM Librarian at the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library. He earned his Master's in Library & Information Science at the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at San Diego State University.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Derrick Brooms

Executive Director – Morehouse College

derrick.brooms@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Derrick Brooms is Executive Director of the Black Men’s Research Institute and Professor of Africana Studies at Morehouse College. His research primarily centers on the lived experiences of Black boys and men, with a particular focus on their pathways to and through college as well as on their academic trajectories, engagement on campus, identity development, and persistence.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Shena Leverett Brown

Assistant Professor & Project Director – Whitney M. Young School of Social Work

sbrown@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work and serves as the Project Director for the HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health and Co-Director for the Substance Use Disorders Education and Leadership Scholars (SUDEALS) Program. Her research integrates the art and science of social work, race-based stress, and behavioral health disparities.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Rico Chapman

Assistant Dean/Director – Clark Atlanta University

rchapman@cau.edu

Bio: Rico Chapman serves as Assistant Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences and Director of the Humanities Ph.D. Program at Clark Atlanta University. He is a Professor of History in the Department of African American Studies, Africana Women’s Studies and History. His research interests include student movements, public history, and digital humanities. He has directed multiple projects totaling over two million dollars from agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Park Service, Microsoft and the Mellon Foundation. He is founding director of the Center for Africana Digital Humanities.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Digital Arts and Humanities

Ryan Clark

Director – Undergraduate Medical Education/Educational Outreach and Health Careers

ryanclark@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Ryan Clark serves as the Director of Morehouse School of Medicine’s Office for Educational Outreach and Health Careers which houses all MSM’s K-Medical pathway programs. In this role, he leads efforts to develop disruptive science and healthcare education training programs that focuses on preparing students for the future of work. He also works to advance MSM’s mission to increase the number of individuals underrepresented in medicine, the health professions, and the scientific workforce by providing pathway programs designed to enhance educational opportunities in STEAM disciplines, data science education, intensify exposure to cutting edge biomedical and public health research, and provide preparation for successful application to and matriculation in schools emphasizing careers in the health professions.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Jessica Coates

Lecturer – Spelman College

jessicacoates@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Jessica Coates is a health data analyst with over ten years of experience in academic, government, and industry settings. Dr. Coates graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Spelman College and her Ph.D. at Emory University.

Interests: Data Privacy and Privacy-preserving Computation and Biostatistics and Public Health

Elycia Daniel

Instructor of Sociology and Criminal Justice – Clark Atlanta University

edaniel@cau.edu

Bio: I am currently a Criminal Justice Instructor in the W. E. B. Dubois Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Clark Atlanta University.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Sonya Dennis

Assistant Professor of Computer Science – Morehouse College

sonya.dennis@morehouse.edu

Bio: Computer Science is my professional background and I have worked in this field both in industry and academia.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Nirajan Dhakal

Assistant Professor of Environmental and Health Sciences – Spelman College

ndhakal@spelman.edu

Bio: I am an Assistant Professor of Environmental and Health Sciences Program at Spelman College.

Interests: High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Michael Dillon

Chair and Professor of Spanish – Morehouse College

michael.dillon@morehouse.edu

Bio: Michael Dillon is a Professor of Spanish at Morehouse College and Chair of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages. His graduate studies include a Ph.D. in Romance Languages, an M.A. in Spanish Applied Linguistics, and an M.A. in Educational Technology. His research focuses on three areas. The first area builds on my dissertation research related to Ecuadorian cinema within the broader Latin American cinematic context; the second expands his research in other regional cinemas and their visual representations; and the third pertains to educational technology and applied linguistics, which is the impact of study abroad and online education in language acquisition.

Interests: Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction; Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining; Operating Systems and Networking

Michael Douglas

Assistant Professor & Chair – Morehouse College

michael.douglas@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Michael Douglas is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Sports Studies, and Physical Education at Morehouse College and a teaching associate in graduate education in Public Health at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Douglas’s research and interests include the Fibular Head Repositioning Technique and Mulligan Concept Mobilizations with Movement, pain reduction in patients with chronic ankle instability, and athletic training as an access point to health care.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Hari Drayton

Program Director, Online Education and Extended Programs – Morehouse School of Medicine

hdrayton@msm.edu

Bio: He is the Program Director for the Master of Administration in Justice Involved Care at Morehouse School of Medicine and a Professor at Monroe College, where he teaches in the Criminal and Social Justice Department. Dr. Drayton is a former Correction Academy Instructor. He is a Transformational Leader and Visionary who worked on redesigning some Department of Correction policies to improve outcomes with the former Commissioner and members of the New York City Mayor’s Office. His interests include examining algorithms and data to ensure that everyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system is treated fairly and the system fosters inequality.

Interests: Cyber Security of Computer Systems and Networks and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Kinnis Gosha

Hortinius I. Chenault Endowed Division Chair – Morehouse College

kinnis.gosha@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Kinnis Gosha is the Hortinius I. Chenault Endowed Division Chair for Experiential Learning & Interdisciplinary Studies, Associate Professor of Computer Science, and Director of the Culturally Relevant Computer Lab at Morehouse College. Dr. Gosha’s research interests include conversational agents, social media data analytics, computer science education, broadening participation in computing, and culturally relevant computing. Gosha also leads Morehouse’s new Software Engineering degree program where he builds collaborations with industry partners to provide his students with a variety of experiential learning experiences. To date, Dr. Gosha has accrued over $20 million in sponsored research funding, 20 federal awards, and over 60 peer-reviewed research publications.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining; Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction; Computational Optimization, Decision, and Control Systems

Keith Hollingsworth

Professor – Morehouse College

kholling@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Keith Hollingsworth, is a Professor of Business Administration at Morehouse College who was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University’s Keller Center in 2022-2023. At Morehouse, he teaches courses on Black Entrepreneurial History, Data Analytics and Modeling, and Production/Operations Management. Dr. Hollingsworth received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1990, 1992 and 1995 respectively. Research interests include Black Business History and Student Development. Current work focuses on building a dataset of Black businesses in Atlanta during the time frame surrounding the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Social Networking, Communication and Emerging Media

Ernest Holmes

Google-in-Residence Professor – Morehouse College

ernest@thecodehouse.org

Bio: Ernest Holmes is a 2019 graduate of Morehouse College with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. He currently works as a Software Engineer at Google, and serves as President of CodeHouse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on supporting students of color to the tech industry.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Systems and Cloud Computing

Jammie Hopkins

Assistant Professor – Morehouse School of Medicine

jhopkins@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Hopkins is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA. His research interests center on policy, systems, and environmental change approaches to prioritize and re-engineer physical activity, healthy eating, and other lifestyle behaviors in community, organizational, and clinical settings.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Biostatistics and Public Health

Angelita Howard

Assistant Dean – Morehouse School of Medicine

ahoward@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Angelita Howard serves as Assistant Dean for Online Education and Expanded Programs and an Assistant Professor at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), where she has been integral in the development and implementation of strategic plans in collaboration with academic staff for new and ongoing online program expansion. Her current research includes faculty teaching and learning, self-directed studies, adaptive leadership and engagement in biotechnology and health informatics industries workforce development, resulting in the Master of Science in Biotechnology that she directs ranking #1 in the country.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining; Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence; Data Privacy and Privacy-preserving Computation

Muhammad Idris

Founding Co-Director Center of Excellence on Data Standards in Clinical Medicine – Morehouse School of Medicine

myidris@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Muhammad Idris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine and the Founding Co-Director of the Center of Excellence on Data Standards in Clinical Medicine. Trained as a computational social scientist, Dr. Idris’ work combines data science and community-based research methods to study how structural and environmental factors impact health disparities. This includes research on designing Behavioral Intervention Technologies (BITs) for chronic disease self-management, using natural language processing to analyze patient-provider interactions, and leading data science research and implementation across several projects.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Lyrric Jackson

Adjunct Professor of Dance – Spelman College

ljacks@spelman.edu

Bio: Lyrric Jackson is an American choreographer and multidisciplinary visual artist with work that extends across art media via collaborative projects. She is an Adjunct Professor at Spelman College where her current area of research focuses on the geographically driven data that depicts the changes, crossings, and displacements of ritualistic and traditional Central and East African dance forms that have evolved since 1990 and have been influenced by natural and forced migrations. She is also a certified Carpentries Instructor and is qualified to teach their data science workshops.

Interests: Computer Architectures, Languages, Compilers, and System Software; Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence; Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining


Hye Ryeon Jang

Assistant Professor – Morehouse College

hyeryeon.jang@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Hye Ryeon Jang is an assistant professor of Political Science at Morehouse College who received a Ph.D. degree in political science at the University of Florida. Primary research interests include international security, energy politics, and Chinese foreign policy. Political methodology employs multilevel analysis, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, spatial network analysis, remote sensing, survival analysis, maximum likelihood estimation, text analysis, and mixed methods.

Kenya Jones

Associate Professor of Social Work – Clark Atlanta University

kjones1@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Jones, an associate professor tenured faculty member within the Whitney M. Young, School of Social Work.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Lakeshia Jones

Associate Professor – Clark Atlanta University

ljones3@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Lakeshia Legette Jones is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Clark Atlanta University. Her research interests are in general topology and topological data analysis, focusing on racial disparities in health outcomes. She is also interested in educational and outreach initiatives that broaden the participation of students of color in STEM.

Interests: Theoretic and Algorithmic Foundations of Data Science and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Erdi Kara

Assistant Professor of Mathematics – Spelman College

erdikara@spelman.edu

Bio: I am an assistant professor of Mathematics at Spelman College. My research focuses on numerical partial differential equations applied to problems arising in fluid dynamics and mathematical oncology. In addition, I study applications of neural networks in computer vision.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Michael Burns-Kaurin

Associate Professor of Physics – Spelman College

mburns-k@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Michael Burns-Kaurin has taught at Spelman for over 25 years. Among his teaching techniques is the use of computing for simulations and animations.

Interests: High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Youseung Kim

Associate Professor of Social Work – Clark Atlanta University

ykim2@cau.edu

Bio: Youseung Kim, MSW, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor with tenure of Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work, and an Affiliate Faculty to the Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development at Clark Atlanta University. Through participating in numerous research projects including the projects he served as a PI, he has been improving the expertise in developing a feasible research design, data management and analysis skills, and administration of research projects. His research interests evolve around social determinants of health disparity in the underrepresented communities, and cultural influences on health beliefs and behaviors among African American males.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Ivis King

Assistant Professor of Social Work – Clark Atlanta University

iking@cau.edu

Bio: Prior to my current role as Assistant Professor at Clark Atlanta University, in the WMYJ School of Social Work, I worked for approximately 17 years with the Georgia Human Services-Division of Family and Children Services.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Cliff Landis

Digital Initiatives Librarian – ROBERT W. WOODRUFF AUC LIBRARY

jlandis@auctr.edu

Bio: Cliff Landis is Digital Initiatives Librarian at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library. His research interests include linked open data, archival technologies, digitization, metadata, and the coevolution of humanity and technology.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, Data Privacy and Privacy-preserving Computation, Computational Logic and Formal Methods in Computing

Celeste Lee

Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Spelman Census Information Center – Spelman College

clee@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Celeste N. Lee is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Spelman College. She also serves as director of Spelman's Census Information Center. Her current research draws upon survey data and statistical analysis to explore the role that nurses play in mitigating/exacerbating racial disparities in healthcare outcomes.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

James Lillard

Professor of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology & Senior Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, and Commercialization – Morehouse School of Medicine

jlillard@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Lillard has authored over 300 scientific communications, including over 50 patents, focused on immunology, nanotechnology, and oncology. He established the Office of Translational Technologies, where he serves as its Director.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Kristie Lipford

Assistant Professor – Clark Atlanta University

klipford-wyatt@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Kristie Lipford Wyatt is a social epidemiologist with specialized training in health disparities, clinical research, and chronic diseases. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Transplantation, Clinical Transplantation, Journal of Rural and Urban Research, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and the edited text Black Men’s Health. Teaching specialties include study design and urban health, and research interests are in maternal and child health, firearm injury prevention, and the effects of the built environment on health.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Biostatistics and Public Health

Jarrod Lockhart

Associate Director, Office for Educational Outreach & Health Careers (EOHC) Pipeline Initiatives & Director & Co-PI, Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) Academy & Instructor – Department of Community Health & Preventive Medicine

jlockhart@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Jarrod Wesley Lockhart is Associate Director of Pipeline Initiatives in the Office for Educational Outreach and Health Careers at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). He is an instructor and faculty in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Lockhart also is Director and Co-Principal Investigator and provides administrative leadership and oversight to the Health Careers Opportunity Program (H.C.O.P.) Academy at MSM. H.C.O.P.’s structured programs of instruction, mentoring, tutoring, and other educational experiences are designed to enhance academic achievement, expand skills, and enhance interest and achievement towards a healthcare/biomedical science career to increase the number of healthcare professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds—targeting high school, college, graduate, and medical students. Dr. Lockhart works to enhance all K-20 pipeline programs designed to provide educational opportunities in STEAM disciplines, intensify exposure to cutting-edge biomedical and public health research, and prepare for successful application to and matriculation emphasizing careers in the health professions.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Binod Manandhar

Assistant Professor in Department of Mathematical Sciences – Clark Atlanta University

bmanandhar@cau.edu

Bio: An assistant professor, Dr. Binod Manandhar, department of Mathematical Sciences at Clark Atlanta University is a Bayesian Statistician. His current research focuses on Bayesian methodology. He has worked on hierarchical Bayesian models like models for continuously and positively skewed and noisy data. He earned his master’s degree in statistics from the University of North Florida and PhD in statistics from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Before, he worked as a postdoc scholar at the City University of New York, Michigan State University and University of Houston. At University of Houston, he taught statistics to the Master of Science in Statistics and Data Science program.

Interests: Biostatistics, High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Eric Mintz

Professor of Chemistry & Special Assistant to the Provost for Strategic Initiatives – Clark Atlanta University

emintz@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Mintz is a full professor of chemistry at Clark Atlanta University. His research focuses on the preparation and characterization of polymer matrix composites (PMCs), emphasizing bio-based PMCs.

Interests: Materials data science and informatics to accelerate materials innovation

Whitney Nelson

Research Scientist – Morehouse College

whitneylarose.11@gmail.com

Bio: Whitney Nelson is a computer science HBCU alumni who recently acquired a graduate degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Georgia Tech. She has launched her career at Morehouse researching HBCU computer science outreach and developing a curriculum for broadening participation programs to expose more Black students to computing.

Interests: Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction and Education - Post-graduate

Rosaline Odom

Assistant Director, Research, Learning, and Technology Services – Robert W. Woodruff AUC Library

rodom@auctr.edu

Bio: Rosaline Odom is Assistant Director of Research, Learning & Technology Services at the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library. She graduated from Fisk University (B.A., Chemistry) and also earned M.S. degrees in Chemistry and Library Science (Clark Atlanta University).

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Tiffany Oliver

Associate Professor and Chair – Department of Biology - Spelman College

toliver4@spelman.edu

Bio: Celebrated for her TedxTalk - Creating diverse and equitable initiatives in data science, Tiffany Oliver is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Biology Department at Spelman College (Atlanta, GA). Dr. Oliver is a Carnegie and Rockefeller Distinguished Research Scholar and received her Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Emory University. Her research, funded by the Department of Defense, aims to understand how near infrared light can be used to heal wounds. Outside of conducting research, Dr. Oliver is passionate about increasing diversity in the field of data science. She currently directs several undergraduate research programs which provide collegiate black women with the training and expertise needed to acquire jobs in the field of data science. Her passion resides in mentoring and sustaining minority students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), by studying and evaluating the best practices for people of color who are interested in pursuing careers in research and medicine.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction

Brad Ost

Head of Reference Services – AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library

bost@auctr.edu

Bio: Brad Ost is the Head of the Reference Services Department and also subject liaison in the areas of theology and philosophy at the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Robert W. Woodruff Library in Atlanta, Georgia. Brad is the Chair of the Scholarly Communications and Open Access Working Group and works with this group to advance Open Access, Data Management, and OER awareness across the AUC campuses.

Interests: Data Privacy and Privacy-preserving Computation and Education - K-12

Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde

Associate Professor of Public Administration – Clark Atlanta University

ooyerinde@cau.edu

Bio: Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde has a Ph.D. in Public and Environmental Affairs from Indiana University (#1 in Best Public Affairs Programs). Apart from being a former Ph.D. student of Elinor Ostrom (2009 Nobel prize winner in Economics) and Amos Sawyer (former Liberian president), Oyerinde is the 2016 Best Public Administration Professor. Teaching is a joy to Oyerinde as he facilitates student success in Public Affairs and Data Analysis. He has published and presented on issues including data science application in public administration, land rights, economic development, and democratic governance.

Interests: Theoretic and Algorithmic Foundations of Data Science; Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining; Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Tinaz Pavri

Professor of Political Science & Division Chair for Social Sciences and Education – Spelman College

tpavri@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Tinaz Pavri is the Division Chair for Social Sciences and Education at Spelman College and the Founding Director of the Asian Studies Program. She is a professor of Political Science. Her research and publication interests, including elements of data science, lie in the area of conflict resolution, national identity and globalization in South Asia.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Chuang Peng

Professor of Mathematics and Computational Sciences – Morehouse College

chuang.peng@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Chuang Peng, professor of Mathematics at More house College, graduated from University of Georgia in 1995 and joined Morehouse since then, and taught a wide range of mathematics courses from freshmen to seniors.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Yvonne Phillips

Adjunct Professor of Computer Science – Morehouse College

yvonne.phillips@morehouse.edu

Bio: Professor Yvonne Phillips is a Data Science creative who has designed data modeling processes to create algorithms and predictive models and perform custom analysis. She has contributed to the security practices of the US government and has crafted solutions being used currently in insurance ratings.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Matthew Platt

Associate Professor of Political Science – Morehouse College

matthew.platt@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Matthew Platt builds and analyzes datasets about congressional behavior from 1947 to the present to study how Congress pays attention to black issues. Dr. Platt emphasizes the importance of reproducibility in data science through his teaching of undergraduate research methods and the senior capstone course.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Computational Social and Political Sciences

Teri Platt

Associate Professor of Public Administration – Clark Atlanta University

tplatt@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Teri Platt is interested in the capacity of data science to explore questions of social justices, racial disparities and justice in areas of public health and political participation.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Jamie Pleasant

Professor of Marketing & Dean of Graduate Education – Clark Atlanta University

jpleasant@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Jamie Pleasant earned a Ph.D. in management from Georgia Tech, an MBA from Clark Atlanta University, and a bachelor’s degree in marketing studies from Clemson University. He is a lifetime member of Mensa International.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

John Porter

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow & Adjunct Professor – Morehouse College

john.porter@morehouse.edu

Bio: John Porter III currently serves as Deputy Director of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab specializing in using technology to inform, support, and drive decisions needed to better underrepresented communities. His primary interests as it relates to Data Science are mapping data across time to pick up on patterns, ethical and safety considerations, and finding ways to make sure more data more accurately reflects our society completely and accurately.

Interests: Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction; Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence; Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Angelia Pressley

Instructor of Management – Clark Atlanta University

angeliapressley@gmail.com

Bio: Professor Angelia Pressley has been a business owner for 23 years with an interest in using data as the basis for public relations and marketing decisions.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Alexander Quarshie

Professor and Director of Biomedical Informatics, Community Health and Preventive Medicine/Clinical Research Center – Morehouse School of Medicine

aquarshie@msm.edu

Bio: Alexander Quarshie,MD, MS, FGCPS, is a Professor of Biomedical Informatics in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine (CHPM), and the Clinical Research Center (CRC) at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), and is on the Faculty Advisory Board of the AUC Data Science initiative. He currently serves as director of the Biomedical Informatics Program at MSM and Co-Director of the Informatics Program of the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (Georgia CTSA). He is also the director of the MSM Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) program, and has trained and mentored several Under-Represented Minority (URM) physicians, medical students, PhD students and public health students to become clinical and translational research scientists, data scientists and public health experts with a focus on diseases that disproportionately affect minority populations.

Rosetta Ross

Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies – Spelman College

rross@spelman.edu

Bio: Rosetta E. Ross is professor of religion at Spelman College. Exploring religious meaning in black women’s activism, she pioneered scholarship on spirituality in black women’s civil rights participation.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Seyhan Salman

Assistant Professor of Chemistry – Clark Atlanta University

ssalman@cau.edu

Bio: Theoretical and computational chemist with a strong interdisciplinary research background in partnership with academia and industry.

Interests: High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation

Fernando Esquivel-Suarez

Assistant Professor of English – Spelman College

fesquive@spelman.edu

Bio: Fernando Esquivel-Suárez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Interests: Data visualization

Perry Sweeper

Professor of Practice in Experiential Learning and Interdisciplinary Studies – Morehouse College

perry.sweeper@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Perry Sweeper is a Professor of Practice in the Division of Experiential Learning and Interdisciplinary Studies at Morehouse College

Interests: Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction

Yonas Tekle

Associate Professor of Biology – Spelman College

ytekle@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Yonas Tekle’s lab implements the basic principles of evolution to study the diversity, origin, and relationships of medical and nonmedical microbes. Dr. Tekle is particularly interested in integrating bioinformatics/phylogenetics with mathematical modeling to understand the evolution and epidemics of infectious diseases.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Daniel Teodorescu

Professor of Educational Leadership – Clark Atlanta University

dteodorescu@cau.edu

Bio: Daniel Teodorescu is a professor of Educational Leadership at CAU. For 27+ years, he has served in a variety of leadership roles in institutional research, evaluation, and assessment at NJIT, College of Charleston, Emory University, Hunter College, Reinhardt University, and CAU. At CAU, he has been a Co- PI for three NSF grants focused on increasing STEM graduation rates. He also serves as a member of the AUC K-12 Data Science Working Group. Within the CAU Higher Education doctoral program, he redesigned the Quantitative Methods course as a DS course that uses Tableau and R as the main data analysis tools.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining and Education - Post-graduate

Bhikhari Tharu

Assistant Professor of Mathematics – Spelman College

btharu@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Bhikhari Tharu’s primary interests are statistical analysis and modeling. These include Bayesian statistical analysis, epidemiology of cancer, environmental statistics, survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, and functional data analysis.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Mila Turner

Assistant Professor – Clark Atlanta University

mturner@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Mila Turner is a broadly trained sociologist with a profound commitment to addressing environmental justice, racial disparities, and social inequalities to foster a more equitable and inclusive society.. Dr. Turner’s expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods empowers her to explore pressing societal issues with a human-centered, data-driven approach.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Ethell Vereen

Assistant Professor – Biology/STEM Division - Morehouse College

Ethell.Vereen@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Ethell Vereen (he, him, his) completed undergraduate studies at SC State University where he majored in Biology. An internship with the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS) introduced him to the wonders of research beyond the classroom. Dr. Vereen went on to earn a M.S. in Environmental Health, and PhD in Ecology, both from the University of Georgia. As a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University, he was in the Fellowship In Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) Program that combined a traditional mentored postdoctoral research experience with an experience to develop teaching skills. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Morehouse College with a STEM Education focus on diversity and inclusion in natural resources, and a research focus on microbial ecology, environmental health, water quality, and environmental justice. Dr. Vereen recognizes that understanding, communicating about, and addressing environmental challenges and climate change is a large-scale and multifaceted information challenge that information and data science methodologies can and should help address.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation, Operating Systems and Networking

Sarah Vinson

Professor & Chair – Morehouse School of Medicine

svinson@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson, M.D. is Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Morehouse School of Medicine. She is a triple-board certified Child & Adolescent, Adult, and Forensic psychiatrist working with a multi-disciplinary group to establish a Computational Psych. section at MSM. Her interest in data science spans clinical applications, the quantification of adverse social determinants of health on population mental health, and ethics and equity in algorithms.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Computational Neuro, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Mary Van Vleet

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry – Spelman College

mary.vanvleet@spelman.edu

Bio: Dr. Mary Van Vleet research interest is computational chemistry, addressing topics from materials design to protein folding and drug screening. The Van Vleet Lab uses molecular dynamics (the process of solving Newton’s equations of motion for molecular systems) to simulate a wide variety of non-covalent chemical interactions, with an emphasis on problems of industrial and/or biological relevance. This includes the development of accurate and broadly-applicable models for intermolecular interactions. Work in the Lab is inherently multi-disciplinary, and projects engage students in the physics of intermolecular interactions and the tools of data science, scientific computing and molecular modeling.

Interests: High-Performance Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation and Computational Physics, Chemistry, and Material Sciences

Jerry Vlocy

Co-Director of Spelman Innovation Lab – Spelman College

jvolcy@spelman.edu

Bio: Jerry Volcy is co-Director of the Spelman Innovation Lab (www.spelman.edu/innovation), where he is leading the effort to stand up the first ever game design and development minor at an HBCU. Dr. Volcy is the prior Brown-Simmons professor of Computer Science at Spelman and the prior Deputy Director of the AUC Data Science Initiative. Prior to arriving at Spelman, Dr. Volcy spent 19 years as a firmware engineer focused on developing scientific instruments for the fiber optics, robotics, and medical devices industries His current areas of interest include VR-based purposeful game design and development, STEM education and quantum information systems.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Digital Arts and Humanities

Shanise Walker

Assistant Professor – Mathematical Sciences - Clark Atlanta University

swalker@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Shanise Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics Sciences at Clark Atlanta University. Her research interests lie in combinatorics graph theory.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, Theoretic and Algorithmic Foundations of Data Science, Data Privacy and Privacy-preserving Computation

James Washington III

Project Director/Staff Scientist, Cardiovascular Research Institute – Morehouse School of Medicine

jwashington@msm.edu

Bio: Dr. James Washington III is a minister-scientist focused on the development of translational data science approaches to illuminate and mitigate the persistence of health and social disparities. Washington has more than two decades of data science experience encompassing quality control analysis and management engineering within the hospital setting, GIS analysis in public health and resource allocation, and the integration of mobile health tools to facilitate digital epidemiology and chronic care monitoring in underserved populations. He has a strong interest in strengthening the bioethics of data science and health technology and has mentored minority students in health-related STEM and participated in global medical mission work.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Alfred Watkins

Senior Assistant Professor and Academic Program Director of Computer Science – Morehouse College

alfred.watkins@morehouse.edu

Bio: Dr. Alfred Watkins serves as the Academic Program Director of Computer Science at Morehouse College. His research interests include multimedia database systems, data science, and high-performance computing.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Felisha White

Business Intelligence Analyst – Institutional Effectiveness - Spelman College

felishawhite@spelman.edu

Bio: Felisha White is a Business Intelligence Analyst in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Spelman College. Her educational training is in experimental psychology and statistics. She is an analyst, researcher, data visualization storyteller, grant and non-profit evaluator, and a social and behavioral scientist committed to reshaping our communities through data and helping others use data to inform and address equitable, balanced and positive change.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining, Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Myron Williams

Associate Professor of Chemistry – Clark Atlanta University

mnwill@cau.edu

Bio: I am a molecular geneticist and associate professor of chemistry at Clark Atlanta. Although I’ve worked on diverse laboratory projects with agricultural, biomedical, and industrial applications, I believe that computational modeling and simulation of biological phenomena can provide novel insights and dramatically reduce the time and expense associated with “wet lab” experiments. Using genomic and metabolic databases, we are attempting to model the complex microbial communities and metabolic transformations that take place in biogas digesters, a waste-to-energy technology that can have enormous impacts for reducing pollution and energy consumption that cause climate change, as well as alleviating poverty in Africa.

Interests: Computational Medicine, Bioinformatics, and Genomics

Unislawa Williams

Associate Professor of Political Science – Spelman College

uwilliams@spelman.edu

Bio: Unislawa Williams, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Spelman College, where she teaches courses related to data science, quantitative methodology, and research methods. Her research interests focus specifically on the methodology of prediction, the growing role of data science in society, and data ethics.

Interests: Data Ethics

Carla Willis

Adjunct Faculty – Morehouse School of Medicine

cwillis@msm.edu

Bio: Carla Willis, Ph.D., is an applied political scientist who leverages health policy and payment reform to address access and quality of care topics for the Medicaid population. Dr. Willis's work focuses on identifying the ways in which machine learning can be used to remediate misclassification of member-level risk for pregnant persons in the Medicaid program.

Interests: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and Social Justice, Racial Disparities, and Inequities

Kevin Womack

Adjunct Professor of Experiential Learning and Interdisciplinary Studies – Morehouse College

kevin.womack@morehouse.edu

Bio: Kevin Womack is a 2019 graduate of Morehouse College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major inComputer Science and Mathematics.

Interests: Big Data Knowledge Discovery, Management, and Mining

Kurt Young

Associate Professor and Chair – Clark Atlanta University

kyoung@cau.edu

Bio: Dr. Kurt B. Young is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Political Science at Clark Atlanta University (CAU). He received his undergraduate degree in History from the University of Florida, and a M.A. in African and African American Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Clark Atlanta University. Dr. Young’s primary research area is on the subject of Pan- Africanism and Pan-African politics. Additional areas of specialization include Africana political thought, Africana political movements, African and Caribbean political thinkers, and Black politics and political science. Dr. Young currently serves on the Board of the Walter Rodney Foundation and the Arthur Green, Jr. Memorial Foundation.

Interests: Visual and Language Based Human-Computer Interaction and Computational Social and Political Sciences