Four Data Science Faculty Members Receive Endowed Chairs
The University of Virginia’s School of Data Science is pleased to announce that four faculty members have been awarded endowed chairs.
Endowed chairs are awarded to faculty “who make outstanding contributions to the School,” wrote Phil Bourne, founding dean of the School of Data Science, in a February statement announcing the honors. The moves became official after they were recently approved by UVA’s Board of Visitors.
Each of the newly endowed faculty chairs has made a significant impact on the academic programs of the School of Data Science and its research agenda. All four will now have the title of Quantitative Foundation Associate Professor in Data Science.
- Stephen Baek joined UVA’s faculty in 2021. An applied geometer, scientist, and entrepreneur, Baek studies the space of shapes using machine learning and has an extensive body of published research.
- Jonathan Kropko came to the School of Data Science in 2019 after serving as an assistant professor in UVA’s Department of Politics for six years. Kropko serves as program director for the online master’s degree in data science and also leads Code for Charlottesville.
- Sheng Li joined the School of Data Science in 2022 after serving for four years as an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Georgia. Li’s research focuses on artificial intelligence, and his long-term goal is to develop intelligent systems in open, dynamic environments.
- Brian Wright is director of undergraduate programs for the School of Data Science. Wright joined the UVA faculty in 2019 and has led efforts to develop the data science minor and the recently approved major, which will admit its first cohort of students this fall.
The endowment for faculty chairs was provided by the Quantitative Foundation’s $120 million donation to form the School of Data Science, the largest private gift in UVA’s history.
