University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Leadership

Director

Andrew McCallum

The Center for Data Science is directed by Distinguished Professor Andrew McCallum, an international leader in the fields of machine learning, information extraction and social network analysis. He is the current president of the International Machine Learning Society and among the most highly cited researchers internationally in the field of natural language processing. In the early 2000’s he was vice president of research and development at WhizBang Labs, a 170-person start-up company, and he has collaborated with more than 20 companies since joining the UMass Amherst faculty in 2003.

 

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Rochester (1995), B.S., Dartmouth College (1989, summa cum laude). Professor McCallum joined the faculty of the Department of Computer Science as a Research Associate Professor in 2002 and became an Associate Professor in 2003 (awarded tenure in 2007). Previously, he was Vice President of Research and Development at WhizBang Labs, and Director of their 30-person research and development lab in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to joining WhizBang, he was a Research Scientist and Research Coordinator at Just Research (Justsystem Pittsburgh Research Center), where he spearheaded the development of technology for statistical text processing. In 1996, he was a post-doctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University.

 

Executive Director

Brant A. Cheikes

Brant is responsible for building, developing, and managing the full range of research, educational and operational activities of the Center for Data Science. Brant comes to UMass from The MITRE Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he held a variety of technical and management positions over the course of a 23-year career. Brant’s advanced technology work spans Artificial Intelligence applied to education & training, cognitive support tools for analysis and decision-making tasks, large-scale data analysis of scientific and patent literatures, and most recently, technical standards for automation of cyberdefense systems. Brant holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University, and Master’s and doctoral degrees in Computer and Information Science (Computational Linguistics) from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Director of Educational Programs

Benjamin Marlin

Professor Benjamin Marlin serves as the Director of Educational Programs for the Center for Data Science. His responsibilities include supporting the development of new data science courses, leading the development of new data science educational programs, and managing existing programs. Professor Marlin co-directs the Machine Learning for Data Science Laboratory where his research focuses on probabilistic modeling of time series data with applications to clinical and mobile health. He also co-directs the College of Information and Computer Sciences' NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program in Data Science. 

Director of Research Programs

Matthew Rattigan

Matt is the Director of Research Programs for the Center for Data Science.  He is responsible for identifying, scoping, and spearheading new research initiatives for the Center, and serves as a technical partner for industrial collaborators.  Before joining CDS, Matt co-founded Edgeflip, a data-intensive social media startup focused serving social good organizations.  In 2012, Matt was a part of the transformational analytics team at Obama For America, where he led the campaign's targeted social media efforts.  He has also worked as a data scientist in the financial services industry.  Matt holds a BA from Wesleyan University, and an MA and PhD in Computer Science from UMass.  

Associate Director of Strategic Communications

Jennifer Page

Jennifer is responsible for communications and marketing for the center. Prior to coming to CDS she managed the UMass Amherst Community Campaign, and served as an instructional designer for UMass CP&E. Jennifer came to UMass after 18 years as a data analyst in the consumer products industry. She has served on the board of directors of several local nonprofits, including the Northampton Community Music Center and the Amherst Education Foundation. Jennifer has a B.S. in mathematics from Tufts University.

Assistant Director of Operations

Pamela Mandler

Pam is responsible for the Center's operations, educational programs administration and outreach including event management. She came to UMass after 15 years in industry including BBN. She has a BS in Physics from the University of Maine in Orono.

Assistant Director of Information Technology

Dan Parker

Dan Parker designs, installs, configures and maintains the computing resources used by the Center for Data Science. He has been helping the digital trains run on time since graduating from Castleton University in 1995 with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems.

Grant Coordinator

Matthew Lustig

Matt coordinates grants and contracts and serves as the financial manager for the Center for Data Science. Prior to joining CDS, Matt managed programs at healthcare institutions designed to improve outcomes while reducing health care costs. Matt is also an experienced city planner and teacher. He has a B.A. in Government and Environmental Studies from St. Lawrence University, an M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a Master of Urban & Regional Planning from Portland State University.

Project Coordinator

Nancy Fontes

Nancy supports the Center for Data Science with various projects including event planning for special events and Industry Affiliates Program.  Nancy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Elms College. She has spent several years in the banking industry before working in higher education. Most recently, Nancy was employed at Bay Path University as Coordinator of Institutional Research.

Executive Committee

Laura Haas

Dean

Prior to joining UMass, Dr. Haas spent 36 years at IBM, where she was rose to the level of IBM Fellow.  Within IBM, she most recently served as Director of the Accelerated Discovery Lab (2011-2017); she was Director of Computer Science at IBM's Almaden research center from 2005 to 2011, and had worldwide responsibility for IBM Research's exploratory science program from 2009 through 2013.  From 2001-2005, she led the Information Integration Solutions architecture and development teams in IBM's Software Group.  Before that, Dr. Haas was a research staff member and manager at IBM Research - Almaden.  She spent a sabbatical year at University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1992-3, and a shorter sabbatical at ETH Zurich in 2009.  A.B., Harvard, 1978; PhD, University of Texas Austin, 1981.

James Allan

Professor and Chair

Ph.D., Computer Science, Cornell University (1995), M.S., Computer Science, Cornell University (1991), A.B., Mathematics, Grinnell College (1983). Professor Allan joined the Computer Science Department of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1994 and has run through a number of titles, most recently Professor as of 2008. He is currently serving as Chair of the Faculty and is co-Director of the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval (CIIR).

Erik Learned-Miller

Associate Professor

Ph.D., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2002), M.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1997), B.A., Psychology, Yale University (1988). Professor Learned-Miller joined the faculty in the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Information and Computer Sciences in 2004 as an Assistant Professor. His most recent position was a post-doctoral research engineer in the Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, Professor Learned-Miller was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of CORITechs, Inc., a company that designed surgical planning software for neurosurgeons.

Benjamin Marlin

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Toronto (2008), M.S., Computer Science, University of Toronto (2004), B.S., Mathematics and Computer Science, McGill University (2002). Professor Marlin joined the faculty of the Department of Computer Science as an Assistant Professor in 2011. From 2008 to 2011, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.

Andrew McGregor

Associate Professor

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania (2007), M.Eng, Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania (2002), Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics, University of Cambridge (2001), B.A., Mathematics, University of Cambridge (2000). Professor McGregor joined the College of Information and Computer Sciences of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Spring 2009 as an Assistant Professor. Prior to this he spent two years at the Information Theory and Applications Center at the University of California, San Diego and at Microsoft Research, Silicon Valley.

Alexandra Meliou

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley (2009); M.S., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley (2005); B.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (2003). Professor Meliou joined the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2012. Prior to this, she spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington.

Gerome Miklau

Associate Professor

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Washington, 2005. Professor Miklau joined the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts as an Assistant Professor in 2005.

Barna Saha

Assistant Professor

Barna Saha is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland College Park in August 2011. From August 2011 till July 2014, she was a research scientist at AT&T Shannon Laboratories. Barna received an M.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and a B.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from Jadavpur University.

Prashant Shenoy

Professor

Ph.D. Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin (1998), M.S. Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin (1994), B.Tech, Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (1993). Professor Shenoy has been on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 1998, where he is currently a Professor of Computer Science. He heads the Laboratory for Advanced Systems Software at UMass Amherst.