Leadership and Faculty

DataScience@SMU faculty members are dedicated educators and innovative leaders in their fields. They bring years of experience to the classroom, in addition to a robust network of connections to the industry’s top employers.

SMU is committed to developing and mentoring the next generation of data science leaders, and students will benefit from our team’s knowledge throughout the program.

“What sets the DataScience@SMU team of faculty members and instructors apart is that our experience and expertise is not bound to one specific industry. We recognize that data is everywhere and is driving decisions to optimize outcomes in many industries and organizations. Our distinguished faculty is prepared and committed to ensure our students have the tools and skills they need to succeed in a data-driven world, no matter the industry.”

–Bivin Sadler, Ph.D., Course Lead Faculty

Renowned Faculty With
Real-World Experience

DataScience@SMU faculty members are constantly driving innovation in the digital information age. Many are published researchers, award winners and patent holders, which benefits students’ learning experiences – and their networks.

They bring experience from Fortune 500 companies such as:

  • Cisco
  • Nortel
  • Oracle
  • Optimal Path
  • AT&T
  • Novartis
  • Sanofi/Genzyme
  • Infosys Digital

They have also done extensive research on a number of topics, including:

  • Regression Modeling
  • Time-Series Forecasting
  • Internet of Things
  • Smart Cities
  • Pharmaceutical Economic Modeling
  • Pharmaceutical Analysis
  • Statistical Computing
  • Immunology Research
  • Machine Learning
  • Time Series
  • Pervasive Cognitive Load Measurement
  • Predictive Analysis 

Our lecturers are members of:

  • American College of Healthcare Executives
  • Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
  • Texas Public Health Association
  • Dale Carnegie Institute
  • Marketing Executives Networking Group
  • Technology Executives Networking Group

Faculty Spotlights

All DataScience@SMU faculty members help prepare our future global leaders. Learn more about a few of our expert lecturers below:

Paul Bailo, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer 
Paul Bailo is the global head of digital strategy and innovation at Infosys Digital. He has held senior executive positions in digital marketing, managerial analytics, mobile payments, customer journey, design thinking, customer insights and emerging payments with innovative Fortune 500 market leaders. He continues to interact with clients such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, AT&T, SunTrust, Apple, Google and other industry leaders. Bailo holds eight U.S. patents and is a published author with three books.

Learn more about Paul Bailo.

Jacquelyn Cheun, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer
Jacquelyn Cheun has been leading health care strategy for more than 10 years with her work in health care data analytics. A graduate of the University of North Texas, she earned her doctorate in medical sociology. She currently serves as chair of Healthy Aging for the Texas Public Health Association and is a board member of both the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

Learn more about Jacquelyn Cheun.

John Santerre, Ph.D. – Lead Adjunct Lecturer
John Santerre received a Ph.D. in machine learning from the computer science department of the University of Chicago. He has consulted, worked and interned at organizations as diverse as Argonne National Laboratory, Data Science for Social Good, EcoLabs, Triggr Health, SAP and United Therapeutics. Santerre’s research has appeared in Nature (Scientific Reports), NeurIPS, ICML and MIT Technology Review. His focus is building proof of concepts to get teams utilizing machine learning.

Learn more about John Santerre.

Expert Faculty Committed to Your Success

Discover more about our leadership and faculty members:

Shaibal Chakrabarty, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Novin Ghaffari, Ph.D – Adjunct Lecturer

Ira Greenberg, Ph.D. – Professor

Burke Jam, M.F.A – Adjunct Lecturer

Faizan Javed, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Robert Kalescky, Ph.D – Adjunct Lecturer

Nibhrat Lohia, MS – Adjunct Lecturer

Sohail Rafiqi, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Kimberly Rutigliano, Ed. D – Adjunct Lecturer

Bivin Sadler, Ph.D. – SMU Technical Assistant Professor and Program Director

Martin Selzer, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Robert Slater, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Nedelina Teneva, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Jacob Turner, Ph.D. – Adjunct Lecturer

Ready to Learn From Seasoned Data Scientists?

Start your application for DataScience@SMU today. You’ll gain valuable mentors in the process and be able to apply the concepts you learn in class to real-world situations.

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