Faculty and Staff

Faculty 

Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson

Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Data Science Program Head

Johnson’s courses include Psychology Mythbusters and Introduction to Data Science: Mind Analytics. His lab uses computational models and empirical data to investigate the mechanisms underlying creativity processes like the generation of novel ideas.

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Jeff Barry

Jeff Barry

Lecturer of Data Science

Barry teaches courses listed under digital culture and information, journalism and writing. His research interests include digital storytelling, the evolution of literary magazines and social network analysis.

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Justin Davis

Justin Davis

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

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Jonathan Eastwood

Jonathan Eastwood

Department Head, Sociology and Anthropology; Professor of Sociology

Professor Eastwood is a social theorist who also has a strong interest in quantitative methods. He teaches seminars on classical and contemporary theory as well as a series of courses that train students how to use quantitative and computational tools to answer sociological questions.

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Bright Frimpong

Bright Frimpong

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

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Lingshu Hu

Lingshu Hu

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

With a PhD in journalism focusing on computational methods and a graduate certificate in AI and Machine Learning, Professor Hu’s primary teaching interests include making data analytics accessible to students in the social sciences and helping students master storytelling skills with data analytics and visualization.

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Keri M. Larson

Keri M. Larson

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Larson teaches courses that help students learn to understand and use data in areas of management. She has researched the analytics of unstructured textual data to support organizational decision making.

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Sybil Prince Nelson

Sybil Prince Nelson

Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Prince Nelson ’01 teaches courses in calculus, probability and statistics. Her research is focused on creating tree-based models for classifying and predicting outcomes from complex data.

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Holly Shablack

Holly Shablack

Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science

Shablack’s courses include Heath Psychology, Introduction to Data Science: Trends over time, and Emotions, Language, and Culture. Her research examines how our language and various socio-cultural factors influence our attitudes, emotions, physical and mental health, and behavior.

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Natalia Toporikova

Natalia Toporikova

Associate Professor of Biology

Professor Toporikova’s courses include Biological Clocks and Rhythms, The Architecture of Living Systems, Dynamics of Biological Systems and Pregnancy: A Kiss in Time? In her research, she applies methods of computational modeling to study a wide range of biological systems. Some recent projects include neural control of breathing, pregnancy initiation in rats, and daily circadian cycle.

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Gregg Whitworth

Gregg Whitworth

Associate Professor of Biology

Whitworth’s courses include Data Science: Visualizing and Exploring Big Data and The Molecular Mechanics of Life.

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Affiliated  Faculty

David Marsh

David Marsh

Professor of Biology

Marsh teaches Intro to Behavioral Ecology, Microbiome, Field Herpetology, Animal Behavior and Statistics for Biology and Medicine. His research includes effects of climate change on endemic mountaintop salamanders, effects of roads and land use on frog and toad populations across the Eastern and central U.S., and population dynamics of terrestrial salamanders.

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Sara Sprenkle

Sara Sprenkle

Associate Professor of Computer Science and Department Head

On Leave Winter 2025

Sprenkle teaches courses in programming, software development, and upper-level electives in software engineering. Her research focuses on automatically testing web applications to make sure they are behaving properly.

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Staff 

Carolyn Wingrove-Moore

Administrative Assistant