Meet Our Faculty
The BDA faculty are leading experts in many fields, including data science, business analytics, applied mathematics, geospatial technology, machine learning, computer visions, social media analytics, computational linguistics, public health, management information systems, accounting, and communications.
Program Director
Ming-Hsiang Tsou, Ph.D.
SH 313C
(619) 594-0205
[email protected]
Dr. Tsou is a professor in the Department of Geography and the director of Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA). He received a B.S. (1991) from National Taiwan University, an M.A. (1996) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a Ph.D. (2001) from the University of Colorado at Boulder, all in Geography. His research interests include Human Dynamics, Social Media, Big Data, Visualization, Internet Mapping, Web GIS, Mobile GIS, Cartography, and K-12 GIS education.
Graduate Adviser
Gabriela Fernandez, Ph.D.
SH 329
[email protected]
Dr. Gabriela Fernandez is an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Geography and Principal Investigator at the Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA). She is the Graduate Advisor of the Big Data Analytics Master of Science Program (BDA) at SDSU. She received a Ph.D. in Urban Planning, Design, and Policy from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) in Milan, Italy (2018). During her studies she was a Ph.D. Visiting Student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Architecture, Building Technology, and Urban Metabolism Group. She received a B.S. in Public Administration with an emphasis in City Planning (2010) and a Master of City Planning (2012) from the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. Her research interests include urban metabolism ideologies and material flow analysis of metropolitan cities. Identifying urban typologies and socioeconomic indicators in the urban context while promoting public policy, smart cities, data science, circular economy methods, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and under representative populations. Dr. Fernandez serves as the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) delegate for the Major Group for Children & Youth. As part of the SDSU Big Ideas Challenge, Dr. Fernandez is the Director of the Metabolism of Cities Living Lab (MOC-LLAB) under the HDMA at SDSU (2019) working to localize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in southern California and the Baja California Mexico region.
Current Faculty
Reza Akhavian, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dr. Akhavian is an educator, researcher, and industry consultant. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, and the director of the Data-informed Construction Engineering (DiCE) research lab at San Diego State University. He received a B.S. (2010) in Civil Engineering from University of Tehran, and a M.S. (2012) and a Ph.D. (2015) in Civil Engineering from the from the University of Central Florida. Dr. Akhavian is the recipient of several honors and awards including the NSF CAREER Award. His research focuses on advancing the theories and adoption of technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), internet-of-things (IoT), cyber-physical systems (CPS), and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) in engineering and construction domains.
Ahmad Bani Younes, Ph.D.
(619) 594-2931
[email protected]
Dr. Ahmad Bani Younes is an associate professor at the aerospace engineering department at San Diego State University (SDSU). He received a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University in August of 2013. He is the director of the Spacecraft Platform for Astronautics & Celestial Emulation (SPACE) laboratory at SDSU, which is a 6DOF facility that supports comprehensive studies and hardware experiments for sensing, guidance, dynamics, and control of space operations in an operationally relevant environment. Dr. Bani Younes has worked on a wide range of space research topics, including the astrodynamics for satellite motions; Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) techniques, spacecraft design, space robotics and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). His research is funded several space entities (e.g. NASA/JPL). Dr. Bani Younes is the advisor of the rocket project and recently established a CubeSat project at SDSU. He has also served as a chief expert in several autonomous vehicle challenges, such as, DXC2020, Small Satellite challenges, EmiratesSkills, WorldSkills for Drones: build & fly and the subject matter expert of the recently launched JY1-Sat.
Audrey N. Beck, Ph.D.
NH 214
(619) 594-1321
[email protected]
Dr. Beck is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with specializations in demography and stratification from Duke University in 2007. Her research interests include health inequalities, demographic methods, and the creation and analysis of national and historical population health databases.
Jianwei Chen, Ph.D.
GMCS 573
(619) 594-2059
[email protected]
Dr. Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He is the current advisor for both the Statistics and Biostatistics Master Programs. He recived a Ph.D. in Statistics (1999). His research interests include dynamic modeling, simulation and prediction, semiparametric spatial and temporal modeling with applications, nonparametric and semi-parametric regression, Bayesian methods, MCMC and computational statistics.
Aaron C. Elkins, Ph.D.
GC 1502D
(619) 594-0274
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/aaroncelkins
Dr. Elkins is an Associate Professor in the department of Management Information Systems and Director and Founder of the SDSU James Silberrad Brown Center for Artificial Intelligence. Prior to joining SDSU, he was a postdoctoral researcher at both BORDERS a DHS Center of Excellence for Border Security and Imperial College London. Elkins researches human-robotics interactions that incorporate AI that predicts human emotion and deception based on physiological and nonverbal behavior. Elkins conducts experiments investigating automated deception detection in the laboratory, borders, and airports. Elkins is also currently leading a project for the Navy and NCITE integrating AI and AR technology to enable the future government workers of the future.
Jean Mark Gawron, Ph.D.
SHW 238
(619) 594-0252
[email protected]
Dr. Gawron is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Asian/Middle Eastern Languages. He received a Ph.D. in Linguistics (1983). His research interests include computational linguistics, logical semantics, parsing, and lexical semantics.
David Goldberg, Ph.D.
SSE 3112
(619) 594-0341
[email protected]
Dr. Goldberg is an associate professor in the Department of Management Information Systems. He earned both his bachelor's and doctoral degrees at Virginia Tech. His current research interests include text mining, machine learning, and expert systems.
Janice Hau, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dr. Janice Hau is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. She received a BA in Psychology from the University of Waterloo (Canada), a MSc in Cognitive Science from Ecole Normale Supérieure (France), and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Bordeaux (France). Her research interests include neuroanatomy, brain-behavior relationships, lifespan brain development, and neurodevelopmental disorders with a focus on autism. She uses diffusion MRI to investigate brain structure at macro and microscopic scales, in combination with other MRI modalities (i.e., functional, anatomical), to gain insight into the structural and functional organization of the human brain.
Ke Huang, Ph.D.
E 202B
(619) 594-7792
[email protected]
Dr. Huang is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. He received a B.S. (2006) and a M.S. (2008) degrees in Electrical Engineering from Joseph Fourier University (now Grenoble Alps University) and a Ph.D. (2011) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Grenoble (now Grenoble Alps University). His research interests include machine learning and data mining in semiconductor manufacturing testing, computer-aided design of integrated circuits and systems.
Luwen (Vivian) Huangfu, Ph.D.
SSE 3202
(619) 594-1347
[email protected]
Dr. Huangfu is an assistant professor at Fowler College of Business. She received a B.S. in Software Engineering (SE) from Chongqing University, a M.S. in Computer Science (CS) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the University of Arizona. Her areas of research expertise include business analytics, public health, machine learning, and data mining. Her research has been published in a list of conference proceedings and journals.
If you are self-motivated in conducting research, please visit her website (linked above) or Google Scholar page for more information.
Arash Jahangiri, Ph.D.
(619) 594-3073
[email protected]
Dr. Jahangiri is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. He received a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Transportation Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2015. His research interests include intelligent transportation systems, traffic safety, connected and automated vehicles, artificial intelligence applications in transportation, and big data analytics.
Piotr Jankowski, Ph.D.
SH 310
(619) 594-0640
[email protected]
Dr. Jankowski is a professor and chair in the Department of Geography. He is co-director of the Center for Earth Systems Analysis and Research. He received a M.S. (1979) from Poznan University of Economics and a Ph.D. (1989) from University of Washington. His research interests include Spatial Decision Support Systems and Public Participation GIS.
Chii-Dean (Joey) Lin, Ph.D.
(619) 594-6186
[email protected]
Chii-Dean (Joey) Lin is a professor and Associate Chair of Statistics in the Mathematics & Statistics Department. His research focus includes Data Analytics, Spatial statistics, longitudinal data analysis, statistical computing, global optimization, and statistical modeling in clinical trials.
Xaibai Liu, Ph.D.
GMCS 531
(619) 594-4345
[email protected]
Dr. Liu is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2012). His research interests include Computer Vision: object tacking; image segmentation; 3D scene parsing and reconstruction; low-level vision; first-person vision; Machine Learning: subspace learning; manifold learning, nonnegative analysis; semi-supervised learning; sparse coding theory; convex optimization; Bayesian theory; stochastic optimization.
Xialu (Charlotte) Liu, Ph.D.
SSE 3359
(619) 594-1904
[email protected]
Dr. Liu is an associate professor in the Department of Management Information Systems. She received a B.S. in Mathematics from Zhejiang University (2008), a M.A. in Economics from Peking University (2010), and a Ph.D. in Statistics from Rutgers University (2015). Her research interests include functional time series and high-dimensional time series, nonparametric methods and dynamic factor models, big data with temporal dependence, statistical applications in business, engineering and sciences.
Robert Malouf, Ph.D.
SHW 238
[email protected]
Dr. Malouf is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Asian/Middle Eastern Languages. He has a BA in linguistics and computer science from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1992) and a PhD in linguistics from Stanford University (1998). Before joining SDSU in 2002, he was a researcher in the Humanities Computing department at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. His work focuses on computational linguistics, text analytics, and theoretical morphology.
Lourdes S. Martinez, Ph.D.
COM 220
(657) 223-3122
[email protected]
Dr. Lourdes S. Martinez is a professor in the School of Communication at San Diego State University, an Associate Director in the Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA), and Core Researcher in the Center for Communication, Health, and the Public Good (CHPG). She received her B.A. (2004) in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and M.A. (2008) and Ph.D. (2011) in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Martinez’s research interests include information seeking and sharing through social networks, including social media.
Atsushi Nara, Ph.D.
SH 311C
(619) 594-1305
[email protected]
Dr. Nara is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and associate director of the Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA). He received a B.S. from Shimane University (2000), a M.S. from the University of Utah (2005), and a Ph.D. from Arizona State University (2011). His research interests include Human Dynamics, GIS, Spatio-Temporal Data Analytics, Agent-Based Model, Complex Adaptive System.
Carlos D. Paternina-Arboleda, Ph.D.
GC 1502B
(619) 594-2124
[email protected]
Dr. Paternina-Arboleda is an assistant professor and chair of the management information systems department at the Fowler College of Business. He received his Ph.D. (2000) in Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at the University of South Florida. His primary areas of research are supply chain analytics and optimization, transportation and distributions systems. His research work covers analytics and optimization of large-scale transportation and Logistics systems (including Port Systems). The core of his work relates to intelligent cooperative agent structures, such as reinforcement learning algorithms, Ant Colony Systems, fictitious play (a game theoretical learning approach) and evolutionary algorithms for multi-objective optimization.
Sergio (Serge) Rey, Ph.D.
PSFA 361
[email protected]
Dr. Sergio Rey is a professor in the Department of Geography and the Founding Director of the Center for Open Geographical Science. His research focuses on spatial data science, geocomputation, spatial inequality dynamics, regional science, and open science. He is a Fellow of the Spatial Econometrics Association and the Regional Science Association International. Rey has received funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Aging, National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Institute of Justice, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among other sources. He has served as editor for Geographical Analysis (2015-2018) and the International Regional Science Review (1999-2018). He is the co-founder and lead developer of the open source Python Spatial Analysis Library (PySAL), and has taught workshops on PySAL throughout the world
Bo-Wen Shen, Ph.D.
GMCS 569
(619) 594-5962
[email protected]
Dr. Shen is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and a core faculty member of the Center for Climate and Sustainability Studies. He received a B.S. in Space Physics from National Central University (1990), a M.S. in Atmospheric Physics from National Central University (1992) and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science (MEAS) from North Carolina State University (1998). His research interests include Tropical Weather Prediction, global mesoscale model, fractal geometry and nonlinear analysis.
Samuel Shen, Ph.D.
GMCS 575
(619) 594-6280
[email protected]
Dr. Shen is a Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and is the co-director of the Center for Climate and Sustainability Studies. He received a B.S. (1982) in Engineering Mechanics from Nanjing Univ. of Sci. & Tech., a M.A. (1985) and Ph.D. (1987) in Applied Mathematics from University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include Precipitation Data Reconstruction, Deep Ocean Data Reconstruction, Big Data, Space-Time Data Analysis, Climate Mathematics.
Bongsik Shin, Ph.D.
SSE 3439
(619) 594-2133
[email protected]
Dr. Shin is a professor in the Department of Management Information Systems. He received a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona (1997). His research interests include computer networking, cybersecurity, data analysis. Visit his website for more information.
Faramarz Valafar, Ph.D.
(858) 222-0454
[email protected]
Dr. Valafar is a Professor of Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Public Health. He is the Founding Director of the Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics Research Center (BMIRC) at SDSU and the PI of the Laboratory for Pathogenesis of Clinical Drug Resistance and Persistence. Dr. Valafar received his PhD. (1994) from Purdue University in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His areas of expertise lie in data mining and pattern recognition using deep learning, especially in life sciences
Qi Wang, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dr. Qi Wang is an assistant professor in the aerospace engineering department at SDSU. He got his bachelor's degree in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Department at Peking University and got his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on inverse problems in chaotic, aerodynamic environments, and utilizes state-of-the-art generative models to solve data assimilation challenges in turbulent flows. His interest areas include adjoint-based data assimilation, Machine-learning-based ROM, particle-shock interactions, extreme event detection in fluid dynamics or in social networks, Gaussian Process Regression, and physics-constrained generative models.
Wei (Chris) Wang, Ph.D.
GMCS 547
(619) 594-4302
[email protected]
Dr. Wang is an professor in the Department of Computer Science. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from University of Nebraska (2009). His research interests include Wireless Networks, Internet of Things, Multimedia Communications, Mobile Health, and Robotics Education.
Instructors
Ryan Paul Lafler, M.Sc.
GMCS 416
[email protected]
Ryan Paul Lafler is an Adjunct Faculty Member at San Diego State University for the Big Data Analytics graduate program and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He is a Lecturer and contracted Research Scientist for the SDSU Climate Informatics Laboratory (SCIL), leading a team of graduate and undergraduate students on the analysis, visualization, and development of interactive web applications for interfacing with big climate data. Ryan is also the founder, CEO, Chief Data Scientist, and Lead Consultant at Premier Analytics Consulting, LLC. Ryan received his M.Sc. in Big Data Analytics from San Diego State University in 2023 following the defense and publication of his thesis. He also holds a B.Sc. in Statistics and a minor in Quantitative Economics, graduating magna cum laude from San Diego State University in 2020. Ryan's passionate about programming languages for data science including Python, R, SAS, and SQL; full-stack application development using JavaScript (React.js) and open-source API frameworks; applied machine learning; deep learning; statistical analysis and modeling; big data processing; data visualization; data-driven climate science; spatiotemporal analysis; and consulting.
Oscar Law, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dr. Oscar Ming Kin Law is the director of engineering at Kneron, who works on autonomous vehicle development and Compute-in-Memory (CIM) architecture. He has worked at ATI, AMD, TSMC, and Qualcomm for microchip design, including physical verification, library development, signal integrity, power analysis, Design for Manufacturability (DFM), and advanced technology evaluation. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Canada. He has published six artificial intelligence textbooks and over 70 patents in various areas of his field. He has also conducted seminars at UCLA, UCSD, SDSU, BYU, University of Toronto (Canada), Qualcomm, and TSMC.
Emeritus Faculty
Janie Chang Ph.D.
[email protected]
"Dr. Chang is the Emeritus Vern Odmark Professor in the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy. She retired in Spring 2023. She received a Ph.D. in Accounting from the University California, Irvine (1995). Her research interests include Accounting Information Systems, Human Information Processing, Predictive Business Analytics.
Brian Spitzberg, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dr. Spitzberg is a Senate Distinguished Professor of Communication Emeritus. He received a B.A. from the University of Texas at Arlington (1978), and his M.A. (1980) and Ph.D. (1981) in Communication Arts & Sciences at the University of Southern California. His research interests include interpersonal communication competence, communication assessment, communication theory, conflict, jealousy, infidelity, intimate violence, sexual coercion, and stalking.