The department is pleased to welcome two new faculty members whose teaching and professional experiences further enrich our department's commitment to high-quality education and innovation.
Prof. JiHyun Jeong joins the department as an Assistant Professor. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Information Science from Cornell University, where her research focused on Human-AI interaction, trust, and collaboration. Her dissertation explored how autonomous agents can balance performance with social considerations when interacting with humans. Prof. Jeong brings a strong interdisciplinary background in human-computer interaction, AI-driven social behaviors, and team cooperation technologies. She has also worked as a PhD intern at Motional and has received multiple awards, including an Honorable Mention at ACM DIS and a DARPA grant as co-author. Her research expands the department's strength in socially aware AI, human-agent interaction, and computational models of cooperation.
Prof. James Finn joins as a Teaching Professor, bringing a wealth of international teaching and industry experience. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University and has taught computer science and engineering at institutions such as Stanford University, San Francisco State University, and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (Thailand). His background includes roles as a software engineer at Yelp, technical trainer for Hewlett Packard and Tibco Software, and senior technical writer at MacUser Magazine. Prof. Finn’s extensive experience in technical instruction and global education will greatly enhance our students’ learning experience, particularly in programming and foundational CS courses.