School of Data and Information Sciences

The School of Data and Information Sciences 

The School of Data and Information Sciences (SDIS) was founded in 2026 by joining the School of Information and Library Science (1931) and the School of Data Science and Society (2022). SDIS brings together longstanding excellence in information and library science with leadership in data science, including computational and statistical methods, and societal applications.

Home to a top-ranked library and information science program, SDIS is recognized for strong teaching, research and service and is the home to the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP) and the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life (CITAP). The School teaches and trains undergraduate and graduate students in data science, health informatics, information science, and library science, as well as offers certificates for adult learners.

SDIS conducts research and scholarship across the data and information life cycle, with an emphasis on human-centric, ethical, and applied approaches. Committed to data, information, and AI literacy for all Tar Heels, SDIS faculty are tackling our communities’ most pressing needs and our world’s most intractable challenges.

Major 

Minor

Dual Bachelor's–Graduate Degree Programs 

  • B.S.I.S. in Information Science to M.S.I.S or M.S.L.S
  • B.A. in Environmental Studies to M.S.I.S
  • B.S. in Environmental Science to M.S.I.S

Graduate Programs

  • M.S. in Applied Data Science
  • M.S. in Data Science
  • M.S.I.S. in Information Science
  • M.S.L.S. in Library Science
  • P.S.M. in Digital Curation and Management 
  • P.S.M. in Biomedical and Health Informatics 
  • Ph.D. in Data Science
  • Ph.D. in Information and Library Science 
  • Ph.D. in Health Informatics

Courses

Professors

David Adalsteinsson, Stan Ahalt, Jaime Arguello, Amarjit Budhiraja, Robert Capra, Tressie McMillian Cottom, Melanie Feinberg, David Gotz, Melissa Haendel, Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi, Diane Kelly (Wilson Distinguished Professor), Ashok Krishnamurthy, Christopher (Cal) Lee, Terry Magnuson, Gary Marchionini (Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor), Steve Marron, Arcot Rajasekar, Jack Snoeyink, Brian W. Sturm.

Associate Professors 

Wei-Tong (Louis) Fan, Bradley M. Hemminger, Sun-Ha Hong, Hsun-Ta Hsu, Youzuo Lin, Yifei Lou, Marijel (Maggie) Melo, Santiago Olivella, Courtney Rivard, Ryan Shaw, Keriayn Smith, Francesca Tripodi, Tzu-Yu (Danny) Wu.

Assistant Professors

Alexandra Chassanoff, Iain Carmichael, Can Chen, Ziyu Chen, Anita Crescenzi, Neil Gaikwad, Dan Kessler, Lauren Kucirka, Harlin Lee, Alex McAvoy, Lina Montoya, Jingping Nie, William (Willie) Payne, Justin Sola, Yue (Ray) Wang, Joseph Winberry, Ziping Xu, Huaxiu Yao, Fei Yu, Ran Zhang, Weitong Zhang, Chudi Zhong, Tarek Zikry.

Teaching Professors

Julie McMurry, Rei Sanchez-Arias, David Yokum. 

Teaching Associate Professor

Ronald Bergquist.

Teaching Assistant Professors

Tonya Balan, Michael Fox, Elliott Kuecker, Casey H. Rawson, Megan A. Winget, Kathryn Wymer.

Professor of the Practice

Ericka Patillo.

School of Data and Information Sciences

Dean

Stan Ahalt

sdss@unc.edu

Vice Dean for Academic Strategy

Jay Aikat

ja@unc.edu