Dr. Razvan Bunescu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte. His overall research interests lie in the general area of machine learning, with a focus on applications in natural language processing, music information retrieval, computational creativity, and computer architecture. More recently, he has taken an interest in the use of AI for mitigating human cognitive biases and the development of AI tools for teaching and learning, which he sees as having a great potential for reducing inequality and improving access to education.

Dr. Wenwen Dou has research interests in designing and evaluating visual means to promote understanding and trust in AI. Related research questions: what kind of visual explanations increase trust and AI literacy? How much information should be provided to different populations that increase trust and not be overwhelming? Dr. Dou's research evaluates how bias and inequity originated from data (selection bias) interact with other types of cognitive biases including confirmation bias, anchoring bias, etc. in decision-making tasks facilitated by AI.

Dr. Cori Faklaris (https://corifaklaris.com) is a scholar in human-computer interaction and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Software and Information Systems, where she directs the Security and Privacy Experiences (SPEX) group (https://spexlab.org). Before joining academia, Dr. Faklaris worked as a journalist, IT/UX specialist, and social media manager. Her current projects include testing of the eCISO AI chatbot for cybersecurity risk assessment and development of the Cybersecurity Buddy human-in-the-loop AI app for security and privacy advice.  

Dr. Liyue Fan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and School of Data Science.  Her research develops privacy enhancing technologies for data sharing and AI models, with applications in health, geospatial, and behavioral domains.   Her recent work involves quantifying privacy risks in AI, designing novel privacy models and methods for emerging applications, and facilitating the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies. 

Dr. Minwoo (Jake) Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and School of Data Science. Dr. Lee's research focuses on information flow of AI agents for designing explainable AI solutions for trustworthy AI and developing robust interactive AI models for reliable human-AI interactions.

Dr. Mirsad Hadzikadic. I spent all my professional life doing research on machine learning, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, data science, and complex systems. Currently, I am interested in how these technologies can improve the lives of people and societies. The last five years I had the opportunity to get more involved in the political aspects of creating successful societies and ended up fully and utterly understanding how values shape people and societies and position them for success or failure. Ethics, morality, professionalism, trust, honesty, knowledge, skills, integrity, and the belief in something greater than yourself are the keys to the ultimate, satisfying purpose for existence and life well spent. Technology can both enable and prevent the success of humans and societies. I want to contribute to the odds of success by understanding the best ways of building and deploying technology, and especially Artificial Intelligence, in the context of human prosperity and social cohesion and progress.

Dr. Min Jiang is Professor of Communication Studies and CyberBRICS Visiting Professor at FGV Law School (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Her research lies at the intersection of technology, policy and geopolitics, with particular interest in AI bias, cybersecurity and governance. She is lead editor of Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries (Cambridge University Press, 2024). She is also a Secretariat member of the annual international Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) as well as an Executive Steering Committee member and China director (Co-PI) of the Global Media & Internet Concentration Project (GMCIP), a $2.5 million CAD grant to investigate media ownership and concentration issues in 30+ countries. She was previous Associate Editor of Sage journal Communication & The Public. 

Dr. Benjamin J. Radford is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Administration with joint appointments in the School of Data Science and the Public Policy Ph.D. program. His work focuses on methodological approaches for using machine learning for the measurement and forecasting of political phenomena. He is particularly interested in measurement and data collection, forecasting, neural networks, Bayesian statistics, anomaly detection, natural language processing, and cybersecurity. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University. Prior to joining UNC Charlotte, Dr. Radford was a data scientist and PI on a number of cybersecurity research projects funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Dr. Jordan Register has research interests in designing curricular materials and instruction theory that foster learners' critical literacies and ethical decision-making in the context of mathematics, data science, and artificial intelligence. In particular, she focuses on the development of foundational mathematical and statistical understandings for data science, how learners make decisions in data science industry scenarios, and how to promote equitable participation from learners with multiple intersecting identities in classroom discussions surrounding ethical data science and AI.

Dr. Damien Patrick Williams is an assistant professor in Philosophy and Data Science at UNC Charlotte, where he teaches & researches on how technologies such as algorithms, machine intelligence, & biotechnologies are impacted by the values, knowledge systems, philosophical explorations, social structures, & even religious beliefs of human beings. Dr. Williams received his PhD from Virginia Tech in the field of Science, Technology, and Society. His work is especially concerned with how the knowledge and experience of marginalized peoples do and might be made to affect the technosocial structures of human societies.

Dr. Jason Windett is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration with joint appointments in the School of Data Science and Public Policy Ph.D. program. His work focuses on the dynamic processes of representation in American states, leveraging computational and methodological innovations to gain insights into policy-making, political behavior, and identity politics. He has also spearheaded efforts to connect various data science tools, enabling access to diverse datasets and data visualization in state policy making and policy diffusion. Dr. Windett’s research aims to make political science more relevant to practitioners while contributing to the broader social good, emphasizing the potential of artificial intelligence and data science in reshaping the study of political phenomena.

Dr. Daniel Piar

 is a Part-Time (Adjunct) Faculty, Lawyer, Legal Educator, Arbitrator, and Mediator. His work focuses on mediation and conflict resolution. His academic work has included jurisprudence and constitutional law.