Information Science welcomes four new faculty members!
Learn more about INFO’s newest professors - their educational backgrounds, professional experiences, and what excites them about teaching at CU Boulder.
Be sure to read their tips for achieving academic success. And note how they create balance and enrich their lives with music, exercise, hobbies, and furry friends.
Jonathan Zong
Schools Attended/Degrees Awarded:
Princeton (BSE ’18)
MIT (SM ’20, PhD ’24)
Current/last position:
Postdoctoral Associate, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, MIT
Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
Why did you choose CU Boulder?
I’m really excited about CU Boulder INFO’s focus on research that engages the public and makes a positive impact on society.
What excites you about teaching? Research?
The world needs people who are trained to think deeply about the relationship between technology and society, and are able to put those ideas into practice by creating new technology. As a teacher and research mentor, I’m excited to provide a space for people to grow into those interdisciplinary leaders that are equipped to respond to society’s needs.
Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
— Herbert Simon
Please highlight a professional experience you are proud of...
In my research, I’ve worked with blind collaborators to co-design accessible interfaces for working with data non-visually. We’ve released it as open source software, and researchers at universities and tech companies are building on this work to make data more accessible to everyone.
Please share a tip for students on how to succeed in your classes. (Do you care about attendance, participation, how students use AI?)
It’s important to me that we’re all entering the space of a classroom committed both to learning and to being present to support our peers’ learning. For me, success means you're coming out of the limited time we have together with new ideas and skills that you wouldn’t have imagined going in. And to do that, I think we all need to buy into the social commitment we’re making to show up for each other.
About AI: I use it for certain things too. But when my goal is to learn or practice a skill, I often consider this analogy by sci-fi author Ted Chiang: ”In the same way that lifting weights is useful no matter what sport an athlete plays, [writing] develops skills necessary for whatever job a college student will eventually get. Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way."
What music would INFO find you jamming to on most days? And/or who is your favorite musical artist?
Rubblebucket — If U C My Enemies
Do you have any pets? And if so, please share their names/something about them.
3 cats! They are immigrants from Peru :)
What activities/hobbies/practices do you partake in, to take care of yourself and recharge?
I’m a taekwondo athlete, and recently earned my 1st dan black belt at CW Taekwondo in Boston. I also watch anime and play a lot of video games!
Yiran Duan
Schools Attended/Degrees Awarded:
PhD in Information Science and Technology, School of Information Studies (the iSchool), Syracuse University.
Current position: Incoming Assistant Teaching Professor
Why did you choose CU Boulder?
It's a great university at a great location, and people at the INFO department are just awesome!
What excites you about teaching?
What excites me about teaching is the interaction with my students and the opportunity not just to teach, but also to learn from them.
Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.”
— Aaron Swartz
Please highlight a professional experience you are proud of...
As a data science fellow for the Mayor's Office of the City of Baltimore in 2023, I helped analyze which permits issued by the city generated the most revenue from 2019 to 2022.
Please share a tip for students on how to succeed in your classes. (Do you care about attendance, participation, how students use AI?)
Just be an active learner and show respect to the peers.
What music would INFO find you jamming to on most days? And/or who is your favorite musical artist?
Pop music. Stromae is my favorite music artist.
Do you have any pets? And if so, please share their names/something about them.
Yes! A dog and a cat. My dog Mia often surprises people with how energetic she is as a 7-year-old dog; people always say she still looks and acts like a puppy lol. My cat Willow is also 7 years old, and she’s just very shy.
What activities/hobbies/practices do you partake in, to take care of yourself and recharge?
Swimming! Or just chill on the couch and watch a movie with my husband.
Julia Proft
(I'm just glad that my last name has a T at the end of it so that I'm not "Prof. Prof"!)
Schools Attended/Degrees Awarded:
M.S. in Education, Johns Hopkins University
M.S. in Computer Science, Cornell University
B.A. in Computer Science, Connecticut College
Current/last position:
Lecturer in the Department of Information Science at CU Boulder
Why did you choose CU Boulder?
I've been a Boulderite for the past five years now, so CU Boulder was naturally the first place to look for this kind of role, and I could tell right away that CU in general and INFO in particular both felt like somewhere that I wanted to be.
What excites you about teaching?
Seeing the students grow! To me, some of the most exciting moments of teaching are the "aha!" moments that students have, especially as a result of explaining their own work to me as they try to figure something out. Nothing compares to getting to witness students' learning happening before my own eyes.
It is vital to remember that information — in the sense of raw data — is not knowledge; that knowledge is not wisdom; and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these."
— Arthur C. Clarke
Please highlight a professional experience you are proud of...
I built a custom programming environment for high school students to use during a three-day workshop on computational thinking. At the end of the workshop, one of the students asked me to write the URL of the programming environment on the whiteboard so that he could take a picture of it and then later show his grandfather what he had learned. I was touched by that, especially when I saw several more students snapping a photo of the URL just before leaving the workshop.
Please share a tip for students on how to succeed in your classes. (Do you care about attendance, participation, how students use AI?)
Don't take shortcuts! The only way to learn a skill is through practice of that skill. Think of it like running a marathon: to do that, you need to spend months training so that you're prepared. Skipping all of that and then trying to drive a car to the finish line misses the point.
What music would INFO find you jamming on most days? And/or who is your favorite musical artist?
Most days, I'll be jamming to instrumental lo-fi beats. Anything with lyrics is distracting because I can't help myself from singing along.
Do you have any pets? And if so, please share their names/something about them.
I have a Pomeranian-Yorkie mix named Brandy who is the proud owner of five overflowing baskets of toys.
What activities/hobbies/practices do you partake in, to take care of yourself and recharge?
Reading, drinking tea, taking walks in nature, and playing video games that were released decades ago.
Ilana Trumble
Schools Attended/Degrees Awarded:
PhD in Biostatistics, Colorado School of Public Health
MS in Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
BS in Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder (go Buffs!)
Current position:
I currently work as a biostatistician at GSK [GlaxoSmithKline] where I analyze data from oncology clinical trials.
Why did you choose CU Boulder?
I grew up in Boulder and went to CU for my undergrad. I love how beautiful Boulder is and the many outdoor activities available here. I decided to return to CU as part of the Information Science department because of the value placed on teaching and the strong support it provides its teaching faculty.
What excites you about teaching?
I love working with students to make data science and statistics approachable and fun! I enjoy the energy students bring to the classroom. I’m excited to help students build the quantitative reasoning skills they need to make data-driven decisions and turn evidence into action for the greater good.
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
– Albert Einstein
Please highlight a professional experience you are proud of:
I recently completed a statistical analysis for a lung cancer trial where we incorporated external data to compare our novel treatment to the standard of care. By using external data, fewer patients had to be enrolled in the standard-of-care group, allowing more patients to receive the investigational treatment. I’m proud that our creative statistical methods contributed to better outcomes for patients.
Please share a tip for students on how to succeed in your classes:
I would encourage students to be open to struggle. Statistics and data science are not easy, and that’s ok! We all have different stories, backgrounds, and feelings towards quantitative methods. Struggling is expected and means you are learning and growing.
What music would INFO find you jamming to on most days? And/or who is your favorite musical artist?
I love Disney movies and their music. I also love swing music; Ella Fitzgerald is a favorite. I also enjoy musicals like Wicked and Hamilton. Taylor Swift (Folklore and TTPD) is my go-to background music while I work.
Do you have any pets? And if so, please share their names/something about them?
I have two dogs, Roo and Winston. They are yin and yang. Roo is a lovable menace who eats everything and always gets into trouble.
Winston is a perfect prince and the goodest boy. I love them both very much.
What activities/hobbies/practices do you partake in to take care of yourself and recharge?
I enjoy hiking, yoga, swing dancing, and taking walks with my dogs. I am also learning to play the piano.