The Data Science Institute (DSI) is excited to share that several members of its Postdoctoral Scholars program and Preceptor program will be moving on to academic positions this fall.
The DSI’s Postdoctoral Scholars program is dedicated to advancing cutting-edge data science approaches in foundational and interdisciplinary research. Offering the freedom, mentorship, and support to pursue one’s own research, the program prepares scholars for careers in industry and academia.
Read on to find where our scholars are headed next:
Vasilis Charisopoulos
Vasilis Charisopoulos, a Postdoc affiliated with the AI+Science Research Initiative, has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of ECE at University of Washington. Vasilis’s research focuses on numerical optimization methods for machine learning, signal processing and scientific computing.
At UChicago, Vasilis worked with Worah Family Professor of Statistics and Computer Science in the Wallman Society of Fellows and the DSI’s Faculty Director of AI, Rebecca Willett. In 2025, he was awarded a DSI ZhengTong Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Prior to joining the DSI, Vasilis earned his PhD in Operations Research & Information Engineering from Cornell University. He was recognized as a Rising Star in Computational and Data Sciences by the UT Austin Oden Institute in 2023.
Yo Joong “YJ” Choe
Yo Joong “YJ” Choe is moving on to a role as an Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences at INSEAD. YJ’s work focuses on evaluating and understanding modern machine learning predictors. He was awarded the inaugural Faraco Family Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2025, given by Francisco Faraco, who holds an MS in Financial Mathematics from the University of Chicago (2004). YJ completed his postdoc with Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science Victor Veitch.
Prior to coming to UChicago, YJ worked as a Research Scientist at Kakao Brain and Kakao, specializing in deep learning and natural language processing. YJ earned both his Ph.D. in Statistics and Machine Learning and his M.S. in Machine Learning from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Chicago.
“The postdoc role at UChicago DSI gave me the time, resources, and collaboration opportunities I needed to advance my academic career,” YJ said. “I also enjoyed mentoring undergraduate data science projects, [which] helped shape my teaching philosophy for practical data science education. In my new role, I look forward to building upon my research on game-theoretic statistics and on LLM geometry.”
Yuetian Luo
Yuetian Luo has accepted a role as an Assistant Professor of Statistics at Rutgers University. His research focuses on distribution-free inference and conformal prediction methods.
At the DSI, Yuetian completed his postdoc with Louise Block Professor in the Department of Statistics and the College Rina Foygel Barber. Yuetian earned his doctoral degree in Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2025, he was awarded a DSI ZhengTong Postdoctoral Fellowship.
“During my time here, I had the opportunity to explore several new areas, including distribution-free inference, algorithmic stability, and robust inference,” Yuetian shared. “I will greatly miss the vibrant research atmosphere at the University of Chicago and the abundance of engaging workshops across campus.”
Julia Mendelsohn
Julia Mendelsohn heads to the University of Maryland, where she has accepted a role as Assistant Professor of Information, Government, and Politics. Focusing on the intersection of language, politics, and computation, Julia’s research has included computationally modeling subtle rhetoric in online political discussions and understanding the social, political and technological implications of such language.
At the DSI, Julia was supported by the Data & Democracy Research Initiative and worked with Chenhao Tan, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Data Science and Faculty Co-Director of the Complementary AI Research Initiative. Julia was awarded a DSI ZhengTong Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2025.
Julia has been recognized as a finalist for the Twitch and Meta PhD Fellowships and was awarded an Honorable Mention from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Prior to joining the DSI, Julia completed her PhD in Information at the University of Michigan and received a BA in Linguistics and an MS in Computer Science from Stanford University.
“I’ve really appreciated the DSI community and have learned so much from my postdoctoral colleagues about diverse fields,” Julia said. She also spoke to how the mentorship she received prepared her for this next step: “Because I knew I was starting [this role] this fall, I’ve asked for and received great mentorship on how to be a professor. For example, Chenhao [Tan] has supported me a lot in my first cycle admitting PhD students and my first round of grant applications.”
The UChicago – City Colleges of Chicago Data Science Preceptor program places recent PhD graduates in joint teaching roles across UChicago, Chicago’s City Colleges, and Chicago State University as part of an effort to strengthen STEM education for data scientists here in Chicago.
Susanna Lange
Susanna Lange has accepted a role as a Lecturer in Statistics and Data Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on machine learning, particularly on preconditioning methods for neural networks.
As a DSI Preceptor, Susanna taught courses in Data Science at both the University of Chicago and the City Colleges of Chicago. Prior to her Preceptorship, Susanna earned her PhD in Mathematics working with Qiang Ye at the University of Kentucky.
“My time as a preceptor provided me with the opportunity to grow as a data science educator and contribute to the conversation on data science curriculum,” Susanna shared. “Having the chance to adapt my teaching to a wide variety of settings…has solidified the love and excitement I have for teaching. Whether in the classroom, mentoring student research projects, or in casual conversation, the opportunities… to directly impact students [and encourage student interest in data science] have been especially rewarding.”
“I am also incredibly grateful to have gained a network of educators across institutions [who] have contributed to my growth and my academic journey,” Susanna added.
Congratulations again to our Scholars are they embark on these next journeys. We celebrate all you have accomplished and learned here, and we look forward to seeing what you discover next!
This article was written and posted originally to the Data Science Institute