Director - Dr. Chi Shen

Dr. Shen earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky and has since built a rewarding career in teaching, research, and academic administration at Kentucky State University for 20 years. She has taken on numerous leadership roles, including the Dean of the College of Business, Engineering, and Technology; Chair of three different schools; and Professor of Computer Science.

Dr. Shen has involved in curriculum development and the creation of new degree programs, including an online B.S. in Cybersecurity, an M.S. in Computer Science with a Cybersecurity concentration, and a Cybersecurity certificate, along with the establishment of interdisciplinary certificates. She has also been deeply involved in fostering collaborations with community colleges, international universities, and various academic and professional organizations.

Her research focuses on parallel computing, scientific computing, data mining, and data science. She has extensive experience teaching and conducting research in data science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as in grant writing and collaboration with universities, colleges, and professional organizations. She actively mentors students in research, has been involved in multiple grants, and has supported interdisciplinary student research. She is one of the PIs on the recently funded NSF ECORE grant, “Climate Action, Participation, and Technology for Innovative Visualization, Aggregation, and Training in Environmental Preparedness and Resilience for Kentucky (CAPTIVATE KY),” an $8 million project. Additionally, she has served as a campus champion for the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) for many years and has contributed as a committee member to the NSF Distributed Computing Curriculum for Undergraduates for two years.