Li Han earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University, College Station, in 2000. She joined Clark University in 2002 after completing her postdoctoral study at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a Professor of Computer Science and currently serves as Director of the Data Science Program.
Professor Han’s research interests include data science, machine learning, data science and computing education, and scientific informatics. Her interdisciplinary work brings together computational methods and substantive questions from fields such as chemistry, education, environmental studies, physics, psychology, and sports. In collaboration with faculty across these disciplines, she draws on a broad range of approaches, including statistical analysis, graph theory and algorithms, classical machine learning, deep learning, physics-informed modeling, and generative AI. Her research program also provides undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities to contribute to collaborative, publication-oriented projects. Before joining Clark, her doctoral research focused on robotics, particularly dexterous manipulation and motion planning.
Professor Han has developed and taught a wide range of courses at Clark. For more than a decade, she served as faculty adviser to the Clark Competitive Computing Club (C4) and coached Clark’s programming competition teams. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Clark teams regularly participated in and performed well at intercollegiate competitions. She now advises the Data Science Collaboration Club.
Professor Han is the principal investigator of CROSSROADS, an NSF-funded research and education project designed to expand real-world, interdisciplinary data science learning and create meaningful opportunities for student success.
