Naina Balepur

Hi! This September, I joined the Data Science Institute at the University of Chicago as an Assistant Instructional Professor. Before that, I completed my Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where I was advised by professor Hari Sundaram. I’m committed to inclusive and transparent teaching, and during the Winter and Spring quarters I’ll be teaching Intro Data Science, Data Visualization, and Software Engineering.

My thesis work lay at the intersection of social network analysis and game theory, with a focus on understanding human decision-making through modeling and simulation. Toward this end, I spent the last year of my Ph.D. interviewing local community members to develop a contextualized model of institutional trust. Though I no longer do research, I am still very interested in community engagement, so feel free to stop by my office or send an email if you ever want to chat.

And if you’re confused, maybe you’re looking for my brother