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Scott J. EmrichData Science and Engineering PhD program UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII) Associate Professor Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Tennessee - Knoxville See my most recent updates on Twitter via @ScottEmrich Email: semrich at utk.edu
Phone: 865-974-3891 |
Brief Bio
I earned a B.S. in Biology and Computer Science from Loyola College in Maryland, followed by a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from Iowa State University (ISU). Upon graduation, I received both the ISU Research Excellence Award and the university-wide Zaffarano Prize for Graduate Research.
After completing my Ph.D. in 2007, I began my academic career as a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame, where I spent ten years before joining the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I am currently a professor in EECS and serve as the Program Director for the UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII) Ph.D. program in Data Science and Engineering.
My research focuses on genome-centric bioinformatics, parallel and distributed computing, and the integration of biological applications with second- and third-generation sequencing technologies. Central to my work is the development of scalable computational tools that advance our understanding of genome biology. My group has introduced a variety of novel biological problems--such as the influence of codon usage on protein folding--to the broader computer science research community and has developed several bioinformatics frameworks that have contributed to high-impact publications in genomics. Cumulatively all of my publications have been cited over 15,000 times per Google Scholar..
Most of my work
has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with
additional recent funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
the Department of Energy (DOE), and the state of Tennessee.
Education
- Ph.D., Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Iowa State University, 2007
- B.S., Biology and Computer Science, Loyola College in Maryland, 2002
Research
- Vita (PDF) and Publications (via Google Scholar)
- Code repository (via GitHub)
Recent Teaching
- DSE 512 - Scalable Computing Workflows (DSE2)
- COSC 202 - Data Structures and Algorithms
- DSE 511 - Computational Methods and Data Science (DSE1)
- COSC 494/594 - Special Topics: Bioinformattics Computing
- COSC 302/307 - Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms
Research group
- Mengling He (third year PhD; Data Science)
- Jai Mehta (EECS junior; 2026 Goldwater scholar)
Group Alumni
- Iyanu Oduwole ( Genome Science and Technology, co-advised by Drew Steen @USC)
- Ashley Babjac (NSF GFRP fellow; postdoc at University of Georgia)
- Owen Queen (undergraduate Goldwater scholar recipient; Knight-Hennessy Scholar/PhD student at Stanford)
- Zhixiu Lu (EECS PhD; Senior Data Scientist at Cincinatti Children's)
- Cai John (Bredescen PhD; Computational Biologist II, Foundation Medicine. Was co-advised by the late Wellington Muchero)
- Katrina Schlum (UT-ORII GST PhD; now a bioinformatics specialist at Cincinatti Children's)
- Gabe Wright (CS PhD, co-advised by Tijana Milenkovic; now an Asst. Prof at MSOE)
- David Molik (IBMS PhD, advised by Mike Pfrender; Department Head for the Center for Scholarly Publishing, Associate Professor in Hale Library at Kansas State University)
- Shenglong Zhu (CSE PhD, co-advised by Danny Chen; now works at Amazon)
- Abigal Prosice (2018-2019; UTK undergraduate)
- Will Markley (2015-2018; undergraduate)
- Mara Staines (2016-2017; undergraduate)
- Olivia Choudhury (2012-2017; PhD now at Amazon in their genomics teacm)
- Caleb Reinking (CRC); now CRC development lead, former programmer and lead programmer for VectorBase
- Xuanli (Lexi) Li (2013-2016; undergraduate)
- Chris Ray (2014-2016; undergraduate)
- RJ Nowling (2014-2016 PhD; co-advised by Mary Ann McDowell)
- Kim Ngo (2013-2015; undergraduate co-advised by Patricia Clark)
- Lauren Assour (2009-2015; PhD Computer Science and Engineering, Naughton Fellow)
- Irena Lanc (2008-2014; PhD Computer Science and Engineering)
- Erliang Zeng (former Managing directior, Bioinformatics Core; now at University of Iowa)
- Wei Zhang (2009-2014; PhD Computer Science and Engineering)
- Andrew Thrasher (2008-2013; PhD Computer Science and Engineering)
- Rory Carmichael (2009-2012; former analyst; 2013 MS)
- Andrew Rider (2008-2013; PhD Computer Science and Engineering, coadvised by Nitesh Chawla)
- Brian Kachmarck (2009-2012; undergraduate)
- Paul Baranay (2011-2012; BS undergraduate; NSF graduate fellow)
- Shawn O'Neil (2009-2012; PhD Computer Science and Engineering)
- Allison Regier (2007-2011; PhD Computer Science and Engineering)
- Michael Olson (2008-2009; MS Computer Science and Engineering)
- Benjamin Drda (2008-2010; undergraduate honors thesis)
Recent Professional Activities
- Steering committee, Arthropod Genomics Symposium
- Program committee, International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
- Program committee, IEEE International Conference on Computational Advances in Bio and Medical Sciences
- Associate editor, BMC Genomics