The iSchool is pleased to announce the appointment of two specialized faculty members. Yildiz Esener and Nitin Verma will join the School as teaching assistant professors in August 2025.
Esener holds a PhD in information science from the University of North Texas. Her multidisciplinary academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in counseling psychology and a master’s degree in educational psychology. Esener’s research centers on advanced data analytics techniques such as social media analysis, text mining, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis, with a particular focus on understanding online behaviors and digital mental health—especially among marginalized populations. In addition to her research, Esener brings substantial teaching experience in both face-to-face and online formats. She has taught a wide range of courses, including Introduction to Python Programming, Health Data Analytics, and Fundamentals of Data Science.
Verma earned his MS and PhD in information science from the University of Texas at Austin, where his research was focused on studying trust, misinformation, AI ethics, and human values. He most recently served as a postdoctoral research scholar at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS) and the New York Academy of Sciences, working in the area of AI and Society. Verma has taught undergraduates and graduates at both UT-Austin and ASU. In addition, he has nearly a decade of industry experience as a software engineer and programmer.