World-Renowned Faculty
Get Started
Our faculty boasts a wide range of expertise in data science, spanning innovative research practices to pioneering new analysis methods.
Engage in meaningful collaboration with faculty members passionate about guiding you with hands-on projects alongside industry partners.
Our faculty applies data analysis to address issues in public policy economics, and other sectors, ensuring you gain practical skills in solving pressing problems.
Our Team
Dr. Amy Cerato is a geotechnical engineer and a Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor at the Gallogly College of Engineering. Her research interests include foundation design for alternative energy and predicting expansive soil behavior using microscale properties. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Cerato is the recipient of the Gallogly College of Engineering Felgar Society Pursuit of Excellence Award and the Shamsher Prakash Prize for Excellence in Teaching of Geotechnical Engineering. Dr. Cerato has authored more than 60 technical papers and was featured on the “Yes! Science!” series, a show dedicated to profiling women and minority individuals in STEM fields.
Dr. Amy Cerato is a geotechnical engineer and a Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor at the Gallogly College of Engineering. Her research interests include foundation design for alternative energy and predicting expansive soil behavior using microscale properties. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Cerato is the recipient of the Gallogly College of Engineering Felgar Society Pursuit of Excellence Award and the Shamsher Prakash Prize for Excellence in Teaching of Geotechnical Engineering. Dr.
Dr. Amy Cerato is a geotechnical engineer and a Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor at the Gallogly College of Engineering. Her research interests include foundation design for alternative energy and predicting expansive soil behavior using microscale properties. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Cerato is the recipient of the Gallogly College of Engineering Felgar Society Pursuit of Excellence Award and the Shamsher Prakash Prize for Excellence in Teaching of Geotechnical Engineering. Dr. Cerato has authored more than 60 technical papers and was featured on the
Firat Demir is the L. J. Semrod Professor of Economics, and is also an affiliate faculty in the Department of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Notre Dame (IN, USA). Dr. Demir is a Senior Researcher and co-founder of the Security in Context network, and the co-director of the OU Center for Peace and Development. His main fields of research are economic development and open economy macroeconomics focusing on the issues of economic globalization, structural change, South-South trade and finance, and long run development and growth. Firat is a two-time Fulbright Fellow, Montenegro in 2015-2016 and Lithuania in 2022. Dr. Demir has published one co-authored book (South-South Trade and Finance in the 21st Century: Rise of the South or a Second Great Divergence), and numerous articles in journals, including World Development, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Development and Change, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Review of Radical Political Economics, World Economy, Journal of Economic Surveys, and Foreign Policy.
Pallab Ghosh serves as an Associate Professor in the Economics Department, having earned his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 2014. His research spans Labor Economics, Econometrics, Health Economics, and Development Economics, tackling issues like income inequality, the gender wage gap, minimum wage, crime and incarceration, family economics, decomposition of wage distribution function and addressing endogeneity in linear and non-linear models. Additionally, he has explored development and health economics, focusing on infant mortality, vaccination, women’s empowerment, and the effects of breastfeeding on children’s cognitive development. Dr. Ghosh’s work has been featured in several prestigious journals, including the Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Applied Statistics, Statistical Papers, World Development, Empirical Economics and Labour Economics, among others.
MJ Kim, an empirical economist specializing in Industrial Organization, delves into consumer preferences and how market competition influences firms’ innovation strategies, with a focus on durable goods markets and manufacturing. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University in 2013, focusing on dynamic demand-supply models. Dr. Kim’s research has been recognized, receiving Best Paper Research Awards from the International Journal of Industrial Organization and the Air Transport Research Society. She serves as an editorial board member for the Korean Journal of Industrial Organization and the Journal of Economic Theory and Econometrics. Dr. Kim’s projects, funded by organizations such as DISC, OADII, NSF, and DARPA, explore shifts in consumer willingness to pay, investment decisions amid competition, anti-competition issues, and risk navigation by firms. Using dynamic structural models, she conducts welfare estimation and cost-benefit analyses. Committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, Dr. Kim contributes to advancing knowledge in Industrial Organization and economics.
Brent Norwood attended Texas A&M for his Bachelor of Science in Economics, the University of Delaware for his Master of Economics & Entrepreneurship, and the University of Oklahoma for his PhD in Economics. He began at OU in 2021 as a teaching specialist. His research in applied public policy focuses on areas that impact low- and middle-income families. Brent is the faculty advisor for three fraternities and various clubs. He serves as the Assessment Liaison for the Economic Department, a Digital Faculty Consultant & Creator for McGraw Hill, and is participating in the 2023 cohort of Lead Sooner.
Dr. Yong-Mi Kim is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, where her research and teaching interests center around big data analytics. As an accomplished researcher, speaker, and subject matter expert, Dr. Kim has authored numerous journal articles in various publications, including the International Journal of Clinical & Medical Informatics, the Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, and the Journal of Substance Use, among others. Dr. Kim holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and a second Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Oklahoma.
A passionate educator, Dr. Brent Norwood’s teaching and research interests include applied microeconomics, education, housing, and public policy. Much of his work investigates questions relating to education policies and student outcomes, housing markets, and public policies that help low and middle-income individuals. Before joining the University of Oklahoma faculty, Dr. Norwood taught micro and macroeconomics classes at Lone Star College. Dr. Norwood earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oklahoma, where he was awarded the 1st place winner of the Chong Liew Research Award and the Top Graduate Research Assistant Award.
Before joining the faculty at OU, Dr. Daniel Nedelescu taught economics courses at Purdue University as a research and teaching assistant, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Economics. His research interests lie in Industrial Organization and Behavioral and Experimental Economics, with a current focus on two-sided markets and arbitration theory. A subject matter expert in his field, Dr. Nedelescu has been sought after to speak at conferences and seminars nationwide. His work has been published in the Journal of Economics, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, and Group Decision and Negotiation, among others.
