Research Profile: Dongsong Zhang

With 25-plus years of experience in data science research, Dongsong Zhang is the Belk Distinguished Professor in Business Analytics at UNC Charlotte.

His current research centers on social computing, health information technology, mobile human-computer interaction, business intelligence, and online deception and misinformation detection.

He conducts his research using design science research methods, such as machine learning, natural language processing, text mining, and personalization techniques, as well as empirical research methods, such as controlled lab experiments and surveys.

Zhang was named interim executive director for UNC Charlotte’s School of Data Science in May 2024. He is the former inaugural director of research for the school, playing a crucial role in shaping its research agenda and fostering collaboration across the University. He is a faculty member in the Department of Business Information Systems and Operations Management in the Belk College of Business.

He has published approximately 200 research articles in prestigious journals and conference proceedings in the fields of information systems, computer science and health informatics. His work has been cited more than 16,000 times. Zhang currently is a senior or associate editor of multiple international journals.

He has received more than $5 million in research grants and awards from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, Google Inc., the Centers for Disease Control and many others.

Before joining UNC Charlotte, he was a tenured full professor in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He received his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the Eller School of Management at the University of Arizona.