CICS Announces the Hiring of Six New Faculty in 2025
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The Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) at UMass Amherst announces the appointment of six new tenure-track and teaching faculty in 2025.
In addition to these new hires, Mingda Qiao, who was hired in 2024 as an assistant professor with a focus on theory, arrived on campus in July and Katrin Erk, professor of linguistics and computer science, will begin in September as a joint appointment with the College of Humanities & Fine Arts.
These incoming faculty members will bring the college’s cohort of tenure-stream and teaching faculty to 94. Of the college’s current and emeritus faculty, 20 are ACM Fellows, 12 are IEEE Fellows, and 42 are NSF CAREER Award winners.
Yicong Huang, Assistant Professor
Data Management
Starting Fall 2027
Yicong Huang is completing a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Irvine. His research integrates systems, data management, and machine learning to optimize modern data-intensive pipelines, and was recognized with a SIGMOD 2024 Best Demo Runner-Up Award. He received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of California, Irvine in 2019.
Neha Makhija, Assistant Professor
Data Management
Starting Fall 2025
Neha Makhija's research focuses on database theory and knowledge representation, with a specific focus on problems related to query explanations, probabilistic data, and finding minimal representations of data. She received a bachelor of engineering degree in computer engineering from the University of Mumbai in 2019 and a doctoral degree in computer science from Northeastern University in 2025.
James Perretta, Teaching Faculty
Starting Fall 2025
James Perretta's research lies at the intersection of software engineering and computer science education, with a focus on software testing. He received a master’s in computer science and engineering, as well as dual bachelor’s degrees in computer science and cello performance, from the University of Michigan in 2019 and 2016, respectively. He received a doctoral degree in computer science from Northeastern University in 2025.
Ella Tuson, Teaching Faculty
Starting Fall 2025
Ella Tuson's research interests combine natural language processing and machine learning to advance computer science education, educational technology, and accessibility. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Clark University in 2019 and a doctoral degree from Brandeis University in 2025.
Holly Yanco, Distinguished Professor
Robotics
Starting Fall 2025
Holly Yanco joins CICS from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she founded the Human-Robot Interaction Lab and served as director of the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) Center. She received her doctoral and master’s degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a bachelor’s in computer science from Wellesley College. She was elected a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) in 2021.
Wenting Zhao, Assistant Professor
Natural Language Processing
Starting Fall 2026
Wenting Zhao's research uses natural language processing and machine learning to develop models combining neural and probabilistic methods for real-world reasoning and evaluation benchmarks grounded in large-scale, real-world user interactions. She earned a doctoral degree and master’s degree in computer science from Cornell University in 2025 and 2022, respectively, and her bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2017.