The iSchool is strengthening expertise in the areas of big data and information and communication technologies for development with the addition of Joshua Blumenstock as Assistant Professor.

"I chose the UW iSchool because it has a vibrant and dynamic group of faculty who strongly support my two passions: global development and "big data" analytics," says Blumenstock. "I'm looking forward to working closely with students and faculty to make the iSchool one of the world's preeminent institutions for research in both of these areas."

Blumenstock's recent work has shown how terabyte-scale data collected by mobile operators can be used to better understand the role of mobile phones in the daily lives of individuals and households in East Africa.

He presented and published his research at leading ICTD forums, including the 2012 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD), and the journals Information Technology and International Development and Information Technology for International Development.

Before starting graduate school, Blumenstock worked on other very large datasets at Microsoft Research and the Harvard Institutes of Medicine. He was a founding engineer of HOTorNOT.com, and served as a 2003-2004 Thomas J. Watson Fellow in Africa and Asia.

Blumenstock recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also earned an M.A. in Economics in 2010. He holds a B.S. in Physics and Computer Science from Wesleyan University. He will teach data science and ICTD at the iSchool beginning spring 2013.