Sean Connin graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder (organismal biology) and completed a Master of Forest Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He then earned a PhD in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College. His research interests have included forays into environmental modeling, biogeochemistry, paleoecology, and climate change. 

Connin served in a variety of leadership positions before coming to Denver University. These include, in part, such diverse roles as director of the Adirondack Watershed Institution at Paul Smith’s College, founding director for the award-winning Adirondack Invasive Plant Program, and founding director for the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching at Trinity University. There he established a broad portfolio of programs to support faculty instruction and student mentoring, curricular innovation, and professional development for post-doctoral STEM scholars from traditionally under-represented backgrounds.

Connin has also helped advance STEM education and quantitative methods at a national level. As Program Officer for Science and Technology with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, he led initiatives and conferences for data fluency, scientific visualization, computational programming, and spatial modeling. In other professional circles he co-organized and led conference sessions around diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM education. He has continued to acquire and apply skills in data science to benefit public purpose organizations.

This June, he joined the University of Denver’s (DU) computer science department as a professor of teaching and as the faculty director for graduate programs in data science.  He is excited to build on the program’s curriculum, working with faculty and students alike to craft a top-notch graduate experience in data science that keeps pace with industry standards and society’s needs. 

« BACK TO LEADERSHIP AND FACULTY