Chuck Pepe-Ranney

Chuck Pepe-Ranney is a Lead Faculty and Section Instructor in the Master of Applied Data Science program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also teaches data science fundamentals at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and works as a genomics data scientist at Life Edit Therapeutics. His academic background includes a PhD in microbiology from the Colorado School of Mines and postdoctoral research in microbial carbon cycling at Cornell University.

Research interests focus on genomics, computational analysis of ecosystems (e.g., human microbiome, agricultural soil, sea-star viruses), and applying data science to biological systems. He has extensive experience in genomic data management, including designing AgBiome’s genomic data platform for over 100,000 microbial genomes.

Professional contributions include teaching computational microbiome analysis at Woods Hole and bridging academia with industry roles. No specific awards are mentioned, but his work highlights expertise in interdisciplinary applications of data science to ecological and biomedical challenges.