Garrett M. Dancik

Garrett M. Dancik is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Eastern Connecticut State University, where he also coordinates the MS in Applied Data Science program. His research focuses on computational methods for analyzing genomic data, identifying cancer biomarkers, and developing educational tools in bioinformatics and statistics. He teaches courses in programming, bioinformatics, and data analysis, emphasizing foundational skills for data science.

• Education: M.S. in Statistics, Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from Iowa State University.

Research Interests: Bioinformatics, genomic data analysis, personalized medicine, cancer biomarker discovery, and educational tools for computational biology. Current projects include bioinformatics tools for cancer biomarkers, text-mining of cancer publications, and R programming educational platforms.

Software Contributions: Developed tools like shinyGEO for gene expression analysis, BC-BET for bladder cancer biomarker evaluation, and swirl-tbp for interactive R learning. His lab emphasizes open-source tools and reproducible research.

Teaching & Mentoring: Coordinates the Bioinformatics minor and teaches courses including CSC-180 (Fundamentals of Computing), CSC-314 (Bioinformatics), and CSC-450 (Senior Research). Encourages student involvement in projects related to genomics, data science, and computational biology.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Bioinformatics Laboratory at Eastern, focused on translational bioinformatics and educational technology. Collaborates on projects spanning cancer genomics, computational tools, and STEM education.