William Turkett

Dr. William Turkett serves as Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Wake Forest University, a position he has held since 2020. He concurrently acts as Graduate Program Director and serves on Wake Forest's Information Technology Advisory Board, with prior experience as an ABET/CSAB Peer Evaluator.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from University of South Carolina (2004), specializing in probabilistic reasoning
• B.S. in Computer Science from College of Charleston (1998)

Dr. Turkett's research program bridges computational biosciences and cybersecurity, with core expertise in DNA/amino acid sequence analysis for prediction/classification tasks. His work consistently addresses systems-scale sequential and temporal datasets, while maintaining active interests in computer science education methodologies and bioinformaticians' software development practices. Recent investigations include evolutionary cyber defense strategies and community-focused mobile application development.

Publication analysis reveals three dominant research thrusts: bioinformatics (sequence-based protein classification, gene expression networks), cybersecurity (resilient systems, moving target defense), and education (non-traditional student engagement, STEM incubators). His interdisciplinary approach connects biological systems with computational modeling while addressing practical security challenges.

Dr. Turkett oversees graduate education as Program Director and contributes to curriculum development through courses like CSC 201 (Data Structures) and CSC 231 (Programming Languages). His ABET accreditation experience supports program quality assessment, while community outreach initiatives demonstrate commitment to expanding computer science participation.

Collaborative research efforts span computational biology labs and cybersecurity teams, though specific laboratory affiliations aren't documented in available sources. Current work continues to evolve at the intersection of biological sequence analysis and adaptive security frameworks.