UTSA Endowed and Named Chairs and Professorships   Profiles   Ricardo Romo Ph.D. Endowed Professorship
UTSA Endowed and Named Chairs and Professorships
David Han, Ph.D.
Ricardo Romo Ph.D. Endowed Professorship
The Ricardo Romo Ph.D. Endowed Professorship was established in 2010 by the university in honor of former UTSA President Dr. Ricardo Romo. The academic position is awarded to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching, research, and service to undergraduate students enrolled in the Honors College. The professorship is awarded to a new recipient every two years.

David Han, Ph.D.

Ricardo Romo Ph.D. Endowed Professorship

Distinguished Teaching Professor, Management Science & Statistics

David Han’s research interests include statistical modeling, data science and data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, operations research in the areas of reliability, survival analysis, lifetime and degradation analyses, predictive maintenance planning with applications to healthcare, biomedicine, chemometrics, cybersecurity, renewable energy and industrial engineering.

His research has appeared in numerous refereed academic journals, including the IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Reliability Engineering & System Safety, Naval Research Logistics, Quality & Reliability Engineering International, Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, and the Journal of Statistical Planning & Inference. He has also served as a peer reviewer and an editorial board member for multiple research journals across diverse academic disciplines.  

Han is a fellow with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) and a senior fellow with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab. He has been a senior fellow with the U.S. Office of Naval Research Faculty Research Program since 2017.

Han has taught physical, statistical and mathematical sciences for over two decades, and he has been frequently recognized for his leadership in the classroom. His past awards include the University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the UTSA President’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching Excellence, and the Alvarez College of Business Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. He is also a recipient of the college’s Dean’s Research Excellence Award.

Han has been involved in numerous committees since joining UTSA in 2009. He served as chair and coordinator of the statistics and data science undergraduate program. He is a member of the UTSA Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars (ADTS), co-chairs the ADTS & Academic Innovation STAR teaching awards, and leads the ADTS committee on Generative AI for Teaching & Learning. He also served as the president and vice president of the American Statistical Association (ASA) San Antonio Chapter for two consecutive terms. 

Han earned his Ph.D in Statistics from McMaster University.