Dan Chitwood
Associate Professor
East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolDan Chitwood is an associate professor and computational plant biologist who blends algorithmic thinking with deep expertise in plant morphology and genomics to develop data-driven solutions for complex biological problems. Over a 12-year academic career he has applied deep learning, morphometrics, and topological data analysis to datasets ranging from X‑ray CT reconstructions to large public molecular repositories, while leading participatory, bilingual teaching initiatives across the US and México. He designs inclusive curricula (Plants&Python) that teach coding through plant-inspired examples and prioritizes equity and reciprocity in interdisciplinary collaborations. Comfortable teaching across biology, design, and computation, he has a track record of translating lab-grade quantitative methods into reproducible educational and research tools. Based in East Lansing, he pairs a PhD from Cold Spring Harbor with practical industry experience early in his career, bringing both rigorous theory and hands-on lab perspective to computational science.
12 years of coding experience
11 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science - BS, Genetics (Highest Honors), Bachelor of Science - BS, Genetics (Highest Honors) at University of California, DavisDoctor of Philosophy - PhD, Biological Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
English, Spanish
Github Skills (6)
placement10
foundation9
science8
python7
scientific-computing7
crossword4
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
DanChitwood/PlantsAndPython
Jul 2019 - May 2022
Course material for the Foundation in Computational Plant Science course at Michigan State University
Contributions:1 release, 34 commits, 33 pushes in 2 years 11 months
plantmichigan-state-universitypythonscienceplacement
DanChitwood/PassifloraLeaves
Apr 2016 - Dec 2017
Contributions:8 commits, 7 pushes, 1 branch in 1 year 7 months
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