Stony Brook University Libraries Launch Inaugural AI Research Scientist Role with Appointment of Hojun Son, Ph.D.

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Mona Ramonetti

As part of its strategic investment in building internal AI research capacity, Stony Brook University Libraries welcomes Hojun Son, Ph.D., as its inaugural AI Research Scientist.

Hojun earned a B.S. in Information Communication Technology from Inha University in South Korea, followed by both an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. After completing his Ph.D. in 2022, he spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow in James Weiland’s lab at the University of Michigan before joining the University of Michigan Transportation Institute in 2023.

His research focuses on improving the reliability of AI in real-world environments, with interests spanning accessibility, transportation and mobility, environmental science and education. He works on computer vision and multimodal perception systems, including sim-to-real modeling and bias evaluation, with an emphasis on robustness in low-compute settings.

In his new role, Hojun will develop and apply AI models that advance library services, including information discovery, digital collections stewardship and data-informed decision-making. He will also help design and build external-facing AI services to support students, faculty, and researchers across the campus. Positioned within the Libraries, his work will bridge advanced AI research with practical challenges in organizing and providing access to knowledge.

The first of its kind nationally, this position focuses on building applied AI research within academic libraries. It is part of a broader effort to build sustained AI capacity in libraries, an approach that peer institutions are increasingly looking to as a model.

This appointment comes at a moment when higher education is moving beyond ad hoc AI experimentation toward sustained institutional capacity. By embedding applied AI research directly within the Libraries, Stony Brook is asserting that libraries are not just sites of guidance or critique, but active builders of AI-enabled scholarly infrastructure. It also reflects the Libraries’ commitment to engaging AI not only as a tool, but as a core research capability that will shape the future of library practice.