Dr. Zafari is a Professor of the Practice in the Operations and Analytics (OPAN) area and the Academic Director of the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. His research interests lie at the intersection of AI and machine learning, statistical modeling, and business applications, with a focus on natural language processing, anomaly detection, and explainable AI (XAI). He has taught and developed courses in AI modeling, business analytics, machine learning, data-driven decision-making, optimization methods, and managerial statistics across MBA, MSBA, undergraduate, and executive education programs. He also serves as a faculty advisor for business analytics capstone projects.
Before joining Georgetown, Dr. Zafari was an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Analytics at Babson College and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences at The George Washington University School of Business. He also served as a Senior Statistician at Integrity Management Services, developing statistical and machine learning models for anomaly detection and risk assessment in healthcare programs.
Dr. Zafari holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Sharif University of Technology, an M.S. in Computer Science/Operations Research from Bowling Green State University, and a Ph.D. in Decision Sciences from The George Washington University School of Business.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Primary
- Professor of the Practice, MSB - Operations Area (OPIM)