On Friday at 3 PM, Sean Mussenden, University of Maryland professor and data luminary, and his wife Jules became parents to twins. The twins, Owen and Ellis were born happy and healthy after around a day of labor.
Sean, a renowned data journalism professor, was planning to about to meet with some of his students when he found out Jules was going into labor. Sean’s popularity with his current and former students ignited a fervor around Julie’s pregnancy that had been building for months. Both current and former students waited with anticipation knowing that this weekend could be the weekend the twins finally arrived.
“When I saw Sean’s Slack status without the green bubble Thursday afternoon, I knew something big must have been happening. I’m so thrilled and wish him and Julie nothing but the best,” said Shreya Vuttaluru, a data reporter at the Tampa Bay Times and one of Sean’s former students.
Sean, who has touched hundreds of lives and helped transform University of Maryland’s journalism school into one of the best in the country, wanted to give his new children the middle name “tidyverse” until the proposal was vetoed by Julie. Still, he plans on imparting in his kids some of the same coding techniques that have served his former students so well over the years.
“He’s already taught dozens of kids to code. What’s two more?” said Vuttaluru.