About

Andrew Chin is the Paul B. Eaton Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. He joined the faculty in 2001 after a career in theoretical computer science and combinatorial mathematics. His academic work focuses on legal fields that intersect with modern technology and quantitative methods, including intellectual property, antitrust, cyberspace, artificial intelligence, privacy, democracy, and securities law. His research methodologies range from data science and algorithm design to constitutional theory and the analytic philosophy of science and mathematics. Chin's current research explores how patent laws relate to neurodiversity within the inventive community. He has collaborated with Duke mathematicians to analyze quantitative evidence in partisan gerrymandering cases, contributing to efforts that led to the redrawing of North Carolina's congressional districts in 2020. He has also authored amicus briefs in significant election law cases. His scholarship has helped maximize recoveries in insider trading liability cases and has contributed to prior art in DNA patenting. Prior to his legal academic career, Chin taught computer science, mathematics, and statistics at Oxford, King's College London, the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas A&M University, developing efficient algorithms and pioneering techniques in locality-preserving hashing with applications across multiple fields. His background includes clerking for federal judges and practicing law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Social Science
• Ecology
• Biology
• Fishery
• Business
• History
• Geography
• Marketing
• Engineering ethics
• Engineering
• Law

Selected publications

• The costs and healing rates of minor injuries in neonatal reef sharks

  Journal of Fish Biology · 2025-02-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Elasmobranch fishes (i.e., sharks, skates, and rays) exhibit remarkable wound-healing capabilities and consistently maintain a high capacity for tissue regeneration throughout their lives. This high capacity for wound healing may be particularly important for neonatal elasmobranchs that are still developing their immune system. However, little is known about the costs associated with wound healing and the potential influence of environmental variables or life history. In this study, we explore (1) the impact of minor, external injuries on the growth and body condition of neonatal blacktip reef (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and sicklefin lemon (Negaprion acutidens) sharks using a long-term fisheries-independent dataset from Moorea, French Polynesia, (2) the influence of ambient temperature on healing rates in neonatal blacktip reef sharks at two experimental temperatures (25°C and 29°C), and (3) variations in umbilical wound-healing rates between blacktip reef and sicklefin lemon sharks using an additional long-term dataset from St. Joseph Atoll, Seychelles. We found no impact of minor, external injuries on growth and body condition in neonatal blacktip reef and sicklefin lemon sharks, accelerated umbilical wound healing in neonatal blacktip reef sharks exposed to elevated ambient temperatures, and distinct umbilical wound-healing rates between neonatal blacktip reef and sicklefin lemon sharks. Enhancing our understanding of sharks' healing capabilities and the influence of environmental factors on this process is crucial for informing handling practices aimed at improving post-release survival rates of captured sharks under current and future oceanic conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sexual Size Dimorphism in Rays and Skates (Elasmobranchii: Batoidea)

  Ecology and Evolution · 2025-07-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) is a widely observed but poorly understood phenomenon in which male and female animals differ in body size (e.g., length or mass). Despite extensive research on the interspecific distribution of SSD across various lineages, the evolutionary drivers behind male-biased and female-biased SSD remain contentious. In Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays), it is hypothesised that spatiotemporal differences in reproductive effort distribution between oviparous and matrotrophic species underlie variation in the direction and magnitude of SSD. However, existing studies have focused almost exclusively on sharks, overlooking batoids (rays), which comprise over 50% of elasmobranch diversity. In this study, we analysed published size (total length and disc width) records from 187 batoid species to quantify interspecific SSD variation across batoids and tested for ecological and evolutionary drivers of SSD within a comparative phylogenetic framework. Our findings reveal that, although interspecific trends in SSD among batoids superficially mirror those in sharks, subtle differences emerge in ecological signal and modes of trait evolution between the two. These differences suggest that selection for substantial male-biased and female-biased SSD in batoids is weaker than in sharks. The underlying reasons for this remain unclear but may involve variation in fecundity selection between batoids and sharks. Further studies quantifying variation in sexual selection and fecundity selection will be essential to fully clarify the adaptive basis of SSD variation within elasmobranchs.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Overfished and under conserved: life-history, ecology and supply chain of the Endangered whitespotted whipray (Maculabatis gerrardi) and sharpnose whipray (Maculabatis macrura) from south-east Asia

  Pacific Conservation Biology · 2025-03-30 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Context The whitespotted whipray (Maculabatis gerrardi) and sharpnose whipray (Maculabatis macrura) are caught and traded in large volumes in south-east Asia and listed as Endangered by the IUCN. Aims This study aimed to provide insights to their biology, ecology, fisheries, and markets. Methods A total of 95 specimens from the species complex (M. gerrardi = 45, M. macrura = 40, and undetermined = 10) caught from Indonesia and Malaysia were examined, and an interview with a Singaporean seafood supplier was conducted. Key results For M. gerrardi, the youngest mature male was 4 years old with 50% reaching maturity at 5.07 years, and the youngest mature female was 4 years old with 50% reaching maturity at 6.96 years. For M. macrura, the youngest mature male was 4 years old with 50% reaching maturity at 6.36 years, and the youngest mature female was 6 years old with 50% reaching maturity at 6.00 years, but with low sample size. The oldest specimen in the sample was 15 years old. Maculabatis spp. show asynchronous breeding with a littler size of one to five. There was no significant difference in the diets of both species, with Decapoda the dominant prey. The seafood supplier revealed that Maculabatis spp. are targeted by fisheries, and he perceives large declines in their population since he started in the business. Conclusions and implications Considering the challenges distinguishing between the two cryptic species, life-history parameters that capture this species-complex as whole may be a more practical approach to management and are presented.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Current methods and best practice recommendations for skate and ray (Batoidea) research: capture, handling, anaesthesia, euthanasia, and tag attachment

  Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries · 2025-01-28 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Skates and rays (Batoidea) play a significant ecological role, contributing to ecosystem services through bioturbation and acting as vital intermediate components of the trophic chain in various aquatic environments. Despite their wide global distribution and ecological importance, batoids receive less attention than their shark relatives, resulting in substantial knowledge gaps that might impede a comprehensive understanding of their conservation status. This review addresses critical aspects of their capture, handling, tagging, and release to provide readers with crucial information needed to perform research on batoids. Protocols for analgesia, anaesthesia, and euthanasia are also discussed, taking into account the ethical and logistical considerations necessary for research involving this group of species. This information can give researchers and ethics committees the knowledge to conduct and approve studies involving batoids, thereby promoting more effective and ethical research practices.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Author response for "The geometry of life: testing the scaling of whole-organism surface area and volume using sharks"

  2025-03-19

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• The geometry of life: testing the scaling of whole-organism surface area and volume using sharks

  Royal Society Open Science · 2025-06-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  The ratio of surface area to volume is a key biological parameter that underpins our understanding of physiology across all levels of biological organization. Surfaces control the rate of key reactions and processes operating within the body and between organisms and their environment. Our understanding of surface area to volume ratios is embedded in the 2/3 scaling law, stating that surface area scales with volume raised to a power of 0.66. However, most empirical studies of surface area and volume scaling in animals focus on individual cells or tissues. Comparatively few studies have addressed these scaling relationships among species or ontogenetic stages at the whole-organism level. This study uncovers quantitative support for the 2/3 scaling law in an interspecific dataset at the whole-organism level. We find that the scaling of surface area to volume across 54 shark species (exhibiting an approx. 19 000-fold variation in body mass) is nearly identical to the isometric prediction of the 2/3 scaling law. There is no evidence that this relationship is driven by ecological or physiological characteristics. One plausible explanation is the presence of developmental constraints on tissue allocation that could influence the range of possible surface areas or volumes at any given body size.

  PublisherDOI

• ATLANTIS: AI-driven Threat Localization, Analysis, and Triage Intelligence System

  ArXiv.org · 2025-09-18

  preprintOpen access

  We present ATLANTIS, the cyber reasoning system developed by Team Atlanta that won 1st place in the Final Competition of DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) at DEF CON 33 (August 2025). AIxCC (2023-2025) challenged teams to build autonomous cyber reasoning systems capable of discovering and patching vulnerabilities at the speed and scale of modern software. ATLANTIS integrates large language models (LLMs) with program analysis -- combining symbolic execution, directed fuzzing, and static analysis -- to address limitations in automated vulnerability discovery and program repair. Developed by researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, Samsung Research, KAIST, and POSTECH, the system addresses core challenges: scaling across diverse codebases from C to Java, achieving high precision while maintaining broad coverage, and producing semantically correct patches that preserve intended behavior. We detail the design philosophy, architectural decisions, and implementation strategies behind ATLANTIS, share lessons learned from pushing the boundaries of automated security when program analysis meets modern AI, and release artifacts to support reproducibility and future research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Epistemological Function of the Patent Document

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A Bayesian Solution to Rucho: Simulation Evidence of Partisan Gerrymandering in the State Court Era

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Disappearing Edge: AI, Machine Learning, and the Future of the Discretionary Portfolio Manager

  Financial Analysts Journal · 2025-07-30

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• William T. White

  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

  59 shared

• Colin A. Simpfendorfer

  James Cook University

  53 shared

• Michelle R. Heupel

  University of Tasmania

  37 shared

• Leontine Baje

  Micronesia Conservation Trust

  30 shared

• Michael I. Grant

  Hasanuddin University

  23 shared

• J. J. C. Smart

  16 shared

• Stacy L. Bierwagen

  Australian Institute of Marine Science

  15 shared

• C. Samantha Sherman

  James Cook University

  14 shared

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy by Research (FT/PT), College of Marine and Environmental Sciences

  James Cook University

  2013

Awards & honors

• N/A