Haaland previously was an assistant professor at Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Medical School's Centre for Quantitative Medicine. Before that, he was an assistant professor in the department of Statistics and Applied Probability at NUS. 

Haaland's theoretical work largely focuses on design and analysis of computer experiments. However, he broadly considers himself a scientist, with specific expertise in complex modeling and data analysis. He has experience in evidence-based medicine, clinical trial design, health services research, and epidemiology. His experience in quantitative arenas include high-level expertise are meta-analysis, experimental design, predictive and non-parametric modeling, Bayesian analysis, computing, and numerical analysis.

In 2007, he earned the top score for the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam in the Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin. In 2006, he received the Outstanding Master’s Student award in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montana State University.

Haaland received a B.S in applied mathematics and an M.S. in statistics from Montana State University in 2003 and 2006, respectively. He earned his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Wisconsin in 2010.