The College of Sciences is excited to introduce 20 new faculty members into nine departments in 2017. Welcome!

Anthropology

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Nessette Falu Nessette Falu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Falu is a socio-cultural anthropologist with research interests in black lesbians/queer, ethical subjects, ethics, well-being, bioenergetics and fugitivity.

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Biology

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Charissa de-BekkerCharissa De Bekker, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

De Bekker studies parasite-host interactions that lead to altered host behavior. Her lab focuses on the study of carpenter ants.

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Chase MasonChase Mason, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Mason researches plant evolution. At his plant evolutionary ecophysiology lab, he studies plant adaptation to different environments by looking at a number of factors.
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Chemistry

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Titel JurcaTitel Jurca, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Research in the Jurca lab will focus on the development of new inorganic molecules. These molecules will be used in a broad range of diverging applications, including catalysis for pharmaceuticals, energy and fuels research and as precursors to new electronic materials.
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Denisia Popolan-VaidaDenisia Popolan-Vaida, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Popolan-Vaida’s research focuses on understanding the fundamental chemical processes involved in the atmospheric and combustion chemistry. One project focuses on investigating the effect of airborne soil organic particles (ASOP) on the chemical balance of the atmosphere.
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Nicholson School of Communication

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Regina FranciesRegina Francies, Ph.D.
Lecturer

Francies studies health communication. Her research in the area has primarily focused on marginalized women.

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Jihyun KimJihyun Kim, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Kim’s primary research interest is concerned with the effects and implications of New Media/Communication Technologies. Her research program involves the effects of technologies for health promotion/prevention, online education and parasocial relationships.
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Adam ParrishAdam Parrish, Ph.D.
Lecturer

Parrish’s research focuses on persuasive message design to promote men’s health. His work has been published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Health Communication and the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services.

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Nicholas SciulloNicholas Sciullo, Ph.D.
Lecturer

Sciullo writes and speaks about the intersections of race, law and rhetoric. He works in the critical theory/critical rhetoric/continental philosophy tradition. Sciullo is also the Jeff Butler Director of Debate.

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Patric Spence, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Spence’s research focuses on crisis and risk communication and how emergency messages motivate various publics to take action in light of perceived threats during the life-cycle of a crisis.

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Nan YuNan Yu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Yu’s research focuses on health communication and communication technology with an emphasis on health promotion using digital technologies and health messages tailored to specific audience members.

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Mathematics

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Seongchun KwonSeongchun Kwon, Ph.D.
Lecturer

Kwon’s research interests are in differential geometry and algebraic geometric; in particular, Gromov-Witten theory, intersection theory, real enumerative geometry and virtual orbifold localization.

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Abey Lopez-GarciaAbey Lopez-Garcia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Lopez-Garcia’s research is in analysis and currently concentrates in the following areas: multiple orthogonal polynomials and their asymptotic properties, discrete minimal energy, Riemann-Hilbert problems and random matrices.

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Katiuscia TeixeiraKatiuscia Teixeira
Assistant Professor

Teixeria focuses on math education, teaching and learning.

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Physics

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Yasuyuki NakajimaYasuyuki Nakajima, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Nakajima’s research focuses on design, crystal growth, and characterization of novel quantum materials, including topological semimetals/insulators, unconventional superconductors, and quantum critical metals.

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Mihai VaidaMihai Vaida, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Vaida’s research focuses on ultrafast electron and molecular dynamics, surface science, thin films, 2D materials, photovoltaics, surface chemistry and catalysis.

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School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs

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John HanleyJohn Hanley, Ph.D.
Lecturer

Hanley’s research areas involve America and Congress. His disciplinary affiliations are political science and security studies.

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Psychology

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Mark EhrhartMark Ehrhart, Ph.D.
Professor

Ehrhart studies organizational climate and culture, justice and citizenship behaviors. He has also studied leadership, stress and teams.

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Steve JexSteve Jex, Ph.D.
Professor

Jex’s research focuses on occupational stress, with special interest in abusive supervision, interpersonal mistreatment, workplace incivility and individual differences in stress.

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Sociology

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Jonathan CoxJonathan Cox, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Cox is looking at the racial identities and racial ideologies of college Millennials and is broadly interested in the intersections of multiple identities, in particular racial, ethnic and gender identities. [/one_half_last]