2019-2020 New Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Profiles
Taslim Al-Hilal
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Al-Hilal comes to 成人头条 from the Massachusetts General Hospital, the original teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is interested in cardiopulmonary diseases, cancer angiogenesis, drug transport barriers, and the progression of vascular disease, particularly in the differences between physiological and pathological cues that disrupt the blood vessel morphogenesis and hemostasis. Utilizing the microfluidic technology that recapitulates tissue- and organ-level physiology, he is interested in developing disease-on-chip models to discover new molecular markers and understand their role in the progression of vascular pathologic conditions. Dr. Al-Hilal earned a doctoral degree in pharmaceutical sciences, and a master’s degree in pharmacy from Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea. During his studies, he was awarded
Antonio Arribas
Professor, Geological Sciences
Dr. Arribas is a geologist with a research background in economic geology and exploration, mineralogy, geology, and geochemistry. Prior to
Alejandra G. Castellanos
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Castellanos returns to her alma mater after completing a doctoral degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). While at UW, Dr. Castellanos was awarded the 成人头条 Engineering Research Scholar fellowship, along with the Amelia Earhart Fellowship, a distinguished award given to 35 women in the aerospace field, annually. Her research focuses on addressing the fundamental challenges of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to mitigate damage and assess failure mechanisms. Using computational and experimental methods, her work investigates the degradation of mechanical properties of sandwich composites subjected to extreme environments. She is interested in materials for hypersonic flight vehicles, specifically to prevent environmental degradation and service damage. Dr. Castellanos is a member of the Zonta International, Mascareñas Foundation, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists. She previously interned at the Air Force Research Lab and at the Indiana Manufacturing Institute at Purdue University. During her free time, Dr. Castellanos enjoys painting, reading, and practicing yoga.
Suneel Babu Chatla
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Dr.
Mark Engle
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences
Dr. Engle brings to 成人头条 his expertise in the composition of oil and gas produced water, and the environmental and human health impact from oil, gas, and coal development. His research focus also includes the application of machine learning and compositional data
Sai Mounika Errapotu
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Errapotu joins 成人头条 with a research background in computer security and applied cryptography, trust modeling and metrics, and security and
John Gibson
Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance
Dr. Gibson comes to 成人头条 with a background in macroeconomic modeling, computational methods, and financial and monetary economics. His research interests include measuring the economic and social impact of public policies such as infrastructure investment and public debt
Amelia Greig
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Greig joins 成人头条 from the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, where she served as
Cynthia Halliday
Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing and Management
Dr. Halliday comes to 成人头条 from Florida International University (FIU), with a research focus on leadership, workplace social exchanges, international human resource management, and gender and diversity. She has taught courses in Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, and International Management. Dr. Halliday earned her doctoral degree from FIU, where she was awarded
Brad Jacobson
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Dr. Jacobson comes to 成人头条 with an interest in academic writing development, composition pedagogies, and students’ transition from high school to university writing. Dr. Jacobson received his doctoral degree in rhetoric, composition, and the teaching of English from the University of Arizona (UA), where he also offered faculty development workshops and created teaching resources for the university-wide Writing and Learning project. His experience as a secondary teacher and interest in community-engaged teaching and learning provided him with the opportunity to lead Wildcat Writers, the UA’s award-winning outreach initiative that links Latinx- and Native American-serving high schools with college writing classes. The program earned the Peter W. Likins Inclusive Excellence Award during his tenure. He is also the recipient of the Julie Christakis DeFazio Excellence in Teaching Award from the UA Writing Program, and the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award from the American Association of Colleges & Universities. Dr. Jacobson is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the Coalition for Community Writing, and the Conference on College Composition and Communication. His work has been published in the Journal of Writing Assessment and Currents in Teaching and Learning, and his co-authored article, Troublesome Knowledge: A Study of GTA Ambivalence with Genre-Informed Pedagogy, is forthcoming in the WPA Writing Program Administration journal. Dr. Jacobson enjoys spending time with his family, cooking vegetarian meals, and trying to grow desert plants.
Julia Lechuga
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health
Dr. Lechuga is an El Paso native and 成人头条 graduate. She returns to 成人头条 from Lehigh University, where she served as
Jacob Martinez
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Dr. Martinez received his doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Miami (UM), while working as a nursing specialist at the 成人头条 School of Nursing, his alma mater. Dr. Martinez has taught at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, and delivered a variety of guest lectures at 成人头条 on topics such as the Border Triad in the El Paso-Juarez Region, Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer Among Hispanic Men, and Navigating the IRB Submission Process. Dr. Martinez has a strong understanding of the grant research process, having served as CO-PI, data managing consultant, and research coordinator on several grants at 成人头条 and at UM. He is a member of the Southern Nursing Research Society, Association of Nurses in AIDS CARE, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, and the 成人头条 Health-Focused Interprofessional Education Community of Practice.
Alex S. Mayer
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Dr. Mayer is currently a professor of civil engineering at Michigan Technological University (MTU), with joint appointments in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Geological & Mining. He will be joining 成人头条 in Spring 2020. Dr. Mayer’s expertise and research interests cut across the fields of engineering, science, and the social sciences. He is interested in understanding the social aspects of water resources
Kisuk Min
Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology
Dr. Min brings
Caitlyn N. Muniz
Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice
Dr. Muniz comes to 成人头条 with a research background in victimization, specifically victim reporting behavior, risk factors, and consequences. She is interested in criminological theory, law, juvenile justice, vulnerable populations, and public perceptions. Dr. Muniz earned a doctoral degree in criminology from the University of South Florida, where she taught a number of courses including At-Risk Youth and Crime, Media and Crime, and Theories of Criminal Behavior. As a graduate student, she was the managing editor of the American Journal of Criminal Justice which provided her insights and experience in the peer-review process and aided in her successfully publishing a number of peer-reviewed journal articles. Furthermore, her experiences and passion for research led her to create a criminological research lab to bridge undergraduate students with graduate students. As the lab’s lead research supervisor, she mentored student groups to help them produce top-tier research publications. Dr. Muniz is a member of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. During her free time, she enjoys powerlifting and spending time outdoors.
Md Nurunnabi
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Nurunnabi brings to 成人头条 a research and teaching background in bioengineering, biomaterials, and drug delivery. He is interested in developing polymeric and
Mark Pederson
Chair and Professor, Department of Physics
Dr. Pederson joins 成人头条 from the Department of Energy (DOE), with a research background in chemical physics, condensed-matter physics, and computational physics. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison – where he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni in the Department of Physics – and
Prior to joining 成人头条, Dr. Pederson
During his tenure as a government employee, Dr. Pederson was recognized by the NRL for his outstanding performance for 19 consecutive years, beginning in 1989. In 2004, he received the Sigma Xi Edison Pure Science Award from the NRL, one of the highest accolades in human-centered design and innovation. In 2008, Dr. Pederson started building a ten-year, $30 million
Dr. Pederson is the primary author of the Naval Research Laboratory Molecular Orbital Library (NRLMOL), a code that is used to benchmark several versions of the density functional theory for molecules. It is the first computational code capable of calculating infrared and Raman spectra of molecules within density functional theory, and the first code to calculate several types of magnetic responses of molecules to applied magnetic fields. In 2000, NRLMOL was the first library to be re-written in a manner that demonstrated a means for performing automatic load-balanced massive parallelization in the field of electronic structure.
His proudest long-term achievement is his individual grass-roots attention to cultural and gender diversity in science, and in affirming by example that equal access and inclusion leads to excellence. In his new role as Chair of the Physics Department at 成人头条, Dr. Pederson is committed to combining his research interests with the strategies he presented during his interview process entitled, "How Physicists can Prepare Students to Create a Sustainable Future". His approach for achieving this includes increasing outreach to national labs and
Dr. Pederson shares that in addition to his scholarly work, one of his personal sustainability ventures while in Washington, D.C., was the early installation of a 5KW solar panel on his home. In addition to research challenges, Dr. Pederson enjoys travel, the outdoors, endurance sports, and adventure. He enjoys running and
Kelly S. Ramirez
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Dr. Ramirez is an ecologist with a research background in soil ecology and biogeography, the plant microbiome and climate change, and biodiversity data synthesis. She will be joining 成人头条 in Spring 2020. Dr. Ramirez received her doctoral degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and soon after became executive director of Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, a global group with an interest in sustainability. In 2014, Dr. Ramirez earned a postdoctoral fellowship at the Synthesis Centre for Biodiversity in Leipzig, Germany. She has spent the last five years as a postdoctoral scholar at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in Wageningen, The Netherlands. She is co-founder of 500 Women Scientists, a non-profit group dedicated to making science open, inclusive, and accessible; and acted as the managing editor of Global Soil Biodiversity Assessment for the UN-Food Agriculture Organization. Dr. Ramirez is a member of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), British Ecology Society (BES), and Soil Ecology Society (SES). The British Ecological Society recently recognized her with the Equality and Diversity Champion award for her contributions to enhancing the practice of equality and diversity in the ecological community. In 2018 she was the recipient of the SLOAN Scholars Mentoring Network Grant. Dr. Ramirez is a coffee enthusiast, and enjoys spending time bouldering, running, and traveling.
Krystia Reed
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Dr. Reed joins 成人头条 from Cornell University, where she was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral associate investigating damage award decision-making. She brings a background in social psychology, program evaluation, and law – and is primarily interested in understanding how legal actors such as attorneys, juries, judges, probation officers, and voters make legal decisions and how those decisions can be improved. She is a member of the California Bar Association, American Psychology-Law Society, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the American Bar Association. As a graduate student, Dr. Reed was awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Warden Travel Award eight times, providing her with the opportunity to travel extensively to present her research interests. Dr. Reed shares that she enjoys traveling, and has been to all 50 states. Her teaching and research background is available on her website, .
William Lewis Roberts
Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy Program
Dr. Roberts joins 成人头条 with over 18 years of experience as an occupational therapist, and 13 years of practice as a pediatric occupational therapist in school-based and clinic settings. His research explores how occupational therapy (OT) education integrates local culture and context into curricula, particularly in places where there are fewer resources, and where OT is an emerging profession. His interest in OT education was inspired by his work with Voluntary Service Overseas in Sri Lanka, where he implemented a community-based rehabilitation program with a community-based organization. He later returned to the area as a visiting lecturer at the University of Kelaniya, Ragama. Dr. Roberts received his doctoral degree in occupation and rehabilitation science from Colorado State University. He received a Fulbright Student Grant, which allowed him to conduct his dissertation research at the Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy Program at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad and Tobago. His dissertation research examined how educators integrated the culture and context of Trinidad and Tobago into the curriculum of the occupational therapy program. Dr. Roberts is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, World Federation of Occupational Therapists, and Caribbean Association of Occupational Therapists. Dr. Roberts was born and raised in El
Lauren Rosenberg
Associate Professor & Director of First-Year Writing, Department of English
Dr. Rosenberg joins 成人头条 from New Mexico State University where she served as Associate Professor, Writing Program Administrator, and Associate Department Head in English. Her research and teaching interests include critical and community literacy studies, composition theory and pedagogy, qualitative research methods, and feminist theories and methodologies. She received her
Sourav Roy
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Dr. Roy is a computational biologist with a research background in genomics, bioinformatics, and molecular biology. His research has involved the utilization of diverse in-silico, in-vitro, and in-vivo methodologies to understand the regulation of gene expression. He joins 成人头条 from St. Mary’s University, where he served as an assistant professor and bioinformatics specialist at the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, and played a key role in the development of the new Bachelor of Science in Bioinformatics program. Dr. Roy received his doctoral degree in genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in 2011. He joined the Department of Entomology at UCR after his Ph.
Yuanrui
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Sang comes to 成人头条 with a research background in flexible power transmission systems, power system economics, and renewable energy. She earned a doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Utah (UU). Dr. Sang's research focuses on the application of power flow control technologies to reduce operation cost and improve the resilience of power systems. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the IEEE Power and Energy Society. Dr. Sang received first prize in the Student Paper Contest at the 2017 North American Power
Gregory S. Schober
Assistant Professor, Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences Program
Dr. Schober joins the 成人头条 College of Health Sciences after having served as visiting professor in the 成人头条 Department of Political Science. He brings a research background in health policy, political and civic engagement, and global health politics. He is interested in the effects of health policies on behavior and health, and the relationship between food insecurity and health. Dr. Schober earned his doctoral degree from Duke
Linh Rachel Thompson
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance
Dr. Thompson joins 成人头条 from the University of South Florida, where she earned her doctoral degree in
Sangeeta Tiwari
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Dr. Tiwari joins 成人头条 from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in New York, with a research focus in tuberculosis chemotherapy, bacterial pathogenesis, and host-pathogen interactions. She received her doctoral degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, where the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded her a fellowship to study bacterial evasion of host immune responses. Dr. Tiwari completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Yale School of Medicine. She is a member of the American Society of Microbiology, American Society of Cell Biology, and American Association of Immunologists. She recently received the University of Texas System’s Faculty STARs Program
Leslie Waters
Assistant Professor, Department of History
Dr. Waters brings