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Faculty Affiliates

Faculty Affiliates are invited to connect with the center due to their mutual interest in its set priorities, their related teaching and research, and their interest in becoming engaged with Canadian counterparts due to mutual interest. Affiliates often connect with the center to expand into international or cross border work, and to learn about opportunities that arise from its information network regarding research funding, teaching exchanges, student offerings, and organized topical meetings.

Faculty Affiliates may be part of Michigan State University or from another highly esteemed academic or research institution in the United States or across borders. They are invited to come together at least once per year. The center routinely connects with affiliates through email and topical forums.


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Gary Anderson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Chicago
Department: School of Social Work
Phone: 517-355-7515
ander664(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Gary Anderson has been involved in three Hartford Foundation projects designed to infuse gerontological content in undergraduate education, expand continuing education for professionals in a variety of health-related disciplines who are working with older adults, and in an innovative field practicum pilot that involves rotation internship experiences for graduate social work students. He has edited a book on Health Care Ethics, and published articles on issues related to grief and loss. The School leads a Kinship Care Resource Center that provides information, resources and advocacy for older adults who are raising their grandchildren or other relatives. This project is supported by the State of Michigan Office on Aging and the State of Michigan Department of Human Services. 

Alan Arbogast Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Kansas
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-355-5262
dunes(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Alan Arbogast is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, and is a physical geographer specializing in Late-Quaternary landscape evolution of eolian and fluvial environments. He is best known for his research on the geomorphic history of coastal sand dunes along Lake Michigan. This work has demonstrated that the dunes are much younger than originally thought and that they have grown episodically through time. Activation cycles are likely related to lake level fluctuations and, perhaps, drought episodes.

Aliakbar Ashkarren Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Department: Radiology
Phone: 617-513-8103
ashkarra(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Aliakbar Ashkarran is an Assistant Professor at Precision Health Program and Department of Radiology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University (MSU). He received his B.S. and M.S. in solid-state physics and Ph.D. in nanoscience and nanotechnology from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He was an Assistant Professor of physics at the University of Mazandaran in Iran and then moved to US and started a postdoctoral position at Harvard University. Prior coming to MSU, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Center for Nanomedicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School at Harvard University. His current research interests include nanomedicine, protein corona, magnetic levitation, disease detection and diagnostic devices, bioelectronic and point-of-care. His research interests include, nanomedicine, protein corona, disease diagnostics, magnetic levitation, and bioelectronics.

Safoi Babana-Hampton Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Maryland
Department: Romance and Classical Languages
Phone: 517-884-6311
babanaha(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Babana-Hampton´s most recent book, Réflexions littéraires sur l´espace public marocain dans l´oeuvre d´Abdellatif Laâbi (Summa Publications, 2008), focuses on the work of eminent Moroccan writer Abdellatif Laâbi. Her publications also include articles and book chapters examining conceptions of multicultural citizenship, transnational identities and artistic hybridity in Francophone literary and filmic narratives from North Africa, the North African diaspora in France and Québec. Her current research project is a comparative study of images of multicultural citizenship in literary and filmic productions in the Maghreb and the Maghrebi diaspora in France. 

Wolfgang Banzhaf Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Department: Computer Science and Engineering
Phone: 517-353-6963
banzhafw(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Wolfgang Banzhaf is the John R. Koza Chair for Genetic Programming in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was a University Research Professor in the Department of Computer Science Memorial University of Newfoundland where he served as head of department from 2003 to 2009 and from 2012 to 2016.Prof. Banzhaf received a "Diplom in Physik" degree in Physics (equivalent to a M.Sc.) from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. He received his Dr.rer.nat (PhD) from the Department of Physics of the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe, now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Prof. Banzhaf was postdoctoral research associate at the 1. Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Stuttgart, Visiting and Senior Researcher at the Central Research Lab, now the Advanced Technology R&D Center of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in Japan and at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) in Cambridge, MA, USA. From 1993 to 2003 he was Associate Professor for Applied Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science of the Technical University of Dortmund. Prof. Banzhaf's research interests are in the field of bio-inspired computing, notably evolutionary computation and complex adaptive systems. Studies of self-organization and the field of Artificial Life are also of very much interest to him. Recently he has become more involved with network research as it applies to natural and man-made systems.

Saul Beceiro-Novo Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University Santiago de Compostela
Department: Physics and Astronomy and NSCL
Phone: 517-884-5054
beceiro(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Saul Beceiro-Novo Is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy since 2015 and adjunct at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab. Since his undergraduate studies, Saul has been very curious about the “small world” and took the decision to focus in the study of nuclear matter when he started his Ph.D. He worked in the study of light exotic nuclei within the R3B collaboration of GSI (Darmstadt). His main interests were reactions of astrophysical interest. After graduation, Saul moved to MSU to continue exploring exotic light nuclei with the Active Target Time Projection Chamber (AT-TPC). It was an exciting time, since he built, commissioned and started running the detector.At the same time, his passion for education made him focus in developing new physics courses, applying active learning techniques. In particular, Dr. Beceiro-Novo has worked in the ISP209 and 209L intro physics classes for non-science majors. Mentoring is also a very important part of his work. He incorporate several undergraduate and graduate students in the laboratory work and also coaches the learning assistants of the department to better work with students.

Doug Bessette Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Calgary
Department: Community Sustainability
Phone: 517-353-0803
Bessett6(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Doug Bessette is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Sustainability, where he researches and teaches courses in sustainable energy, energy transitions and community energy development. He uses both an interdisciplinary coupled human-environment system and applied decision research approach to tackle multi-scale problems that often require identifying and analyzing complicated tradeoffs. In his applied work, Doug develops and deploys structured decision-making frameworks that incorporate value-focused thinking and help stakeholders to identify objectives, generate alternatives, predict consequences and make explicit tradeoffs between values and strategies. His past research has spanned multiple contexts including organic and sustainable agriculture, coastal climate risk management, natural resource management in developing territories and green infrastructure. Doug earned his PhD in Geography from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada and his MSc from the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies here at MSU. Following completion of his PhD, Doug worked as a postdoctoral scholar with the Network for Sustainable Climate Risk Management at Penn State University and as a Senior Research Associate in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University. Before completing his undergraduate degree he served four years in the U.S. Army as an M1A1 tanker.

Carl Boehlert Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Dayton
Department: Engineering
Phone: (517) 353-3703
boehlert(at)egr.msu.edu

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Biography: Professor in Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences. Focuses on the breakdown of metal, titanium alloys and mechanical behavior. Interested in water impact on material in the long term.

Gregory Bonito Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Duke University
Department: Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences
Phone: 517-884-6958
bonito(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Gregory Bonito is an Assistant Professor in Mycology, plant-fungal interactions, truffle ecology, and evolution of bacterial endosymbiosis in fungi. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology from Duke University, M.S. in Conservation Ecology & Sustainable Development from the University of Georgia and B.S. in Ecology & Environmental Biology from Appalachian State University. His areas of expertise include mycology, plant-fungal interactions, truffle ecology, evolution of bacterial endosymbiosis in fungi, mycology and plant microbiomes, symbioses, ecology and evolution.

Travis Brenden Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Virginia Tech
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-355-0003
brenden(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Brenden is originally from South Dakota and graduated with a BS degree in Biological Sciences from South Dakota State University. He then attended Virginia Tech and received MS and PhD degrees in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences; and received an MS degree in Statistics. Shortly before completing his PhD, he moved to Michigan and was employed as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Michigan. Dr. Brenden’s assignment in the Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife is 55% research, 10% instruction, 20% extension/outreach, and 15% service/administration. He serves as co-Director of the Quantitative Fisheries Center, (QFC; www.canr.msu.edu/qfc), a research, outreach, and education center that provides analytic and modeling assistance to fishery management agencies within the Great Lakes region. Prior to serving as co-Director, Dr. Brenden was Associate Director for the QFC from 2006 to 2021. He develops, apply, and teach simulation modeling and advanced data analytic/computational techniques to address contemporary fishery management challenges.

Daniel Bronstein Title and Alma Mater: S.J.D., University of Michigan
Department: Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies
Phone: 517-432-1277
bronstei(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Professor Emeritus Daniel Bronstein taught in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as the Medical School. Professor Bronstein was admitted to the bar in both Michigan and Maryland. In the American Bar Association he served as Chair of the Committee on Environmental Law and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Rules and Procedure. He was one of the seven founders of the International Association for Impact Assessment and edited its international journal, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, from 1993-1999. He also served as a consultant to local, state and federal government agencies, private corporations and international organizations. 

Steven Bursian Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., North Carolina State University
Department: Animal Science
Phone: 517-355-8415
bursian(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Steven Bursian, Associate Chair, Animal Science, conducts research examining the effects of toxicants of industrial, agricultural, or natural origin on domestic animals or on wildlife species maintained in a laboratory setting. He lectures in undergraduate toxicology courses to better inform students of chemical contaminants in the environment and to prepare students for more advanced studies in the field. 

Alex Burt Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Department: Psychology
Phone: 517-432-5602
burts(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Alex Burt is a professor in the department of Psychology in the College of Social Science. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology/Behavioral Genetics and MA in Clinical Psychology/Behavioral Genetics from the University of Minnesota. She received her BS in Psychology & History, Emory University, 1996. Dr. Burt has several research interests. The first focuses on understanding the etiology of aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors across the lifespan. Her particular focus is on the role of environmental influences (e.g., neighborhood danger/deprivation, environmental toxicants), both as main effects and also as moderators of genetic influences (e.g., how these environments may turn genes “on and off”). She is equally interested in those youth who demonstrate resilience – or adaptive outcomes despite exposure to a clear environmental risk. Her funded NIH grants for this work seek to 1) identify the neural pathways affected by neighborhood disadvantage (the so-called 'biological embedding of disadvantage'), and 2) illuminate the ‘active ingredients’ (e.g., exposures to neurotoxicants, community violence, harsh parenting) through which disadvantage alters the developing brain, as well as those that protect the brain and promote resilience (i.e., protective neighborhood social processes, prosocial parenting).

Rique Campa Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-432-7340
campa(at)grd.msu.edu

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Biography: Associate Dean in the Graduate School and professor of wildlife ecology, Rique Campa’s research interests are in the areas of wildlife-habitat analysis and management, ecosystem management, habitat disturbance impacts, and wildlife nutrition; also, the career and professional development associated with graduate education. 

Caitlyn Cavanaugh Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of California Irvine
Department: School of Criminal Justice
Phone: 517-353-9752
cavana81(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Cait Cavanagh, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor with appointments in the School of Criminal Justice and the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. After completing her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Rochester, Dr. Cavanagh worked in the European Union Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. Through this experience, she learned first-hand how high-quality social science research can affect public policy. As a result, she shifted her interest in studying adolescent development broadly to producing policy-applicable research to improve interactions between youth, their families, and legal actors. In 2016, she received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at UC Irvine, with specializations in Psychology and Law and Quantitative Methods. Broadly, Dr. Cavanagh's research focuses on the intersections of psychology, social policy, and criminology to explain how social contexts shape adolescent behavior. As a developmental psychologist, she is particularly interested in the dynamic parent-child relationship. Specifically, Dr. Cavanagh is interested in marginalized families, including mixed-status or undocumented families; families facing housing instability; and families facing discrimination. Dr. Cavanagh examines how the family and sociopolitical contexts contribute to the etiology of, and desistance from, juvenile offending, as well as the effects of justice involvement on the family.

Ronald Chandler Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Department: OBGYN
Phone: 616-234-0980
rlc(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Ronald Chandler is assistant professor in the Obstetrics, Gynecology and reproductive biology department in the College of Human Medicine. Ronald Chandler, Ph.D. received his B.S. in Biology at Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Chandler did his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Terry Magnuson at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Siddharth Chandra Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Economics, Cornell University
Department: James Madison College
Phone: 517-353-1680
chandr45(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Siddharth Chandra is Director of the Asian Studies Center and Professor of Economics in James Madison College at Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University, his A.M. (Ph.D. pass) in economics from the University of Chicago, and his B.A. (with honors) in economics from Brandeis University. Prior to joining Michigan State University, he was Director of the Asian Studies Center and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Melissa Charenko Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D. Univ of Wisconsin- Madison
Department: Lymann Briggs and History
Phone: (517)884-1520
charenko(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Charenko's focus is the Arctic and Indigenous Communities. Her work has been supported by the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine as well as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Manuel Chavez Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Sociology and Urban Studies, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Department: Journalism
Phone: 517-432-1411
chavezm1(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Manuel Chavez, PhD, is the MSU Associate Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He also teaches courses on the press, society and government in Latin America, and on the sociology of journalism. He also teaches qualitative research methods in the Journalism School, graduate program. For the last four years, his research focuses on community-participatory models in editorial decision-making in newspapers and its impacts on news and the community.

Steven Chermak Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., State University of New York Albany
Department: School of Criminal Justice
Phone: 517-355-2210
chermak(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Steven M. Chermak is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. He received his BA in 1987 from Bowling Green State University, and MA and Ph.D. from State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Chermak is interested in studying terrorism, school shootings, mass shootings, criminal justice organizations, and media coverage of crime and criminal justice. Much of his work in the last ten years has focused on terrorist and extremist activity. He and several colleagues are responsible for building the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), one of the leading databases on domestic terrorism activities in the US. The ECDB has allowed him to publish articles understanding patterns of violence of far right, far left, and al-Qaeda inspired extremists, documenting how lone wolf attacks are different than group-inspired terrorist attacks, and examining the characteristics of foiled terrorist plots. More recently, he and colleagues have received funding to build another database on fatal and non-fatal school shootings. This database is in the final stages of completion, and it will provide an opportunity to better understand the characteristics of perpetrators that commit school violence and discuss differences in schools victimized by fatal and non-fatal attacks. Dr. Chermak’s research has been funded by the Department of Homeland Security, National Institute of Justice, and the Michigan State Police. He has published two books, seven edited books, and numerous research reports. His research has appeared in a number of journals including Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Criminology and Public Policy, Justice Quarterly, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and the Journal of Crime, Conflict, and the Media.

Martin Chilvers Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Tasmania
Department: Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences
Phone: 517-353-9967
chilvers(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Martin Chilvers is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences. His area of expertise include, fungal and oomycete biology, epidemiology, fungal genetics, host-pathogen interactions, diseases of field and vegetable crops, nucleic methods of pathogen detection and molecular diagnostics. He received his B.Ag.Sci (Hons) at the University of Tasmania, Ph.D., University of Tasmania, and Postdoc, Washington State University

Jo Codde Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Philosophy, Michigan State University
Department: Teacher Education
Phone: 517-432-1547
joecodde(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Joseph Codde, Professor Emeritus, Counseling, Education Psychology and Special Education. His interests focused on educational reform, teacher professional development and the effect professional development had on the use of computer and mobile technologies in education. Dr. Codde developed and managed one of the University’s largest outreach programs targeted at teaching Michigan’s in‐service K12 teachers and educators. The three‐course nine credit program has served over 50 Michigan school districts and enrolled over 3,000 teachers over the past 14 years. 

Sheila Cotten Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Alabama
Department: Media and Information
Phone: (517)353-6336
cotton(at)msu.edu

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Biography: MSU Foundation Professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University

Sean Couch Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.. The University of Texas at Austin
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Phone: 517-884-5035
scouch(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Sean Couch joined the MSU Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering in June 2015. He specializes in computer simulations of astrophysical processes, especially aspects of core-collapse supernovae, as well as work on the equation of state (a measure of certain properties of nuclei and physical systems dominated by those properties, such as neutron stars). He was a Hubble Fellow at the Flash Center of the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from August 2011 through September 2014 and has been a Senior Postdoctoral Scholar at the TAPIR Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at Cal Tech. His research team was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy INCITE allocation of 50 million core hours of computing time per year from 2015 through 2017, one of only three astrophysics projects granted allocations.

Harold Cowherd Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Montclair New Jersey
Phone:
dr.harold.cowherd(at)gmail.com

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Biography: Harold C. Cowherd is a experimental composer and poet. His current interests includes data-driven composition and systems as a compositional determinant. His work can be located and described in the following ways: Music theory, analysis and composition — anarchic harmony via intuitive chromaticism, linear counterpoint via polyphonic-additive process and other harmony. Other harmony is a term devised by the minimalist composer Tom Johnson meaning that there are other harmonic systems other than tonal and atonal. Harold C. Cowherd received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing. Previously, he received his M.Mus. from Syracuse University as the Eloise K. Heaton Fellow in sacred music composition. His former teachers included Andrew Waggoner, Joseph Downing and Daniel Godfrey and at Long Island University with Raoul Pleskow and Howard Rovics.

William Cunningham Title and Alma Mater: D.O., MHA
Department: COM, Institute for Global Health
Phone: (517)884-3789
william.cunningham(at)hc.msu.edu

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Biography: Assistant Dean for West Michigan, Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan. He oversees the clinical clerkships for six hospital sites in West Michigan in addition to his faculty responsibilities at Michigan State University. He was appointed in August 2015 as the Interim Director of the Institute for Global Health at Michigan State University.

Joe T. Darden Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Geography, University of Pittsburgh
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-432-1843
jtdarden(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Joe T. Darden is Professor of Geography at Michigan State University and former Dean of Urban Affairs Programs from 1984 to 1997. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award in 1984. He is a former Fulbright Scholar, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, 1997 to 1998. Dr. Darden's research interests are urban social geography, residential segregation, and socioeconomic neighborhood inequality in multi-racial societies. He has written numerous books on race and social issues. Dr. Darden's research has focused on racial and class residential segregation and neighborhood inequality in metropolitan areas, with an extensive focus on Detroit. He has conducted research specifically on social and economic consequences of residing in racially segregated neighborhoods of concentrated poverty and the effects. Dr. Darden will provide interpretative analyses and understanding of the relationship between race, class and neighborhood inequality and the effects of the different environmental conditions on the population groups.

James Dearing Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Southern California
Department: Communication
Phone: 517-353-3259
dearjim(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Jim Dearing (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is the Brandt Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Dearing studies the diffusion of innovations, including the adoption and implementation of new evidence-based practices, programs and technologies. His research and teaching spans dissemination science, implementation science, program sustainability, and the psychological and sociological basis of the diffusion process. Frequently he focuses on organizational change and organizational strategy in relation to either the creation of innovations, their adaptation, or the adoption and use of innovations in organizational settings. He works with research and practice improvement teams in nursing care, climate change, injury and fatality prevention, public health, STEM education, environmental contamination and healthcare. Dearing studied under and worked with Everett M. Rogers for 20 years.Currently he is an advisor to the NSF ADVANCE Program, the Dartmouth School of Medicine, and the NSF Study Get the Facts Out project. Dearing is also on the US Environmental Protection Agency National Advisory Council for Policy and Technology, and the Michigan Chapter of the Environmental Law and Policy Center

C. Kurt Dewhurst Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., English/American Studies, Michigan State University
Department: Outreach: Folk Arts Division, MSU Museum
Phone: 517-355-2370
dewhurs1(at)msu.edu

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Biography: C. Kurt Dewhurst was a founder of the Folk Arts Division at the museum. In addition to his administrative duties, he coordinates a variety of folk life research, collection development, and outreach and engagement programs. He is one of the founding directors of the Festival of Michigan Folk life, a coordinator for the National Folk Festival (when it was in East Lansing), and co-Director of the Great Lakes Folk Festival. His research interests include cultural change and continuity in folk arts, material culture, ethnicity, and occupational folk culture. Other areas of research include museum studies theory and practice and national and international cultural heritage policy. He teaches courses in folk life, material folk culture, and museum studies-including an annual MSU Education Abroad Program on expressive arts, cultural heritage and museum studies in South Africa. 

Christina DiFonzo Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Univeristy of Minnesota
Department: Entomology
Phone:
difonzo(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Christina Difonzo grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania and attended Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA for a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a minor in English literature. Her Masters and PhD degrees in entomology were from the University of Minnesota. Both degrees focused on the epidemiology and management of aphid-vectored viruses of commercial and seed potato. After graduation, Christina was a BARD Postdoctoral Fellow at the Volcani Center, the Agricultural Research Organization for Israel, where she did further work on plant viruses and aphids. In 1996, Christina started as the Pesticide Education Coordinator and field crops entomologist at MSU, transitioning to full-time in field crops 2002 after the discovery of soybean aphid in North America. Her fondness for aphids earned her the nickname ‘Aphid Queen’

Megan Donahue Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Colorado
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Phone: 517-884-5618
donahue42(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Donahue grew up on a farm near Inland, Nebraska, a town of about 60 people. She attended St Cecilia's, a small Catholic school in Hasting, Nebraska. Her undergraduate physics S.B. degree is from MIT (1985) and her astrophysics Ph.D. is from the University of Colorado, Boulder (1990). She met her husband Mark Voit, who is also an astronomer, in graduate school. Her post-doctoral research in observational astronomy was completed at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, in Pasadena, California and at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. STScI later hired her as a staff astronomer to do research, work with the data archive team, and write science cases for the James Webb Space Telescope. In 2003, she moved to Michigan State University and re-entered academic life as a professor in the MSU Physics and Astronomy Department, in East Lansing, Michigan. She has three children, Michaela, Sebastian, and Angela.

Sascha Drewlo Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Germon Sport University, Cologne, Germany
Department: OBGYN
Phone: 313-578-1371
sdrewlo(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Sascha Drewlo, Ph.D. received his M.Sc. in 2000 from the University of Münster in Germany and his Ph.D. from Germon Sport University, Cologne, Germany in 2006. Following his postdoctoral training at the Lulenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, University of Toronto, Canada, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Wayne State University. He has since been awarded the Basil O'Connor Stater Scholar Research Award from 2014 to 2016 in addition to the Gabor Than Award in 2016, which acknowledges outstanding contributions to the field of placentology to an early career investigator. He was then appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Wayne State University from 2016 to 2017. Dr. Drewlo is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. His areas of expertise include, human trophoblast cell differentiation, biotechnology, placental biology, automated assay development, early human development, and Fetal Complications.

Ross Emmett Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Economics, St. John's College, University of Manitoba
Department: James Madison College
Phone: (517)432-6139
emmettr(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Ross B. Emmett, Professor of Political Economy and Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy and Director, Smith - Tocqueville Center for Studies in Political Economy, James Madison College, has also been a visiting professor at the Ecole Normal Superior de Cachan, France and the Center for the Study of Public Choice at George Mason University, and he was a Julian Simon Fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana in summer 2005. Currently serving as the co-director of the Michigan Center for Innovation & Economic Prosperity, he directs research on the problems Michigan and the Midwest face in revamping their economies to succeed in a global, high-tech world. Ross is a citizen of both the US and Canada, and often uses Canadian comparisons in discussing political economy issues. Prior to coming to Michigan State, he lived in western Canada for more than 20 years.

Carrie Feeheley Title and Alma Mater: Assistant Dean of Admissions and International Programs
Department: College of Law
Phone: 517-432-6817
feehelec(at)law.msu.edu

David Ferguson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D. Texas AM
Department: Kinesiology, Health Sciences
Phone: (517)355-4763
Fergu312(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Ferguson is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology in the College of Education. His work is focuses on early life nutritional influences on cardio vascular development and how it relates to adult health. Secondly, he looks at the physiological stress on race car drivers. He has worked with NASCAR, INDY and Formula 1 teams to improve crew members' performance. On the first of these interests, he collaborates with the University of Saskatchewan.

Lance Ferris Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Waterloo
Department: Management
Phone: 517-432-3515
ferrisd1(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Lance Ferris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Prior to joining Broad, Lance was an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University from 2008-2011, and an Associate Professor at the Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University from 2011-2017. He currently serves on the editorial board of Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology. His work has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Annals, Organization Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Personnel Psychology

Eric Freedman Title and Alma Mater: M.S., Resource Development, Michigan State University
Department: Communication Arts and Sciences
Phone: 517-355-4729
freedma5(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Eric Freedman is a Professor of Journalism and Chair of the Knight Center for Environmental Jounalism. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for reporting. Freedman is a former Fulbright senior scholar in Lithuania and Uzbekistan and has conducted training workshops for professional journalists in Central Asia sponsored by the State Department, Internews, Freedom House, and other organizations. Freedman's research interests include press rights and journalistic practices in Central Asia and media coverage of international environmental issues. His research interests include press systems and journalism practices in the former Soviet Union: international journalists’ professional standards and education; public affairs reporting; news coverage of human and political rights; and U.S. political history.

Jeff Freymueller Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Phone: 517-884-0433
freymuel(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Freymueller is an internationally recognized leader in the field of geodesy, and utilizes satellites from the Global Positioning System (GPS) to make highly precise measurements of movement on Earth’s surface. In his far-reaching research activities, he has made discoveries in a wide range of topics including plate tectonics and plate boundary zones, faults dynamics, the continuing rebound of the Earth’s surface from the melting of ice-age glaciers, inflation and deflation of volcanoes, and interpreting how changing water and ice levels deform the Earth. He is particularly well-cited for his work on using GPS to understand the crustal deformation in China, related to the formation of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.

Debra Furr-Holden Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., John Hopkins
Department: Public Health
Phone: (810)600-5658
Debra.Furr-Holden(at)hc.msu.edu

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Biography: Debra Furr-Holden, PhD, is an epidemiologist and classically trained public health professional with expertise in health disparities and health equity, drug and alcohol dependence epidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology, and prevention science. Furr-Holden works with local and national policymakers to improve data-driven decision-making across a broad range of health topics to mandate equity in all policies. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Furr-Holden’s expertise led to government task force appointments to address public health needs during the crisis including the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, the Greater Flint Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Inequity and New York City African American COVID-19 Task Force. In Michigan and in Flint, the racial disparity in COVID-19 cases and deaths among the African American population have been eliminated. She is also the founding co-Chair of the Flint Community Task Force on Public Safety, a community resource and advisory body to the Mayor of Flint focused on advocating for and amplifying the voices and concerns of community, connecting community members to resources, and redefining the relationship between the community and the public safety sector. She works with Dr. Reverend Jesse L. Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition as co-chair of the health committee, Ruth Mott Foundation Board of Trustees, editorial board for the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal and is the Deputy Editor of the journal Health Equity. She is director and producer of the podcast, At The Forefront with Dr. Deb. She has been an outspoken advocate for health equity with numerous national media interviews with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico, MSNBC, and The Conversation. Funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD; #U54MD011227), she directs the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions to bring together policy-makers, community leaders and researchers to better serve the health of the Flint community. Meet her research team, the Health Equity Research Workgroup. She also serves as the MSU founding Co-Director of the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center. Furr-Holden’s commitment to Flint began early in adolescence. After earning her PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she returned to the city she loves in January 2016. She immediately began working on behavioral health equity and policy-level interventions with grassroots community partners, academic partners, and other stakeholders. Her action-oriented research is embedded with the principles and practices of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). She leads health equity change in collaboration with community not “for” community. She fundamentally believes there is a seat for everyone at the table. A working list of core community partners can be found here. She is developer of a novel observational environmental assessment tool, the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy). The NIfETy is a unique systematic social observation developed to measure features of the built and social environment linked to violence, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (VAOD) exposure. Her NIfETy-based research has been used to promote environmental interventions to prevent and reduce VAOD exposure. This work is highly collaborative and has fueled a range of partnerships with researchers and policymakers across the country.

Stephen Gasteyer Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Iowa State University
Department: Sociology
Phone: 517-355-3505
gasteyer(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Stephen Gasteyer researches the structures and processes that influence community level access to critical natural resources and capacity to manage those resources. Relatedly, he also applies a systems analysis to understanding community leadership and economic development decision making. 

Lynne Goldstein Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Northwestern University
Department: Anthropology
Phone: 517-353-4704
lynneg(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Lynee Goldstein’s research is especially focused on the late prehistoric period in U.S. Great Lakes archaeology, on historic period cemeteries, and on the analysis of mortuary practices. In addition to research on the Wisconsin and Illinois, she has worked in California and Arizona on historic period cemeteries. She has worked at the Mississippian site of Aztalan, in southeastern Wisconsin for many years. In 2013, Goldstein returned to the Aztalan site with two colleagues where they collected data from two sets of excavations in order to allow better interpretation of the site structure. Beginning in 2007, Goldstein created the Campus Archaeology Program – a research outreach and training program that focuses on the archaeology of MSU. The program is funded by the university and allows both graduate and undergraduate students to get real world experience in doing archaeology and interacting with various offices and people on and off campus.

Sue Grady Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., City University of New York
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-432-9998
gradys(at)msu.edu

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Biography: As a medical geographer, Sue Grady's research aims to improve the health and well-being of infants, children, men and women living in high poverty urban and rural areas. Grady utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial epidemiological methods to analyze large, health-linked mortality and enviornmental datasets to model these multilevel and space-time relationships.

John Grady Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of New Mexico
Department: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Phone: 517-355-1941
jgradym(at)gmail.com

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Biography: John Grady received his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of New Mexico in 2016 under Felisa Smith. Dr. Grady is currently in a postdoctoral position at the National Great Rivers Research and Educational Center in St. Louis, IL, with Anthony Dell

Norman Graham Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Columbia University, Political Science
Department: James Madison College
Phone: 517-353-3372
grahamn(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Norman Graham's interests include international security and economic relations, international organization, Central and Southeastern Europe, and Central and South Asia. He is a Professor of International Relations and Associate Dean at MSU's James Madison College. He also serves as Director of the University's Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. His current research focuses on industrial and technology development in the European Union; technology transfer and defense conversion in Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and Russia, the future of Eurasian security, and the political economy of transition in Central Asia and the Caucasus. He is also the coach of the MSU Archery team.

Bin Gu Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Department: Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Health Biology
Phone:
gubin1(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Bin Gu, Ph.D. received his BS degree in Bio-technology and his Ph.D. degree in Cell Biology from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. He completed postdoctoral training at the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada from 2013 to 2020 in the Program of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology. He is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology within the College of Human Medicine. His areas of expertise include, early embryo development, live imaging, genome engineering, and mouse models of human genetic diseases. Research- The focus of Dr. Gu’s, infertility and genetic disease. Bin’s lab developed new genome engineering technology to generate mouse models for complex mutations to model human diseases. He studies them using cutting-edge technologies, such as live imaging and in-vivo genetic engineering, to understand the mechanism and develop new treatments for human

Grant Gunn Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Waterloo
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-353-9030
gunng(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Grant Gunn is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences. His main research and teaching areas are discuss physical dynamics and the remote sensing of lake and sea ice formation, phenology and in the quantification of ice properties such as ice thickness and composition across Arctic and sub-Arctic environments. He is particularly interested in the use of passive and active microwave remote sensing technologies to relate in-situ physical properties of snow and ice to observations acquired from ground, air, and spaceborne sensors. His work has focused on several cold regions in Canada’s north, including Churchill (Manitoba), Inuvik (Northwest Territories) and Resolute (Nunavut).

Dorothy Hall Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Maryland
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-355-4649
halldoro(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dorothy Hall is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography, and a Senior Scientist Emeritus at NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland where she retired as Associate Chief of the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory.  Currently she leads the NASA Snow Office located at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and is on the organizing committee of NASA’s multi-year SnowEx aircraft mission (2016-2021) for testing sensors to measure snow-water equivalent remotely. She has focused her research on the remote sensing of sea ice, lake and river ice, small glaciers, snow cover and the Greenland Ice Sheet. In recent years she has been focusing on snow-cover mapping and measuring the surface temperature of the Greenland Ice Sheet using Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data. While at NASA she led a team in the development and production of algorithms to map snow cover and sea ice using MODIS data. She also led the development of daily ice-surface temperature maps of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Keith Hampton Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Toronto
Department: Media and Information
Phone: 517-432-6747
khampton(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Keith Hampton, Ph.D., enjoys sharing and exploring new research across disciplines, and introducing students to the study of social network analysis. He is a focused teacher whose research-rich style brings concepts to life through the study of media and information theory and methods. Hampton studies community and the relationship between digital technologies, social networks, democratic engagement and the urban environment. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, Hampton received his doctorate and Master of Arts in sociology from the University of Toronto, and his Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in sociology from the University of Calgary. Before joining the faculty at MSU, he was the Endowed Professor in Communication and Public Policy and Co-Chair of the Social Media & Society Cluster in the Department of Communication in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers. Other previous posts include assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania; as well as Assistant Professor of Technology, Urban and Community Sociology, and Endowed Class of ’43 Chair in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Philip Handrick Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Anthropology, Michigan State University
Department: Center for Integrative Studies in Social Science (CISSS)
Phone: 517-355-1882
handrick(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Assistant Professor Ermitus, Center for Integrative Studies - Social Science

Mary Hausbeck Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University
Department: Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences
Phone: (517)-355-4534
hausbec1(at)msu.edu

Daniel Hayes Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-432-3781
hayesdan(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Associate Chair Daniel Hayes' position is funded through the Partnership for Ecosystem Research and Management, a cooperative venture between the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan State University. His primary research interest is to determine how fish habitat affects their population dynamics. By linking population dynamics with habitat, he hopes to help fishery managers in their goal of sustaining valuable fisheries. In addition to this, he is also interested in the impact of fishing on fish populations, as well as the general ecology of fishes. 

Gordon Henry Title and Alma Mater: Anishinabe poet and novelist; member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota.
Department: English
Phone: 517-355-7570
henryg(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Gordon Henry's poetry has been published in anthologies such as Songs From This Earth On Turtle's Back: Contemporary American Indian Poetry (1983) and Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First Native American Writers(1994). His novel The Light People (1994) was awarded The American Book Award in 1995. He has also co-authored the textbook The Ojibway (2004), to which he contributed a number of essays on Native American culture. Currently, Henry teaches courses in American literature, creative writing, and American Indian literature.

Matthew Hirn Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Maryland
Department: Department of Computational Mathematics, Science & Engineering and Dept. of Mathematics
Phone: 517-432-0611
mhirn(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Matthew Hirn is an Associate Professor at Michigan State University in the College of Natural Science and the College of Engineering. He has a joint appointment between the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering and the Department of Mathematics, and he is also a member of the Center for Quantum Computing, Science & Engineering. At MSU, Hirn is the scientific leader of the ComplEx Data Analysis Research (CEDAR) team.

Harland Holman Title and Alma Mater: MD, Michigan State University
Department: Family Medicine
Phone:
htholman(at)gmail.com

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Biography: Harland Holman, MD, is board certified in family medicine. Dr. Holman received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan and completed his residency at Michigan Department of Family Medicine, where he was chief resident. Dr. Holman is an assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, and a core faculty member of the Family Medicine Residency Program. His special interests include cardiology, dermatology, and preventative medicine

Heather Howard Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Phone: 517-353-4600
howardh(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Heather Howard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology. She teaches cultural and medical anthropology courses, including Indigenous Peoples' Health. Her Native research interests include women and youth, the role of history in community and social service organizing, and transformations in community-based health knowledge and practice. She is currently developing research projects which examine Native experiences with and approaches to Type-2 Diabetes in Michigan, and in Toronto where she has worked with the Native community since 1995. Dr. Howard has also worked as a professional ethno historian for tribes in California and in the Great Lakes area on projects involving resource rights, tribal jurisdiction, federal acknowledgment and land claims. She is preparing publications of research she conducted on connections between Canadian boarding school and contemporary Native experiences of chronic illness, as well as on the impact of the vicissitudes in federal policy on Native people's health in early twentieth century central California. 

Dana Infante Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Michigan
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-432-7232
infanted(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dana Infante's research interests include the effects of landscape-scale factors (i.e., geology, land cover, climate) on physical and biological features of river systems; river catchment hydrology and stream channel geomorphology; ecological assessment and sustainable management of aquatic systems.

Seth Jacobson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Phone: 517-355-1941
seth(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Seth Jacobson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University. He and his students are planetary scientists who study the planets, moons, asteroids, and comets of the Solar System as well as other planetary systems with the tools of celestial mechanics, geophysics, and geochemistry. Their science is driven by the big questions: Where did we come from? What else is out there? and, How unique is our history?

Justin Jagger Title and Alma Mater: MS, Michigan State University
Department: Supply Chain Management
Phone: (517) 432-6329
jagger(at)broad.msu.edu

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Biography: Justin is an Academic Specialist in the Department of Supply Chain Management. His role in the department is to assist with the infusion of information technology and other active learning components into undergraduate, graduate and executive curricula. These experiential exercises include the use and application of enterprise resource systems (SAP), optimization programming and other supply chain based simulations. Prior to joining academia, Justin worked in the biologics industry. Justin has a BS in Biology from Central Michigan University (2001) and a MS in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University (2008)

Eric Kasten Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.
Department: Clinical and Translational Science, Radiology
Phone: 517-432-4154
kasten(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Eric P. Kasten is an Assistant Professor, Director of the Biomedical Research Informatics Core (BRIC), and Associate Director of the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). As director, Dr. Kasten supervises the operations, outreach, and research activities of a team of more than 20 employees, including system administrators, software developers, data managers, project coordinators and research faculty. CTSI supports both domestic and international projects by providing research support to MSU investigators for data management, data security, and analysis of research data. As part of his responsibilities at BRIC, he is a co-investigator on an award that funds a CDC data coordinating center supporting the largest federally funded epidemiological study in the US to help identify factors that might put children at risk for autism. He oversees the implementation and operation of the secure systems and services that support activities such as statistical analysis, geocoding to support exposure analysis, and high performance computational analysis of human genetics data. In collaboration with the High Performance Computing Center, he shepherded the creation of a cluster of compute nodes, which met federally mandated security requirements, to support high performance analysis of genetic data. He is the primary author and provided oversight for the implementation of the system security plan required for the data coordinating center to achieve FISMA compliance and receive an authorization to operate from the CDC. Dr. Kasten is also a co-investigator and team member for the Flint Registry. In support of the registry, he provides consultation and coordination of BRIC services on system and data security, computer systems, and data analytics. In collaboration with ecologists, Dr. Kasten has studied methods for processing and analysis of environmental acoustics for census of vocalizing animals and characterization of the soundscape to support monitoring and interpretation of terrestrial ecosystems.

Jay Kennedy Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D. University of Cincinnati
Department: Criminal Justice
Phone: (517)353-2162
jpk(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Jay P. Kennedy is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed to the School of Criminal Justice and the Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection. In this role he is actively involved in research, education, and outreach efforts that focus on external partners including corporations, industry associations, and law enforcement agencies. His current research explores managerial and organizational responses to employee theft within small and medium enterprises, the incarceration and post-incarceration experiences of white-collar offenders, the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet, and the structure of occupational pharmaceutical counterfeiting schemes. Dr. Kennedy’s work has been published in a number of outlets, including American Behavioral Scientist, Criminal Justice Review, Journal of Crime and Justice, Journal of Financial Crime, Security Journal, and Victims and Offenders.

Mohammad Khalil Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Michigan
Department: Religious Studies
Phone: 517-884-4463
khalilmo(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Mohammad Hassan Khalil is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies, an adjunct professor of Law, and the Director of the Muslim Studies Program. Before returning to his hometown of East Lansing, Michigan, he was an assistant professor of Religion and visiting professor of Law at the University of Illinois. He specializes in Islamic thought and is author of Islam and the Fate of Others: The Salvation Question (Oxford University Press, 2012) and editor of Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, and the Fate of Others (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Kyoo il Kim Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Department: Economics
Phone: 517-353-9008
kyookim(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Kyoo il Kim is an associate professor in the department of Economics in the College of Social Science. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles

Hamid-Reza Kohan-Ghadr Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal in Canada
Department: OBGYN
Phone:
kohangha(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Hamid-Reza Kohan-Ghadr received his Ph.D. degree in 2011 from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal in Canada. He pursued his research career as a postdoctoral fellow in molecular biology and human genetics at McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Canada focusing on genetics and epigenetics of human complex diseases. He continued his postdoctoral training at Wayne State University, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2014 to 2017 to study the molecular basis of human placental development and insufficiency. He is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. His areas of expertise include placental physiology, pregnancy complications, oxidative stress pathophysiology, computational biology, and bioinformatics.

Rex Lamore Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Michigan
Department: Director, Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED); Outreach & Engagement Partnerships
Phone: 517-353-9555
lamore(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Rex LaMore is State Director of the Michigan State University's Community Economic Development Program and a member of the faculty of the Urban and Regional Planning Program in the newly established School of Planning, Design and Construction at MSU. His current research is focused on Michigan's "knowledge economy and creative communities" where he and a team of scholars at MSU have developed a knowledge economy index for Michigan's counties and municipalities. As the architect of the 1992 Outreach Partnership Act with Senator Don Riegle of Michigan, Dr. LaMore's work has affected the nature of University/Community partnerships nationwide. In 1995 he was the national recipient of the Community Development Society's Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of his leadership and sustained commitment to excellence in community development. 

Nicholas Little Title and Alma Mater: Director, Railway Education
Department: Center for Railway Research and Education
Phone: 517-353-5663
littlen(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Nick Little is Managing Director of the Railway Management Program at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Nick has extensive industry and international experience in Railways, Supply Management and Supply Chain Management. After completion of British Rail's prestigious Supplies Management Training Scheme, he worked within the UK Railway industry and its subsidiaries in Derby and London. He then moved to the UK Post Office where he established a regional and business unit supply management organization and led a complete review of both internal and external Post Office supply chains reducing annual operating costs by 25% in two years and achieving a recurrent annual saving over £10 million ($16 million). Nick also was involved in internal education and development. Nick has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Ealing CHE in England and, professionally, is qualified MCIPS (UK Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply) and CPSM from ISM (US) Since joining MSU in 1995, Nick has led work on a number of benchmarking/research projects, including Supply Chain Performance, Procurement Strategy Development/Implementation, and Indirect Purchases. In addition Nick compiled a Strategy Focus Report on Services Purchasing. Nick chaired the Supply-Chain Council's North America Leadership Team, Supply Chain World - North America Conference & Exposition (Baltimore, MD, May 2011) and tracks at several of their annual conferences. Nick was an elected member of the APICS Education & Research Board, serving as Treasurer and Company Secretary. Nick is passionate about people development and their role in delivering competitive advantage for their employers. A founding member of the global Supply Chain Talent Academic Initiative, he has working globally with industry, academia and professional bodies to close the gap in supply chain talent supply and demand in terms of quantity and quality. Throughout his career, Nick has designed, developed and delivered training at managerial and executive levels for purchasing and other operational and administrative staff groups. Nick brought that valuable industry-based expertise to complement the academic strengths of Michigan State University faculty as a key member of its Executive Development Programs group, specializing in customized programs and client relationships covering supply chain management globally. Nick has assumed leadership of the Railway Management Certificate Program and new programs, workshops and seminars as part of the Railway Research and Education team. In this role, he brings his extensive knowledge of railways and their management into play.

Jianguo (Jack) Liu Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Harvard University
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-432-5025
liuji(at)msu.edu

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Biography: A human-environment scientist and sustainability scholar, Jianguo "Jack" Liu holds the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability, is University Distinguished Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University and serves as director of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. Area of Expertise: Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS); sustainability; telecoupling; China's environment; household-environment interactions; systems integration and modeling.

Michael Lockett Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Queen's University, Ontario
Department: Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology
Phone: 517-355-5482
mlockett(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Michael Lockett is a curriculum scholar with a background in literary studies and mathematics. He completed his PhD at Queen’s University and he’s held teaching posts at the University of Calgary, the Royal University of Bhutan, and Simon Fraser University. Though Michael’s approach to education is influenced by a variety of scholars both contemporary and classical, two Canadian academics, Jan Zwicky and Ross Leckie, are of paramount importance to his practice. He finds the pairing of pragmatic and theoretical concerns in curriculum work rewarding and he’s particularly interested in educational questions pertaining to pedagogical language and aesthetic experience.

David Long Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Kansas
Department: Geology - Earth and Environmental Sciences
Phone: 517-353-9618
long(at)msu.edu

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Biography: David Long does research and teaching in the areas of Aqueous and Environmental Geochemistry.  He has been: studying the biogeochemical cycles and interactions of elements (including trace and heavy metals) and dissolved organic compounds in surface environments (e.g., wetlands, rivers, lakes, groundwater); working to understand both the natural and human induced changes in water chemistry as it moves through the water cycle using stable isotopes, multivariate statistics, and geochemical modeling; quantifying the influences of human activities on environmental systems using sediment chronologies; and relating knowledge learned from the above studies to evaluate the influences of the environment on human health through exposure analysis.

Daniel F. Lynch Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Arkansas
Department: Dalhousie University, Halifax
Phone: 902-494-6248
dan.lynch(at)dal.ca

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Biography: Daniel Lynch is a partner with Global Logistics Development Partners and an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for International Trade and Transportation at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is an expert in North American supply chain issues and his research includes: global supply chain alliances, supply chain & marketing strategy, e-commerce, transportation and sustainability. His professional managerial experience includes over twenty years of retail ownership, transportation administration / engineering, and warehouse operations. Dr. Lynch's executive education and consulting include companies such as IBM, the Department of Homeland Security, UPS, AT Kearney, Bristol-Myers Squibb, MASCO Corporation, Clipper Windpower, Steelcase, Siemens, and Conway / Menlo Logistics.

Marsha MacDowell Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: MSU Museum
Phone: 517-355-6511
macdowel(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Marsha MacDowell is a Curator of Folk Arts at the Michigan State University Museum as well as a Professor in the Department of Art and Art History where her primary responsibility is in the Museum Studies Program. Some of her research interests include documentation, description, and analysis of quiltmaking traditions; Folk arts and folklife in education, and museums and technology.

Morteza Mahmoudi Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.
Department: Radiology
Phone:
mahmou22(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Morteza Mahmoudi is an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Precision Health Program at Michigan State University (MSU). Prior coming to MSU, he was an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His specific research interest is in nanomedicine and regenerative medicine for the development of new nano-based platforms for prevention/treatment of life-threatening conditions such as cardiomyopathy, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Aside from nanomedicine and regenerative medicine, Dr. Mahmoudi is also very active in social sciences and specifically in drawing the attention of the scientific community in the rising issue of academic bullying. In addition, he is also working on identifying the reasons behind the enormous disparity between the numbers of major prize winners between the sexes (which currently stands at more than an order of magnitude in favor of male nominees) and seek to draw the attention of award agencies, researchers, entrepreneurs, and media to reexamine the historical imbalances between the sexes in winning major scientific awards. He is among 2018 highly cited researchers in 2018 as reported by Clarivate Analytics

Rebecca Malouin Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., John Hopkins University
Department: Com, Institute for Global Health
Phone: (517)355-7542
rebecca.malouin(at)hc.msu.edu

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Biography: Rebecca Malouin is director of research for the Institute for Global Health. Dr. Malouin received both her PhD and MPH at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training in epidemiology at Michigan State University. She also serves as an external evaluator for the Priority Health Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative, the Children’s Healthcare Access Program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the UnitedHealthcare PCMH pilot project in Arizona. She has written a monograph for the American Academy of Pediatrics, describing available tools to measure the pediatric medical home. Rebecca was awarded a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in October 2009 for a project “Defining and Building a Patient-Centered Medical Home.”

Ian McCullough Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone:
mccul169(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Ian McCullough is a research associate in the department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources. Ian received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2017, MS from the University of Maine in 2012, and BA from Colby College in 2010

John Melcher Title and Alma Mater: M.S., Resource Development, Michigan State University
Department: Center for Community and Economic Development
Phone: 517-353-9555
melcher(at)msu.edu

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Biography: John Melcher is the Associate Director for the Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED) and is also an Academic Specialist for Outreach & Engagement Partnerships.

Steven Melnyk Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Western Ontario
Department: Supply Chain Management
Phone: 517-432-6410
melnyk(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Steven A. Melnyk is Professor of Operations Management for the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management specializing in operations management. From 1995-1999, he was chosen as one of the 10 Best MBA faculty at MSU's Eli Broad School of Business by Business Week. In addition, he has won many grants including a research grant from the Manufacturing Research Consortium in 1994, and a National Science Foundation grant in Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing from 1995-1997. 

Steven R. Miller Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Oklahoma State University
Department: Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics
Phone:  517- 355-2153
mill1707(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Steven R. Miller specializes in applied economic methods for forecasting and impact analysis. As a graduate, Steven maintained and programmed the Oklahoma State University Econometric Forecasting model and served as investigator on several Oklahoma Department of Human Resources studies of TANF funding, and child support studies for impact and needs assessments. He has produced numerous impact assessments for Wichita, Kansas area businesses seeking state and local sponsored incentives, produced papers on aviation demand across competing regional airports, and papers on alternative estimation methods of systems modeling. 

Dylan A. T. Miner Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., History, Washington State University
Department: Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH)
Phone: 517-884-1323
dminer(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dylan A.T. Miner is a Wiisaakodewinini (Métis) artist, activist, and scholar. He is Director of American Indian Studies and Associate Professor at Michigan State University. Miner is also adjunct curator of Indigenous art at the MSU Museum and a founding member of the Justseeds artists collective. Miner holds a PhD from The University of New Mexico and has published approximately sixty journal articles, book chapters, critical essays, and encyclopedia entries. In 2010, he was granted an Artist Leadership Fellowship at the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution). Miner has been featured in more than twenty solo exhibitions – with five more planned in 2015-16 – and has been artist-in-residence at institutions such as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, École supérieure des beaux-arts in Nantes, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Rabbit Island, Santa Fe Art Institute, and numerous universities, art schools, and low-residency MFA programs. His book Creating Aztlán: Chicano Art, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Lowriding Across Turtle Island was published in 2014 by the University of Arizona Press, while his solo exhibition Silence of Sovereignty opened this spring in Montréal. Miner is currently completing Indigenous Aesthetics: Art, Activism, Autonomy (Bloomsbury, expected 2016) and writing his first book of poetry, Ikidowinan Ninandagikendaanan (words I seek to learn).

Jade Mitchell Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D Drexel University, Philadelphia PA
Department: College of Engineering
Phone:  (517) 353-4544
jade(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Bio Systems and Agricultural Engineering at MSU. She received her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. She received her M.S. in Civil Engineering and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Drexel University in 2007 and 2010. Dr. Mitchell's research interest include, Risk assessment: chemical and microbial stressors from diverse environmental exposures including bioterrorism and food safety, Quantitative analysis: decision analysis, Bayesian statistics, and systems analysis, Modeling: Dose-response and exposure modeling including both exogenous and endogenous fate, and Risk management and environmental policy: benefit-cost analysis, risk perception and communication.

Nathan Moore Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Duke University
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517--884-0546
moorena(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Nathan Moore's research interests include regional climate modeling, Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC), integrating models of human and natural systems, food security, remote sensing and water issues.

David Morgan Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Department: Translational Neuroscience
Phone: 616.234.2846
david.morgan(at)hc.msu.edu

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Biography: His doctoral research at Northwestern University was with Aryeh Routtenberg where he investigated the neurochemistry of memory, resulting in a Science publication. Dr. Morgan’s postdoctoral studies addressed aging-related changes in rodent and human brain in the laboratory of Caleb “Tuck” Finch. Morgan became a faculty member at the University of Southern California in 1986 where his research projects focused on astrocytes and microglia in aged brain, including Alzheimer's tissues. Dr. Morgan moved to the University of South Florida (USF) in 1992, where he was involved in generating the APP+PS1 transgenic mouse model of amyloid deposition as a tool to screen treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The Morgan Lab was the first to show that immunotherapy against the amyloid peptide rescued the memory deficits in APP mouse models, published in Nature. In 2009 Morgan became CEO/Executive Director of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute at USF where he developed programs in Community-Based Memory Screening, the multispecialty Center for Memory C.A.R.E., and established a mobile clinical trials unit to promote clinical research participation at retirement centers. In 2017 he relocated to Michigan State University in Grand Rapids. He is presently an MSU Foundation Professor and Director of the College of Human Medicine Alzheimer’s Alliance. Dr. Morgan has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has been continuously funded through NIH since 1989. Morgan served for 6 years on the Program Committee for the Alzheimer's Association International Conference, the last 3 years as Chairperson

Cheryl Murphy Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-432-7771
camurphy(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Cheryl Murphy is interested in the way fish respond to endocrine-disrupting chemicals like steroids, PCBs and mercury. Her research is especially concerned with the sub-lethal effects of chemicals on fish.

Mojgan Nejad Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Toronto
Department: Forestry and Chemical Engineering
Phone: 517-355-9597
nejad(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Mojgan Nejad is an Assistant Professor in the department of Forestry in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She received her PhD in Wood Science from the University of Toronto in 2010 and BS in Applied Chemistry from K.N. Toosi University of Technology in 1992. Her research interests include lignin-based bioproducts, wood coating, and wood protection.

Frederick (Fritz) Nelson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Michigan
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-355-4619
fnelson(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Fritz Nelson has conducted field research in Alaska almost continuously since the late 1970s, and has field experience in Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet, and subarctic Canada. He has served as President of the U.S. Permafrost Association, as a member of the Board of Governors of the Arctic Institute of North America, as Councilor and Vice-President of the American Geographical Society, and as a Councilor of the International Permafrost Association. Nelson’s research group focuses on several themes: (1) the evolution of cold, nonglacial (periglacial) landscapes; (2) the impacts of climatic change in permafrost environments; (3) terrain-climate interactions (topoclimate); (4) the distribution and mapping of permafrost and periglacial features; and (5) the history of American geography and cold-regions science. He has supervised M.S. and Ph.D. research in each of these areas. He is currently a co-PI on the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) program, an international global-change monitoring effort involving investigators from 15 countries and more than 200 permafrost observatories operating in Antarctica, the Arctic, the Tibetan Plateau, and several high-elevation regions in the mid-latitudes. Nelson also co-manages an extensive field-based climatology program in the Upper Peninsula’s Huron Mountain Club, one of the largest areas of old-growth forest in the eastern United States.

Jennifer Olson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: Comm Arts - Media and Information
Phone: 517-432-3234
olsonjj(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Jennifer Olson helped spearhead the Information and Communications Technology and Development (ICTD) program, a joint CommArts/Engineering undergraduate minor, research program and study abroad. She also conducts research on the impact of climate change on agriculture and communities in East and Southern Africa. The projects involve climate modeling, climate data coupled to spatial crop, ecosystem and hydrology models, remote sensing, and socioeconomic and ecological fieldwork.

Amber Pearson Title and Alma Mater: PhD., Geography, University of Washington
Department: Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-432-7163
apearson(at)msu.edu

Maria Porter Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Chicago
Department: Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics
Phone: 517- 355-2161
mporter1(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Maria Porter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. She is currently involved in research projects in Burkina Faso, China, and the UK. This research involves work on intra-household labor allocation decisions, factors influencing households' adoption of new agricultural technologies, understanding adult children's motivations for giving transfers and support to parents, and household bargaining between spouses. She employs a variety of research methods, including randomized control trials, laboratory experiments, and survey data analysis. Maria holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Before coming to MSU, she was a research fellow at the University of Oxford. She has taught graduate courses in household and development economics, and undergraduate courses in intermediate microeconomics and development economics. 

David Poulson Title and Alma Mater: -
Department: Knight Center for Environmental Journalism
Phone: 517-432-5417
poulson(at)msu.edu

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Biography: David Poulson is the senior associate director of MSU's Knight Center. He directs the translational scholars program at MSU's Global Center for Food Systems Innovation, is founder of the FOOD FIX, and cofounded the Great Lakes Echo Magazine.

Robert Quinn Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA
Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Phone: 517-353-1426
quinnrob(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Robert Quinn was raised in Bancroft, Ontario, Canada in close proximity to Algonquin Park, which sparked his early interest in biology through constant interaction with the outdoors. He received his Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in microbiology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He then completed a PhD with Dr. Andrei Chistoserdov at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette studying the microbiome of Epizootic Shell Disease in the American Lobster. He completed his postdoctoral studies with Dr. Forest Rohwer at San Diego State University and Pieter Dorrestein at UC San Diego studying the cystic fibrosis lung microbiome, coral reefs and other complex microbial systems. As an assistant professor at Michigan State University, Dr. Quinn uses multi-omics methods including metagenomics, metabolomics and classic microbiology approaches to understand the causes of dysbiosis in host associated microbial communities. Dr. Quinn has studied the microbiome of everything from salmon, to lobsters, to corals, to lungs, to guts, to….whatever is next. He is a huge sports fan and spends some of his spare time trying figure out how to apply advanced baseball statistics to microbiome research.

Laura Reese Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Political Science, Wayne State University
Department: Global Urban Studies Program
Phone: 517-353-5942
reesela(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Laura Reese is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Global Urban Studies Program (GUSP). Professor Reese's main research and teaching areas are urban politics and public policy, economic development, and local governance and management in both Canada and the US. She has conducted large-scale evaluations for the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Her research on sub-state economic development programs includes Tax Increment Finance Authorities and Industrial Tax Abatements. 

Matthew Reeves Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Department: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Phone: 517-884-3986
reevesm(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Matthew Reeves is a professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, MS in Clinical Studies from Colorado State University in 1989, and BVSc (DVM) (Honors) from the University of Liverpool 1984.

John Reifenberg Title and Alma Mater: Graduate Fellow, Yale Law School; J.D., University of Denver College of Law
Department: College of Law
Phone: 517-432-6892
reifenbe(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Prior to joining the faculty in 1978, Professor Reifenberg was an Instructor at Southern Methodist University Law School, and Assistant Professor of Law at Nova University Law School. Professor Reifenberg is the Executive Director of the Center for Canadian-United States Law and Chair of the International and Comparative Law Program at the Law College. He was the author of the 1987 Jessup International Moot Court Problem. During the 1990-91 academic year, Professor Reifenberg was a Fulbright Fellow at Wuhan University Law School in the People's Republic of China. He teaches Torts, International Law, International Business Transactions, and various comparative law courses

Kristen Renn Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Boston College
Department: Educational Administration
Phone: 517-353-5879
renn(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Kristen Renn is professor of Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education (HALE) in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University, where she also serves as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for Student Success Research. She teaches courses related to student development, diversity and equity, and education research in the Student Affairs Administration MA program and the HALE MA and PhD programs. Prior to coming to MSU, she was assistant professor of higher education and qualitative research at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, a policy analyst for the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, and, for ten years, a dean in the Office of Student Life at Brown University. A Mount Holyoke College alumna, she received her PhD in Higher Education from Boston College. Dr. Renn’s research interests include student success and persistence, identity and identity development in higher education; mixed race college students; women in higher education in the US and global contexts; and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) issues in higher education. A grant from the Spencer Foundation supported her international study of women’s postsecondary institutions. She is MSU’s co-liaison to the University Innovation Alliance and co-PI on several grants related to increasing success for low-income and underrepresented students.

Joshua Reynolds Title and Alma Mater: MD, MS, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Department: Emergency Medicine
Phone:
reyno406(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Reynolds collaborates with Canadian colleagues in his role as a member of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), the international body that appraises and summarizes resuscitation scientific literature for dissemination to member institutions around the globe. These consensus summaries and treatment recommendations constitute the basis for CPR and first aid guidelines promulgated in each member country or continent. Dr. Reynolds also collaborates with Canadian colleagues from Toronto and Vancouver in separate lines of inquiry related to the time-dependent effects of resuscitative interventions, their impact on clinical outcomes, and their influence on decision-making around the use of mechanical circulatory support.

Robert Richardson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University
Department: Department of Community Sustainability
Phone: 517-355-9533
rbr(at)msu.edu

Douglas Roberts Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: Institute for Public Policy and Social Research
Phone: 517-353-8911
douglas.roberts(at)ssc.msu.edu

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Biography: Douglas Roberts, Director Emeritus- Institute for Public Policy & Social Research, holds more than 28 years of experience in Michigan government, including 10 years as state treasurer, time as director of the Senate Fiscal Agency, deputy superintendent of the Department of Education, deputy director of the Department of Management and Budget (DMB) and acting director of DMB. He played a major role in the creation and adoption of what is now called "Proposal A." He also served for two years as a vice president with Lockheed Martin IMS. 

Rick Sadler Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Western Ontario
Department: Division of Public Health
Phone: 810-600-5674
sadlerr(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Rick Sadler is a Flint native and urban geographer with expertise in environmental science, GIS, food systems planning, and land use policy in legacy cities. He attended the University of Michigan-Flint (BSc, 2007) to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a cartographer, and later attended graduate school in the Department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario (PhD, 2013) to--among other things--immerse himself in the Canadian system of urban planning. More recently, Rick was awarded a Bloomberg Fellowship to study at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (MPH, 2020). His experiences growing up in the Flint region--where industrial growth, subsequent deindustrialization, and fragmented planning practices have had a profound influence on the built form--shaped his drive to resolve inequalities that arise from imbalances between the salutogenic and pathogenic properties of urban areas. Rick’s research interests reflect this concern, and include an integration of urban planning and public health topics related to neighborhood/built environmental effects on health. Some such topics include local food systems, urban agriculture, access to healthy food, crime, urban disorder, blight elimination, residential segregation, and active travel. Methodologically, he combines spatial analysis and community-based participatory research approaches to address challenges in the urban environment.

Christopher Scales Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department: Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH)
Phone: 517-884-6000
scalesch(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Christopher Scales' research interests include traditional and contemporary Native American music, the North American popular music industry, and global indigenous political movements. His current research focuses on contemporary Northern powwow culture and musical creation both on the powwow grounds and in Aboriginal recording studios, specifically engaging the effects of technology and mass mediation on powwow performance aesthetics. Chris has also been active collaborating with indigenous musicians and has produced, recorded, or performed on several powwow and "Contemporary Native music" CD projects for Arbor Records and War Pony Records, independent record labels specializing in North American Aboriginal music. An active musician, he also performs southern Appalachian music on guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and banjo, as well as Shona mbira music from Zimbabwe, playing mbira dzavadzimu.

Kim Scribner Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Zoology, University of Georgia
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 517-353-3288
scribne3(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Kim Scribner is an evolutionary ecologist with broad interests in population genetics and vertebrate life history, demography and behavior. Research in his lab involves novel application of molecular genetic markers and evolutionary theory to examine important questions in ecological genetics and conservation biology including: levels of gene flow through heterogeneous aquatic and terrestrial landscapes, the evolution of life history traits as adaptations to thermal spawning environments, how environmental heterogeneity and mating systems affect inter-individual variance in reproductive success and genealogical relationships within populations, intra-specific and comparative phylogeography, and development of non-invasive DNA collection methods to estimate population abundance and spatial genetic structure. He is one of several faculty in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife who holds a cooperative appointment through the Partnership for Ecosystem Research and Management (PERM) program with regional Fisheries and Wildlife agencies. His appointment is affiliated with the Fisheries Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 

Janice Siegford Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman
Department: Animal Science
Phone: 517-432-1388
siegford(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Janice Siegford has two main areas of research interest: (1) animal behavior and (2) animal welfare. My interests in animal behavior include cognition, communication, social behavior, and their neural basis, as well as companion animal behavioral therapy, and interspecific interactions. Her interests in animal welfare focus generally on understanding what current practices or environments impact animal welfare and determining how we can practically address these situations. In addition, she seeks to develop non-invasive automated strategies for collecting data about animal behavior and welfare from animals in their home environments. 

Emily Silver Huff, Ph.D. Title and Alma Mater: Assistant Professor
Department: Forestry
Phone:
ehuff(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr Huff is a social scientist in the Department of Forestry at Michigan State University. She is interested in the effect of humans on natural resources availability and quality. Dr Huff’s work focuses most on forested systems, both rural and urban. She has also worked on human dimensions of wildlife topics and collaborate with scholars from ecology, psychology, sociology, engineering and policy. Emily’s work is meant to inform better management, stewardship and conservation of trees and other green spaces with the overall goal of improving human health and wellbeing while keeping the environment healthy and functional.

Anita Skeen Title and Alma Mater: M.A., Bowling Green University
Department: Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH)
Phone: 517-432-2024
skeen(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Anita Skeen is the author of four volumes of poetry, and her poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. She has completed a new volume of poetry, Never the Whole Story, begun while she was a Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and is working on a collection of short stories and a first novel. Anita is the director of the Creative Arts Festival and Writing Festival held annually at Ghost Ranch Conference Center in Abiquiu, New Mexico. She has taught in the MSU Education Abroad Program in England and Ireland, and served as a Visiting Writer and Writer-in Residence in numerous venues, most recently as the Sara Lura Matthews Self Writer in Residence at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and as a Visiting Writer at the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis, Missouri.

Trixie Smith Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of South Carolina
Department: Arts and Letters Writing Center
Phone: (517)32-3610
smit1254(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor and the director of The Writing Center. Her teaching and research are infused with issues of gender and activism even as they revolve around writing center theory and practice, writing across the curriculum, writing pedagogy, and teacher training. Likewise these areas often intersect with her interests in pop culture, community engagement. She is also faculty in CenGen and is interested in preserving indigenous knowledge and traditions.

David Smitley Title and Alma Mater: PhD - North Carolina State University 
Department: Entomology, CANR Faculty
Phone: (517) 355-3385
smitley(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Dave Smitley works closely with the turf grass, nursery and floriculture industries on identifying insect pest problems, and researching best management practices to address them. Basic and applied research is followed with extension recommendations for growers. (Pollination)

Sieglinde Snapp Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.,
Department: Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences
Phone: 517-282-5644
snapp(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Sieglinde Snapp is a Professor of Soils and Cropping Systems Ecology in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences and Associate Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations. She founded the Global Change Learning Lab in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sieg Snapp’s research interests include agricultural systems, ecologically sound management, sustainable intensification, and soil health. She is a leader in extension scholarship, including developing participatory global learning platforms, remote sensed and ICT data for innovations in decision guides

Michael Stamm Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., History, University of Chicago
Department: History
Phone: 517-432-9245
stamm(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Michael Stamm specializes in American media and journalism history and holds a joint appointment at MSU in the Department of History and the School of Journalism. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2006, where he studied American cultural and political history. Stamm's other areas of research include media reform movements, the relationship between radio sound and print culture, religious broadcasting, the intellectual history of communication theory, and the business history of the American newspaper. 

Jan Stevenson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D University of Michigan
Department: College of Natural Science Department of Integrative Biology
Phone: (517) 432-8083
rjstev(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Stevenson employ his technical expertise in algal taxonomy and ecology to test ecological theory and to develop approaches for solving environmental problems. He is particularly interested in how ecological systems respond to environmental change. Dr. Stevenson also works with federal and state officials to develop protocols for ecological assessment and development of water quality criteria. Working with resource managers and policy makers often stimulates new directions for my research.  One of these new directions is relating ecosystem services and condition in coupled human and natural systems.

George Sundin Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Oklahoma State University
Department: Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences
Phone: (517) 355-4573
sundin(at)msu.edu

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Biography: George Sundin's expertise involves plant bacteriology; host pathogen interactions; fruit tree disease management; bacterial plasmid biology; and microbial evolution. The goals of Sundin's Extension program in tree fruit disease control is to provide timely information and recommendations on management of tree fruit diseases to growers in Michigan and in other fruit-growing regions.

Ramya Swayamprakash Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: College of Social Science, History
Phone: (517)355-7500
swayampr(at)msu.edu

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Biography: She is an environmental and borderlands historian and my research is organized into inquiries about infrastructure and border history with a geographical focus on the U.S.-Canada border along the Detroit River. (Environment and History - Borderlands)

Caroline Szczepanski Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder
Department: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Phone: 517-353-2452
szcz(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Caroline was born and raised near Lancaster, Pennsylvania - a special place known for its both farmland and chocolate. From 2005-2009 she completed her undergraduate studies at Lafayette College, which included a memorable semester spent in Madrid, Spain. She headed to Boulder, Colorado for her graduate studies (2009-2014)After completing her Ph.D, she moved to Nice, France for a postdoctoral position (Université de Nice - Sophia Antipolis)In September 2017 she returned back to the USA and was a Research Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at Northwestern University for two years, enjoying Chicago and the proximity to Lake Michigan during this time. Since August 2019 Caroline has been a member of the Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science at Michigan State University and is excited to explore more of the mid-west in this new position.

Vlad Tarabara Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Rice University
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Phone: (517) 432-1755
tarabara(at)egr.msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Volodymyr Tarabara joined MSU and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2004. His research interests are at the junction of colloid and interface science and separation science. Most of the current work focuses on membrane processes with projects on emulsion separation, virus removal by porous membranes, and catalytic membrane reactors. Dr. Tarabara is a member of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, International Water Association and North American Membrane Society, and serves as a Special Collections Editor of the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering.

Christopher Vandergoot Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Michigan State University
Department: Fisheries and Wildlife
Phone: 734-780-6010
vandergo(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Christopher Vandergoot is the Director of the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System, Associate Professor in the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. He received his Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife and Michigan State University in 2004, M.S. In Biology from Tennessee Technological University in 2001, and B.S. in Fisheries Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1999. His areas of expertise include fish movement and population dynamics; evaluation of stock assessment surveys, and effects associated with performing surgical procedures on fish.

Joseph Vargas Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Department: Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences
Phone: (517) 353-9082
vargas(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Joseph Vargas specializes in turfgrass fungicide resistance and disease management through chemical, biological and genetic means.

Alexa Veenema Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Groningen
Department: Psychology
Phone: 517-303-1434
aveenema(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Alexa Veenema is an Associate Professor in Behavioral Neuroscience and Director of the Neurobiology of Social Behavior Laboratory in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University

Igor Vojnovic Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Toronto
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-355-7718
vojnovic(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Igor Vojnovic is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at Michigan State University. Vojnovic specializes in urban built environments, travel behavior, urban public health, equity, and urban design. He has already been extensively involved in designing the survey instrument and along with the project manager will be organizing the details of the mail-out and collection of the survey. He will also provide the theoretical foundation for the research on the urban built environment, travel behavior, and disadvantaged communities. In addition, Vojnovic will be involved in producing 3D CAD images, analyzing the results, and the simulation modeling.

Edward Watts Title and Alma Mater:
Department: English
Phone: 517-432-0905
wattse(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Edward Watts is associate chairperson for undergraduate studies and a professor of English. His focus is American literature and studies before 1900, in the intersections of postcolonial theory, settler nationalism, border and frontier studies, and historical narrative. Currently, Dr. Watts is engaging book projects on race, violence, and madness on the frontier, as well as a comparative study of historical fiction and settler nationalism in the United States, the Confederacy, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia before 1914.

Kyle Powys Whyte Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Stony Brook University
Department: Philosophy
Phone: 517-432-1034
kwhyte(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Kyle Whyte, a leading researcher and authority in the ethical and political issues surrounding climate policy and indigenous peoples, has been named as the inaugural Timnick Chair in the Humanities in the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University. Whyte’s primary research addresses moral and political issues concerning climate policy and indigenous peoples and the ethics of cooperative relationships between indigenous peoples and climate science organizations. An enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Whyte is currently working with six federally recognized tribes in the Great Lakes region on envisioning ethical planning scenarios for climate change preparedness.

Melinda Wilkins Title and Alma Mater: PhD, Michigan State University
Department: Large Animal Clinical Sciences
Phone: 5173553967
wilkinsm(at)msu.edu

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Biography: An alumna of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, Dr. Wilkins earned her DVM at MSU, her MPH from the University of Illinois Springfield, and then returned to earn her PhD from the MSU Department Large Animal Clinical Sciences with a focus in epidemiology. Her areas of expertise include disease surveillance among animals and humans, surveillance system evaluation, zoonotic disease, epidemiology, and outbreak investigation. At MSU, she was named the Program Director of the Online Master of Science in Food Safety Program in 2014 and continues to serve in the realms of One Health, Public Health and Global Health Education.

Jeremy M. Wilson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Philosophy in Public Administration, The Ohio State University
Department: Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection
Phone: 517-353-9474
jwilson(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Jeremy Wilson is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice. At MSU, he founded and directs the Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection (A-CAPP) and the program on Police Consolidation and Shared Services (PCaSS). Both programs are built specifically to develop through research and disseminate through education and outreach evidence-based lessons for decisionmakers, practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. The A-CAPP is the first and only University program dedicated specifically to building a science of product counterfeiting and anti-counterfeit strategy. Also unique in its University home, the PCaSS program focuses on understanding the nature, function, implementation, costs and benefits of all forms of police consolidation, shared services, and contracting. 

Mark Wilson Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Department: Urban & Regional Planning
Phone: (517) 353-9056
wilsonmm(at)msu.edu 

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Biography: Mark Wilson is Professor and Program Director, Urban & Regional Planning with the School of Planning, Design and Construction

Robert Wiseman Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.
Department: Physiology, Radiology
Phone: 517-884-5132
rwiseman(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Robert Wiseman is a professor in the department of physiology in the College of Natural Science. His research Interests include, metabolic regulation, functional imaging of excitable cells, cellular adaptation to stress and stem cell plasticity, and blood flow and perfusion

Aurora Wolfgang Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.
Department: Romance and Classical Languages
Phone: 517-884-6331
aurorawg(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Aurora Wolfgang is a Professor of French specializing in 17 th-and 18 th-century literature. She is author of Gender and Voice in the French Novel: 1730-1782 and co-editor and translator of Jacques Du Bosc’s L’Honnête Femme: The Socially Respectable Woman (1632-36, Selections) and New Collection of Letters by Contemporary Women (1635). She is interested to connect with the University of Montreal for a direct French Immersion Program.

Gabriel Wrobel Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Indiana University
Department: Anthropology
Phone:
wrobelg(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Gabriel Wrobel is an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Director of the Central Belize Archaeological Survey Project. He received his Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree from Oxford College of Emory University. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Indiana University in 2004. His primary research specialty is bioarchaeology, which concerns the analysis and interpretation of skeletal remains from archaeological contexts. He has conducted most of his research at Maya sites in Belize. (http://anthropology.msu.edu/cbasproject/). Located in the Caves Branch and Roaring Creek river valleys in west-central Belize, this project focuses on a variety of sites, including ritual rockshelters and caves, several large urban ceremonial centers, and surrounding settlement zones. The excavations and analyses conducted so far show that ancient Maya communities used the cave sites for various ceremonial and mortuary purposes over a span of approximately 2000 years. The changes over time in the rituals performed at the rural rockshelters and caves closely parallel sociopolitical transitions identified at the monumental centers we have investigated within our research area, as well as at other sites found throughout the rest of the Maya region. For this reason, the sites in central Belize are important in characterizing the effects of large-scale sociopolitical transformations on ancient Maya communities. The data derived from small rural agrarian contexts continue to provide a different perspective than that of the larger urban centers at which most archaeological investigations are focused. Gabriel’s recent work focuses on shape analysis of crania using 3D photogrammetric models. He is working on two projects, one focused on the ancient Maya and the other on the peopling of Papua New Guinea.

Irene Xagoraraki Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D.
Department: College of Engineering
Phone: (517)353-8539
Xagorara(at)egr.msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Xagoraraki is an associate professor in civil environmental engineering. Focused on water quality engineering, emphasizing protection of public helat and prevention of waterborne disease. (One Health)

Catherine Yansa Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Phone: 517-353-3910
yansa(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Catherine Yansa's research focuses on reconstructing past environments in north-central North America since the last glacial maximum (over the last ~20,000 years) by studying plant fossils (pollen and plant macrofossils) preserved in lake sediments. The objectives and implications of her research are documenting past responses of plants to climate changes at various temporal and spatial scales and using these as analogs for potential responses of plants to predicted global warming; and interpreting the landscape contexts for prehistoric Native American occupations to explore long-term human-environment interactions. She also works to interpret the landscape contexts for prehistoric human occupations by investigating plant fossils from archaeological contexts as well as from wetland sediments adjacent to archaeological sites. Time periods investigated range from Paleo-Indian to Upper Mississippian just prior to Euro-American contact.

J Scott Yaruss Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Syracuse University
Department: Communicative Sciences and Disorders
Phone: 517-884-2406
jsy(at)msu.edu

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Biography: J. Scott Yaruss is a professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, a practicing speech-language pathologist with more than 25 years of clinical experience, and a board-certified specialist in fluency disorders. He joined the faculty of MSU in 2017, with the overarching goal helping speech-language pathologists improve their ability to provide meaningful and lasting support for people who live with stuttering. Yaruss has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, as well as more than 200 other articles, chapters, and books about stuttering. He has given hundreds of continuing education workshops, seminars, and other presentations at local, national, and international conferences. He has also served in various posts for the Special Interest Group for Fluency Disorders of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and on the Board of Directors of the National Stuttering Association (NSA). He has been active in the stuttering self-help community for more 20 years, and he has been recognized with the NSA's "Speech-Language Pathologist of the Year" and "Hall of Fame" awards.

Junlin Yuan Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Queen's University, Canada
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Phone: 517-353-6733
junlin(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Yuan is an assistant professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. She obtained both MS and PhD degrees (2015) in from Queen's University, Canada. She developed large-scale, high-fidelity numerical simulation methods of wall-bounded turbulent flows with complex boundary geometry. Her research goal is to push the boundaries of physical understandings of complex, realistic turbulence, and to develop physic-based and empirical closures for a wide range of applications. She serves on proposal review panels and as reviewers for numerous journals. She is also actively involved in MSU outreach program such as the High School Engineering Institute.

Jay Zarnetske Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D, Oregon State University
Department: Geology - Earth and Environmental Sciences
Phone: 517-353-3249
jpz(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Jay Zarnetske's research interests cover hydrologic processes of the Earth’s Critical Zone: Water quality and resources; Groundwater – surface water interactions; Hydrological and biogeochemical responses to climate and land use change; Hydroecology – coupling of hydrology, biogeochemistry, and aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic ecosystem services and restoration; Cryosphere hydrology and biogeochemistry

Alexandra Zevalkink Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Phone:
alexzev(at)msu.edu

Jinhua Zhao Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
Department: Economics
Phone: 517-353-9935
jzhao(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Jinhua Zhao holds joint tenure system appointments in the Department of Economics and the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. He is also Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University. He conducts research in the broad area of environmental and resource economics, with special interests in global climate change, energy economics, technology adoption, dynamic decision making under uncertainty, and applied microeconomics in general. He has conducted research on climate change adaptation, international climate negotiations, emissions trading, soil carbon sequestration, renewable energies, and the long-run relationship between international trade and the environment.

Jiayu Zhou Title and Alma Mater: Ph.D., Arizona State University
Department: Computer Science and Engineering
Phone: 517-353-4389
jiayuz(at)msu.edu

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Biography: Dr. Jiayu Zhou is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science from Arizona State University in 2014. Dr. Zhou has a broad research interest in large-scale machine learning, data mining, and biomedical informatics, with a focus on the transfer and multi-task learning. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Office of Naval Research, and published more than 90 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers in data mining and machine learning, with 3600+ citations and an h-index of 27. Dr. Zhou is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2018). His papers received the Best Student Paper Award in 2014 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM), the Best Student Paper Award at the 2016 International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), and Best Paper Award at 2016 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (BigData).