The faculty welcomed 32 new colleagues last week. The newcomers include (with the remainder to be listed next week):
GEOLOGY: Holli Frey, assistant professor, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include the origin of continental crust and its internal stratification, geochemical and textural profiles of phenocrysts, and the role of water in magmatic systems. She was a teaching assistant at Franklin & Marshall College, a graduate student instructor at the University of Michigan and a professor at Oberlin College. She has received numerous research grants and won the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2004. Jaclyn Cockburn, visiting instructor, began at Union in January. She holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. She has presented widely and has participated in and led many field camps throughout Canada and South America.
HISTORY: Kenneth Aslakson, assistant professor, holds both a J.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin with a dissertation titled “Making Race: The Role of Free Blacks in the Development of New Orleans’ Three-Caste Society, 1791-1812.” He was an adjunct professor and an assistant instructor at the university. Mazin Tadros, visiting assistant professor, is finishing his doctoral studies at the University at Albany. A specialist in medieval and early modern Mediterranean, Near Eastern, Britain and British Empire history, he was a teaching assistant at the university and also has significant experience in management, sales and distribution of technical products. Jennifer Delton, a Mellon faculty exchange member and chair of the Department of History at Skidmore College, received her Ph.D. from Princeton University. Her expertise covers the fields of modern U.S., political/intellectual history, African-American, American left and American business history.
MATHEMATICS: Kim Plofker, visiting assistant professor, earned her Ph.D. from Brown University, where she held many positions including visiting lecturer, project consultant, departmental computing coordinator and research assistant. She has written numerous publications and is the recipient of many grants and fellowships. She is versed in 10 modern and classical languages. Jue Wang, visiting assistant professor, earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she was a graduate teaching assistant. Her research interests include fluid dynamics, turbulence and scientific computation. Wang has won numerous teaching awards and fellowships.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: Ashok Ramasubramanian, assistant professor, holds a Ph.D. in engineering from Dartmouth College. He did post-doctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis for five years after that prior to joining Union. Ramasubramanian is the recipient of many academic fellowships and the author of numerous journal articles. His industrial experience includes working as a signal processing engineer for The MathWorks Inc. and DSP Software Engineering, Inc. Rebecca Cortez, assistant professor, earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University. She has taught courses there and at Wright State University. She has worked as a materials research engineer for the Air Force Research Laboratory and a research associate for the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio. Jennifer Currey, visiting assistant professor, holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a dissertation titled “Characterization of the Mechanical Environment of a Healing Bone Implant Interface.” She has taught courses in statics and linear algebra, engineering dynamics and computer-aided design at Rensselaer and has received the GE Faculty of the Future award. David Hodgson, assistant professor (a visiting instructor last year), is finishing his graduate work at Colorado State University, where he has taught control systems, heat and mass transfer, mechatronics and measurement systems, and thermal sciences.