Faculty & Staff

Robert Krueger is a human geographer whose scholarship and teaching focus on creating sustainable, socially just, improvements to development projects in the global north and south. His work has taken him around the world. He has worked in countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, on issues of economic development and institutional change. His scholarship and teaching challenge conventional notions of economic development, economy-environment relationships, and social change. In his book, Adventures in Sustainable Urbanism (2019, SUNY Press, Krueger, Freytag and Mössner (eds)), ...

Patricia C. Agupusi (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor of Social Science at the School of Social Science and Policy Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Massachusetts, US. Her research interests include state capacity, political violence, and the political economy of development and inequality. Patricia is currently working on her second book – tentatively titled “State Capture and the Politics of the ‘Two Economies’ Debate in South Africa 25 Years After.” She also conducts fieldwork on the rise of domestic terrorism/insurgencies, and China/African relations. Patricia has ...

Crystal H. Brown earned her Ph.D. in Political Science with a focus in the subfields of Comparative Politics, International Relations, and U.S. Foreign Policy at the University of Oregon. She also has a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Pennsylvania State University. Her areas of interest include comparative immigration and integration policies, human rights, refugees, race/ethnicity and politics, and international security studies. She is most interested in the effect of political culture, technology, institutions, and individual decision-making on different political systems around ...

I am a social psychologist trained in the interdisciplinary field of judgment and decision making. I am particularly interested in how people develop an understanding of complex environmental and societal problems and how their "mental models" of complex systems can best be studied and improved to aid both personal and public decision making. I firmly believe that environmental and social problems can't be solved without understanding how they are represented in the mind and identifying what cognitive processes people bring to bear upon them. My interests are eclectic, and I particularly enjoy ...

I joined WPI in 2011 as a scholar and teacher with training in public health, environmental policy, and international development studies. My research and teaching interests focused on the environment-development nexus, where tensions between sustainability and livelihoods often lead to contentious policy debates. My work on soy production and land inequality, expert roundtables and certification, and sustainability rating systems for cities, advanced ideas around how global discourses about sustainable agriculture and sustainability indicators take shape, are mobilized, and have influence at ...

Angela Incollingo Rodriguez is an assistant professor of Psychological & Cognitive Sciences and Neuroscience. She directs the Stigma Eating & Endocrinology Dynamics (SEED) Lab and collaborates on interdisciplinary research initiatives throughout WPI and around the globe.Dr. Rodriguez's research program harnesses an integrated biopsychosocial approach to identify psychosocial predictors and mechanisms that drive health behaviors, overall health, and health disparities. Her mixed-methods research occurs at the intersection of social phenomena (such as weight stigma), biomarkers ...

Richard Lopez is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies at WPI. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, social neuroscience, and Open Science practices applied to functional neuroimaging. He also directs the Social Neuroscience of Affective Processes (SNAP) Lab. In the SNAP Lab, Professor Lopez and his students utilize tools in modern neuroscience (e.g., fMRI) and longitudinal modeling of behavior to better understand how human beings align their thoughts and emotions with goals they are pursuing—with ...

Trent Masiki is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on the social, historical, and intercultural ties that bind African Americans to other communities of African descent in the US, Africa, and the African diaspora.  Masiki’s scholarly articles appear in the journals Latino Studies, MELUS, African American Review, and College Language Association, among others. He was a co-guest editor of “Post-Soul Afro-Latinidades,” a special issue of The Black Scholar 52.1. The Afro-Latino Memoir: Race, Ethnicity, and Literary Interculturalism ...

Erin Ottmar is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Learning Sciences at WPI. She received her BA in psychology and elementary education from the University of Richmond. After college, she spent several years teaching in Ecuador and Japan. In 2011, she received her PhD in Educational Psychology: Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia. After graduate school, spent 3 years as a post-doctoral research scientist at the University of Richmond. Before coming to WPI, she was most recently a visiting research associate in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at ...

Professor Pavlov earned a BS degree in Physics/Computer Science and a PhD in Economics from University of Southern California and an MBA from Cornell University. He has taught at WPI since 2002. He has been to many universities in the US, Russia and Western Europe, but he thinks WPI is like no other university. The project-based approach at WPI allows him to involve students in research projects. He values the opportunity to include students in his research through IQPs and MQPs. Professor Pavlov’s expertise is in multi-sector analysis that accounts for feedback and resistance to change ...

Professor Radzicki is an economist and simulation scientist who directs WPI’s Complex Systems Laboratory as well as the university’s Program in Technology, Policy, and Sustainability. He has developed techniques for applying system dynamics computer simulation modeling to problems in complex socioeconomic systems, and created teachable and repeatable methods for turning these models into user-friendly games or “flight simulators” that can be used by those who did not participate in the creation of the models to understand and control their dynamics.System dynamics is an approach to social ...

  The overarching goal of my teaching and research is to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental governance and policy. More specifically, I focus on the building of individual, organizational and institutional capacities to participate in collaborative efforts to address complex social and environmental sustainability problems through the application of science and technology. My academic and professional background includes experience in molecular biology, microbial ecology, wildlife biology, sustainable forestry and most recently environmental policy and ...

Khalid Saeed is widely recognized for his work on the interface of economics and system dynamics. He has published two books and numerous articles on a variety of methodological, developmental and management agendas including sustainable agriculture, poverty alleviation, political instability, supply chain management and system dynamics modeling. His current focus is on operationalization of economic policy so it can be implemented through available managerial roles. Professor Saeed served as the head of social Science and Policy Studies department from 1997-2007. He previously taught at ...

 Mahamadou Lamine Sagna has a PhD in Sociology, a degree in Business (financial management) and Ethnopsychiatry. He is the inaugural director of WPI's Africana Studies program, and is an associate researcher at the Laboratory for Social and Political Change (LSCP) at the University of Paris-Diderot. He conducts research on social networks, globalization, money, symbolism of exchanges, poverty and exclusion, and the use of technology and science by economically disadvantaged populations. In parallel to his experiences in the USA and France, he gives courses and conferences internationally ...

Kaitlyn Schneider is a visiting assistant professor of psychology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies. She received her PhD in counseling psychology at Northeastern University, and MS in clinical mental health counseling at Villanova University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in Massachusetts. Dr. Schneider's clinical focus is the delivery of empirically supported interventions with children, adolescents, and families. Her research interests include exploring how individual (e.g., experiencing post-traumatic symptoms, ...

Stacy Shaw's research focuses on understanding creative thinking in mathematics, how anxiety and other threat experiences affect mathematical cognition and reasoning, as well as how classroom experiences can affect performance and learning in STEM. Recently she has become interested in the role of rest for academic achievement, burnout, and student wellbeing. She graduated with her Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA in 2020, and is an Ambassador for the Center for Open Science, Catalyst for the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences, and a part of the Better Book ...

Jeanine Skorinko is a professor of psychology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies. She also is the director of the Psychological & Cognitive Science program. She received her PhD in social psychology at the University of Virginia.Her research program attempts to understand how factors in our social environment, especially those factors we are unaware of, influence decisions and interpersonal interactions. She investigates how different types of external and internal influences (e.g., subtle contextual signs, stereotypes/stigmas, ...

Alexander Smith’s research focuses on altruism, trust, cooperation and honesty. In particular, he is interested in learning how behavior relates to beliefs about the actions of others and how psychology can be used for promoting pro-social behavior. These areas of research provide a better understanding of the factors underlying real-world pro-social behaviors such as volunteering and charitable giving. In essence, they provide insight into how to make the world a better place. Smith is passionate about economics and enjoys teaching because it allows him to share his passion with others. He ...

Dr. Gbetonmasse Somasse is an economist and applied econometrician with field experience as a development practitioner. He is  an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies. Prior to joining WPI, he was an instructor at Clark University. He also served as senior economist statistician at the Central Bank of West African States and a consultant for the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Program. His research is mostly policy-oriented and focuses on how economic theory and empirical ...

Prof Stoddard is a human-environment geographer who is interested in the intersection of nature, society, and justice, particularly in the context of climate change. She looks at the ways in which we can design for climate resilience, in terms of infrastructure, location specific practices, and through community resilience. Stoddard also looks at the vulnerability and resilience of food systems to disasters (climate, disease outbreaks, etc.), and the impacts for humans, animals, and ecosystems. She looks at the ways in which technology, policies, and social movements ...

Hermine Vedogbeton completed her Ph.D. in Economics with a focus in Environment and Development at Clark University. She also earned a Master of International Development and Social Change at Clark University. Her current work examines how historically disadvantaged communities can find sustainable solutions to address social and environmental disparities. Her research interests include social justice, environmental justice, ecosystem services, sustainable communities, and gender and health in the developing world.

Navneet Magon Anand is a design strategist, consultant and researcher with a background in Architecture and Sustainability. She is the founder of Design Veritas, a design strategy consultancy and creative studio advocating for human and environmental sustainability and wellbeing. Her research, which focuses on intentional culture design, has a human centered approach beyond the four walls and is built on a core foundation of innovation, sustainability and wellbeing. She is a graduate of McGill University’s School of Architecture and has her MBA in Green Building and Sustainability. Her ...