New Faculty AY11/12
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Anjana Jain, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University – 2000
M.S. Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University – 2004
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology – 2007
Dr. Jain joins us after two years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Jain’s main research interests are: neural tissue engineering, biomaterials, nanotechnology, and biomedical imaging. Recent work has investigated the use of biomaterials to bridge the injury site after spinal cord injury in order to promote axonal regeneration. Currently, she is investigating the use of nanotechnology to promote tumor cell migration from inoperable regions of the brain. Dr. Jain’s work has been published or is forthcoming in leading biomaterials and biomedical science journals, such as Biomaterials, PLoS one, and Journal of Neuroscience Research.
School of Business
Dr. Adrienne Hall Phillips, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Chemical Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University - 2000
M.S. Consumer Behavior, Purdue University – 2008
Ph.D. Consumer Behavior, Purdue University – 2011
Dr. Phillips joins us after completing her Ph.D. in Consumer Behavior at Purdue University. Dr. Phillips’ main research interests are: consumer behavior, business-to-business marketing, and small business. Her dissertation focused on the antecedents and outcomes of customer loyalty in the financial services industry. Recent work has explored the moderating impact of gender on relationship conflict. Currently, she is studying gender as a moderating effect on buyer-seller firm relationships, factors influencing small business start-ups, as well as small business disaster recovery. Dr. Phillips’ work has been published or is forthcoming in leading marketing journals such as the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and presented at top conferences such as Academy of Marketing Sciences, American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, and American Marketing Association.
Prior to starting her graduate work, Dr. Phillips was a product developer of consumer goods for Johnson & Johnson.
Dr. Andrew C. Trapp, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Applied Mathematics, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) – 2000
M.S. Computer Science & Operations Research, Bowling Green State University - 2006
Ph.D. Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh – 2011
Dr. Trapp joins us after completing his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Trapp’s main research interests are: combinatorial optimization, stochastic (integer) programming and the application of OR techniques to data mining, bioinformatics, health care, sustainability, and humanitarian logistics. Recent work has explored thermoacoustic heat engine modeling and optimization and the application of integer programming value function to stochastic programming. Dr. Trapp’s work has been published or is forthcoming in leading operations research journals such as Applied Thermal Engineering, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Bioinformatics, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, and European Journal of Operations Research.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. Shawn C. Burdette, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University – 1997
Ph.D. Inorganic Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 2002
Prof. Burdette earned his Ph.D in the lab of Stephen Lippard with a dissertation entitled ‘Investigation of Zinc Metalloneurochemistry with Fluorescein-Based Fluorescent Sensors’. His post-doctoral work was conducted at UC Berkeley under the direction of Prof. Jean Fréchet and supported by an NIH fellowship. Shawn began his independent career at University of Connecticut where he continued his work on synthetic bioinorganic chemistry and photochemistry.
Shawn brings with him an NSF CAREER award, and he also serves as the co-PI on an additional NSF grant. His current research focuses on development of fluorescent sensors for iron and photoactive chelators for delivery of metal ions in cells. Additional secondary efforts include investigation and application of azobenzene derivatives with unusual optical properties and use of polymers to detect metal contaminants in the environment.
Dr. Marion H. Emmert, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Chemistry, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany – 2004
Ph.D. Chemistry, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Munster, Germany - 2009
Dr. Emmert’s Ph.D. thesis was entitled ‘Synthesis and Reactivity of Substituted Cp3ZrR Systems’. She moved to the University of Michigan to work with Prof. Melanie Sanford where she was funded by a competitive German post-doctoral fellowship to participate in projects to develop new metal catalysts for oxidation and derivitization of hydrocarbons.
Marion’s research interests include continuing her work on identifying transition metal catalysts for C-H functionalization and CO2 reduction, and developing a waste-free synthesis of arylketones and reagents for direct amination of C-H bonds. Each of these projects results in a greener method of doing chemistry.
Dr. Arne Gericke, Professor and Head of Department
Education: Diplom Chemist, University of Hamburg, Germany - 1988
Dr. rerum naturalis, University of Hamburg, Germany - 1994
Dr. Gericke has been, for the last 11 years, at Kent State University where he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as well as in the School of Biomedical Sciences. He served as graduate coordinator in the Chemistry Department and was an Honors College faculty member. His research is concerned with the biophysical characterization of lipid mediated protein functions, the development of spectroscopic imaging tools for the visualization of tissue pathologies and the analysis of skin tissue. Dr. Gericke has published almost fifty papers in prestigious journals, and he has given many talks at international conferences and universities around the world. He has attracted more than 6 million dollars in extramural funding for his research and educational initiatives.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Edward Swierz, Visiting Instructor
Education: B.S. Civil Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute - 1973
M.S. Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 1975
Mr. Swierz joins us from his private consulting business at E.J. Swierz Structural and Forensic Engineering. Mr. Swierz has previously taught at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois and was a Vice President at Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois. His areas of expertise include Structural Engineering and Design, Diagnostic Surveys of Existing Structures, and Building Component Failure Analysis. Recent project experience includes construction of the Hospice Center of Northeast Illinois, renovation of the Chicago History Museum, and the investigation and repair of movable roof panels at Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI.
Department of Computer Science
Dr. Mohamed Y. Eltabakh, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Computer Science, Alexandria University, Egypt – 1999
M.S. Computer Science, Alexandria University, Egypt – 2001
M.S. Computer Science, Purdue University - 2005
Ph.D. Computer Science, Purdue University – 2010
Dr. Eltabakh joins us after one year as a Postdoctoral Researcher in IBM Almaden research center, CA, USA. His main research area is Database and Information Management. In particular, Dr. Eltabakh works in the areas of query processing and optimization, indexing techniques, scientific data management, and large-scale data analytics.
His recent work has explored extending Hadoop infrastructure to support complex operations such as joins and aggregations efficiently on large-scale datasets. Currently, he is exploring possible extensions to both database management systems and Hadoop framework to support scientific applications and health-care systems.
Dr. Eltabakh's work has been published or is forthcoming in leading computer science conferences such as the International Conference of Data Engineering (ICDE), the International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB), and the Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR).
Dr. Craig A. Shue, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Computer Science, Ohio University – 2004
M.S. Computer Science, Indiana University – 2006
Ph.D. Computer Science, Indiana University - 2009
Dr. Shue joins us after two years as a Cyber Security Research Scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Dr. Shue's main research interests are computer and network security, with a focus on detecting and preventing online deception and fraud. Recent work has explored how malicious networks are interconnected on the Internet. Currently, he is studying how compromised systems form into groups, called botnets, and how these botnets interact with a targeted organization's systems. Shue's work has been published or is forthcoming in leading venues such as the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking journal and the Internet Measurement Conference.
Department of Humanities and Arts
Dr. Brenton D. Faber, Professor of Writing and Professor in the School of Business
Education: B.A. English and Political Science, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada – 1992
M.A. English, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada – 1993
Ph.D. English, University of Utah – 1998
Dr. Faber joins us from Canton-Potsdam Hospital in Potsdam, NY, where he worked for two years in Project Development and Decision Support. Before that, he taught in the English Department at North Carolina State University and, for many years, in the Communication and Media Department at Clarkson University, where he served briefly as interim chair. His research for the past ten years has explored professional communication and organizational change as an applied and theoretical problem. He has published two books and many articles on the topic of discourse and organizational change; his next book project will examine stochastic networks within organizational systems.
Interactive Media and Game Development Program
Keith Zizza, Professor of Practice in Game Audio
Education: B.S. Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Lowell and Haverhill -1993
Keith Zizza is an industry expert in game audio. He has worked in the field for more than 16 years on over 30 commercially released products, including the classic, award-winning City Building series of games from Sierra (Pharaoh, Cleopatra, Caesar, Zeus, and Poseidon), as well as MGM Grand Casino, Lords of Magic, Sim City Societies, Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos, and most recently, as the composer and audio consultant for the The Oregon Trail (due out in November of this year for the Nintendo Wii and 3DS).
His specialties are game audio engine integration and project management, creating effective music, sound effects, and dialogue content, and implementing best practices for interactive audio technology and design on the PC, Web, Smartphones, and various console platforms.
Keith is a member of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group for Education, the International Game Developers Association, and a Gold member of the Game Audio Network Guild. He has also taught and designed game audio curricula for Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Becker College, The Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University, and Berklee College of Music.
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Dr. Mihhail Berezovski, Visiting Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Telecommunication, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia - 2003
M.S. Engineering Physics, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia - 2006
Ph.D. Engineering Physics, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia – 2010
Dr. Berezovski works on computational modeling in solid mechanics and complex materials. In his thesis entitled “Numerical simulation of wave propagation in heterogeneous and microstructured materials” he used a novel internal variable theory and finite volume methods to model wave propagation in media with prescribed microstructure. His research results were published in eleven papers in journals and conference proceedings. During the last academic year, Dr. Berezovski held short term visiting appointments at the University of Pavia, Italy and at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Xueing Huang, Visiting Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Mathematics, Beijing Normal University, China - 2005
M.S. Computational Mathematics, Beijing Normal University, China - 2005
Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, WPI - 2009
Dr. Huang’s research area is in computational biomathematics and bioengineering, with applications to the study of atherosclerotic plaque progression and rupture. She obtained her Ph.D. from WPI, under the supervision of Prof. Dalin Tang, and upon graduation obtained a faculty position at Xiamen University in China. She has published eight papers in journals like the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Annals of Biomedical Engineering and Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics and twelve in conference proceedings. She is returning to WPI to continue her research work, as well as teach in the Mathematical Sciences Department.
Dr. Fernando Lopez Garcia, Visiting Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Mathematical Sciences, University of Buenos Aires - 2002
Ph.D. Mathematical Sciences, University of Buenos Aires - 2010
Dr. Lopez Garcia’s research interests are in the area of partial differential equations in domains that are not regular. His thesis entitled “A right inverse of the divergence operator in domains with cusps” addresses a problem of relevance to the Stokes equations for viscous fluids, in domains for which the standard solutions do not exist. He also studied the validity of Korn type inequalities in domains of this type; these results were published in several articles and were presented at various professional meetings. While at the University of Buenos Aires, Dr. Lopez Garcia taught Calculus, Analysis, Linear Algebra and Numerical Analysis courses and was awarded student and doctoral fellowships by the National Academy and the National Research Council in Argentina. During the past academic year he was a research affiliate in the Department of Mathematics at MIT.
Dr. Sarah D. Olson, Assistant Professor
Education: B.A. Mathematics and Biology, Providence College – 2003
M.S. Mathematics, University of Rhode Island – 2005
Ph.D. Biomathematics, North Carolina State University – 2008
In her Ph.D. thesis, Olson worked on a reaction-diffusion model for an evolving hydrogel- cartilage aggregate. Before joining WPI, Sarah was an NSF VIGRE and an NSF RTG postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University and worked on developing mathematical and computational models for the dynamics for different classes of swimmers in viscous fluids; these models encompass a broad array of swimmers from the chemotactic swimming behavior of C. elegans and marine invertebrate sperm, to the more complex calcium activate mammalian sperm motility. Her research work has been published both in mathematics and biology journals like the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, Clinical Cancer Research, International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, Journal of Theoretical Biology, and was presented at over twenty conferences and workshops.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
David C. Planchard, Adjunct Instructor
Education: B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University - 1980
M.S. Business Management, WPI - 1992
David Planchard joins the Mechanical Engineering Department with over 28 years of professional and academic experience in the mechanical engineering and CAD industry. Mr. Planchard holds five patents in the area of refrigeration and has published over 30 publications and textbooks on Solid Works and Pro/ENGINEER. He established an engineering consulting and education company concentrating in contract training for Network Certification and 3D CAD technology.
Christopher Scarpino, Adjunct Instructor
Education: B.A. Historiography & Humanities, Univ. of Pittsburgh - 1985
B.S. Mechanical Engineering Technology, Univ. of Pittsburgh - 1990
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, WPI - 1994
Mr. Scarpino joins the Mechanical Engineering Department after 17 years of professional experience in industry and MIT and Harvard Laboratories focusing on the design and building of complex vacuum systems. He was a Lowell Institute Lecturer in engineering at Northeastern University specializing in the area of fabrication technologies. He was a critical player in our most recent MIT-Harvard-WPI research project that was awarded a 2007 NIH grant & 2009 ARRA Grant.
Department of Military Science
LTC Ciro C. Stefano, Department Head
Education: B.S. Aeronautical Science, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - 1992; Commercial/ATP ratings
B.S. Business Administration, Texas A&M University - 1997
MBA. Webster University - 2007
Lieutenant Colonel Ciro Stefano assumed responsibility for WPI’s Army ROTC program on 15 July 2011. He is an expert trainer and leader, having received the Army’s highest award for leadership, the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. He comes to us with twenty seven years of experience, having serving at every level of command and staff assignments in the Army, including four tours of combat. Overseas assignments include the Republic of Korea, Germany, Central America, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Most recently he served as the Executive Officer to the General responsible for all operations in the United States Army Europe Headquarters. He is an Airborne Ranger and Senior Army Aviator rated to fly the UH-1 Huey, the UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. He also holds all of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ratings one can earn as a civilian aviator. Finally, he is fully fluent in the German language and has a high degree of understanding of European and Middle Eastern cultures. The love of his life is his wife Katie and he adores his two Bulldogs.
Department of Physics
Dr. Sabyasachi Sarkar, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Education: B.Tech. Biotechnology & Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India - 2000
M.S. Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - 2002
Ph.D. Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln - 2008
Dr. Sarkar joins the Department of Physics at WPI as an Adjunct Assistant Professor after serving as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Microelectronics and Optical Materials Research (CMOMR) in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Prior to completing his doctoral degree, Dr. Sarkar was a Marie Curie Fellow at Linköping University, Sweden where he worked in advanced optics and sensing.
Dr. Sarkar's main research interests are in bio-macromolecules, self-assembly and fabrication, and in the optical characterization of materials - principally in ellipsometry. His recent work has involved the optical characterization of various bio-macromolecules (e.g. chitosan & proteins) using visible and IR ellipsometry as well as studying their interaction in real time with planar and microstructured surfaces.
Currently, he is investigating ways to manipulate the self-assembly of proteins and organelles as well as part of an advanced team of researchers at WPI pursuing a universal whole-blood analyzer. Dr. Sarkar's work has been published or is forthcoming in leading separations and thin film journals such as the Journal of Chromatography, Thin Solid Films and Colloids and Surfaces.
Dr. Vasfiye Hande Tüzel, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Mathematics, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey - 1999
M.S. Mathematics, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey - 2001
M.S. Applied Mathematics, University of Minnesota - 2005
Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, University of Minnesota - 2009
Dr. Tüzel joins the Department of Physics as a full-time Adjunct Assistant Professor from Worcester State University, where she was a faculty member for two years in the Mathematics Department. Over the past decade, she has taught a wide variety of courses, and has trained 80-100 graduate teaching assistants on effective teaching techniques, through teacher training workshops.
Dr. Tüzel's research interests are centered around applied mathematics; mainly inverse problems, mathematical biology, continuum and fluid mechanics. During her thesis work, she worked on an inverse problem of mask design in photo-lithography, and developed a novel approach to optimizing the design of masks for high-resolution microchip manufacturing. Recently, she has been exploring the applications of level-set methods to imaging in cell biology, with the goal of a better understanding tip growth in moss cells.
Dr. Qi Wen, Assistant Professor
Education: B.S. Semiconductor Devices and Microelectronics, Lanzhou University, China – 1998
M.Eng. Microelectronics, Lanzhou University, China – 2001
M.S. Physics, Brown University – 2005
Ph.D. Biological Physics, Brown University – 2007
Dr. Qi Wen completed his Ph.D. in Biological Physics under the direction of Prof. Jay Tang at Brown University in 2005. While at Brown, Dr. Wen received the Galkin Fellowship in 2005 and was named Champion of Brown's Intramural Basketball league in 2003. In 2006, Dr. Wen joined Prof. Paul Janmey as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Medicine and Engineering. During this time, Dr. Wen spent 2008 to 2009 working under Prof. Arjun Yodh in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at U. Penn. before returning to Prof. Paul Janmey's group to complete his postdoctoral appointment prior to joining the Department of Physics at WPI in the fall of 2011.
Dr. Wen already has 15 peer-reviewed publications in both traditional physics journals as well as in biophysics journals. He joins the Department of Physics at WPI as an Assistant Professor in August 2011 as an experimentalist in biophysics; a major research area of the soft-matter group in Physics. Specifically, Dr. Wen’s research will focus on the mechanical properties of semi-flexible polymer and bio-polymer networks, new materials and mechanosensing methods for studies of the mechanics of tissue cells, and to develop new experimental techniques for the study of single bio-filament deformations. He also plans to enhance students' learning experience by contributing to the development of the soft-matter curriculum in Physics at WPI.
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies
Laureen Elgert, Assistant Professor
Education: B.A. Anthropology and International Development Studies, Trent University, Ontario, Canada - 2003
M.S. Health Promotion, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada – 1999
Ph.D. Development Studies, London School of Economics, England – Expected 2011
Professor Elgert has also gained extensive practical experience as a research scientist and field researcher in the areas of health promotion and sustainable development, working for, among others, The Alberta Research Council, The Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research, University of Alberta, and the Ministry of Health, Santiago, Chile. Laureen is currently a Ph. D. candidate in Development Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she holds a prestigious LSE Fellowship.
In her research, Laureen studies efforts to improve environmental governance in developing countries, examining the impact of NGOs, international standards, and decision support systems, with an eye toward developing environmental policies that are more deliberative and more socially and politically informed. She has recently completed two years of field work in Paraguay, where she conducted three case studies of sustainable development programs related to deforestation and commercial agriculture. Laureen’s teaching interests include environmental studies, environmental politics, development studies, and environmental problems in the developing world. At WPI, Laureen will continue her research on effective environmental governance and help develop and expand WPI’s interdisciplinary Environmental and Sustainability Studies program.
Last modified: September 06, 2011 09:54:08