Samin Ashjaei - Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research Interests: Samin Ashjaei is a Ph.D. student  in the Translational Auditory Neuroscience Lab. She studies how hearing loss and cochlear implants affect the ability to understand speech, especially in noisy environments. Her research combines listening tests, cognitive assessments, and brain imaging methods to better understand the link between hearing and brain health, with the goal of improving outcomes for people with hearing difficulties

Almas Ashraf - Linguistics

Research Interests: I am broadly interested in the syntax–pragmatics interface, with a particular focus on how word order variations shape meaning and discourse interpretation in Hindi–Urdu. My research explores how speakers use flexible constituent order—such as preposing, postposing, and argument inversion—to mark topic, focus, contrast, and emphasis. By examining these patterns, I aim to understand how syntactic structure interacts with information structure to manage what is given versus new in communication.

Anirban Chatterjee - Health Services Policy and Management

Research Interests: Anirban Chatterjee is a PhD student in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management. His research interests include maternal and child health, global health, health policies, and health outcome disparities.

Abbe Eliasof - Pharmaceutical Sciences

Research Interests: My research focuses on the design, chemical synthesis, and evaluation of novel cyclic peptides targeting opioid receptors for safer and less addictive pain relief. 

Austin Engelhardt - Music Composition

Research Interests: In my doctoral studies, I prioritize the aesthetic nature of sound and continuously endeavor to redefine how I am able to communicate musical expression. As a composer, I integrate multimedia components and improvisational elements into my compositions, aiming to elicit perceptual shifts in the musicians who interpret them. I wholeheartedly embrace the ideas of experimentation and imperfection, with the goal of imbuing each work with the distinct musical identity of its performer. Composition, to me, is a dynamic art form that requires a commitment to representing our evolving humanity through each musical experience.

Olivia Finnegan - Exercise Science

Research Interests: Olivia's research focus is centered around the behavioral determinants of childhood obesity (e.g., sleep, physical activity, screen time) and using technology to advance the measurement of these behaviors. Within the topic of screen time, she is interested in advancing objective measures of screen time (e.g., passive sensing applications) through built-in device sensors, thereby improving the accuracy of current estimates of screen time to allow researchers to better understand the association between screen time and health outcomes in children.

Matthew Gentile - Chemical Engineering

Research Interests: Battery materials such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium are projected to face critical supply risks in the United States within the next decade.  My research focuses on recycling used battery materials to reduce environmental waste and enhance the stability of the supply chain for these essential resources.

Olivia Hinds - Health Services Policy and Management

Research Interests: My research primarily focuses on health insurance design for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment benefits for Medicaid enrollees in the United States. I am also interested in the intersection of perinatal SUD and maternal and child health, ultimately aiming to better understand how health insurance design around perinatal SUD treatment can be optimized to improve SUD-related maternal health and child protective services outcomes.

 Kiani J.C. Jacobs - Exercise Science

Research Interests: My research focus is to investigate the impact of exercise training on biomarkers and molecular signatures in individuals across the health spectrum. The goal is to identify the features & functions of circulating molecules contributing to the cardioprotective benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Gitanjali Lall - Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior

Research Interests: Early childhood development (ECD) and community-based interventions that may help promote the same in Low- and Middle-Income country settings. 

Seonjin Lee - Hospitality and Tourism Management

Research Interests: Seonjin Lee is interested in understanding tourism as a social phenomenon, as well as tourism’s implications for broader society. His research focuses on analyzing the spatiotemporal movement of tourists between places, from the lens of network science.

Taelee Lee - Exercise Science

Research Interests: My research focuses on brain structure and neurological mechanisms related to human behavior and cognitive function. In addition, I study the effect of specific intervention protocols on motor control, learning, and cognition in healthy subject and patients with neurodegenerative disease.

Amanda Lockett - Library and Information Science

Research Interests: Pending.

Emily Lohrbach - Educational Psychology and Research

Research Interests: Emily Lohrbach is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology and Research within the Department of Education and Developmental Science. Her research focuses on peer relationships, with particular interest in peer victimization and bullying, including the various forms it takes and its impact on student outcomes. She is also engaged in research related to preservice teacher preparation.

Andrés López - Spanish and Comparative Literature

Research Interests: Andrés López dissertation research focuses on the intersection between contemporary Spanish-language cinema and Spanish Golden Age literature. In his thesis, he analyzes the structural and intermedial dialogue between Don Quijote (1605 & 1615) and three contemporary Spanish language films: Abre los ojos (1997), El laberinto del fauno (2006), and Nueve reinas (2000).

Pamela Nyaradzai Magande - Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Research Interests: I study the intersection of infectious and non-infectious disease conditions, especially among low-income populations. With increasing access to life-prolonging medicines, people who would have died from infectious diseases are now aging and dealing with an increasing number of non-infectious conditions. This is a new emerging population that I am interested in studying to ensure gains in infectious disease management are not lost.

Narender Mahor - Economics

Research Interests: My research interests center on labor markets, technology, and public policy, with a particular focus on the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence (AI). I study how technological advancements shape employment patterns, wages, and job quality across occupations and skill levels.

Bianca Malkoc - Geography

Research Interests: Pending.

Wiz Maung - Physics and Astronomy

Research Interests: My research is in the areas of Mathematical Physics, Theoretical Physics, and Quantum Mechanics.

Mehrnoush Mokhtarnejad - Library and Information Science

Research Interests: My research examines health information behaviour and user experience with a focus on health communication and technology. I am particularly interested in understanding and addressing health information poverty, to improve equitable access to health resources and support better health outcomes.

Adrián Montero Moya - Music Performance

Research Interests: Adrián Montero Moya is an internationally acclaimed classical guitarist, known for his dynamic performances and strong advocacy for contemporary Latin American music. His repertoire ranges broadly from Baroque to modern works, with special attention to living composers from Costa Rica and Ibero-America. His recording projects include Azulado, featuring Costa Rican contemporary composers, and Sonatas and Partitas. He has also contributed to collaborative recordings such as Sueños y Sones, Marco Corrales’s Elruido del Agua, and the world-premiere of the string quintet Oché by Alejandro Cardona with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano.  

Ryan Myers - History

Research Interests: My research interests lie in the ways disease and medicine interacted and impacted American militarization and armed conflict in the late early modern and modern time periods. Current research that I am working on is the role Yellow Fever had in the American South during the Civil War. 

 Gabriel L. Newvine - Music Composition

Research Interests: With a focus on theatricality and the intricacies of living, Gabriel L. Newvine's works have been performed domestically and abroad by ensembles and soloists such as Loadbang, CAMP, VICE quartet, Lee Hinkle, Velvet Brown, and many more.

Brian Niu - Choral Conducting

Research Interests: My research interests include choral-orchestral works, English music, and conductor gesture study. I’m also interested in teacher preparatory programs for music teachers. 

Samiha Nuzhat - Geography

Research Interests: Samiha’s research examines the complex dynamics of human–environment interactions, with particular attention to how climate change shapes people’s decision-making and drives variations in health outcomes.

Amber Peaslee - Biomedical Sciences

Research Interests: Amber's reserach focuses on drug targets and/or mechanisms and their relation to neurological disorders/diseases. 

AB Reese - Quantitative Psychology

Research Interests: My research interests broadly lie in longitudinal structural equation modeling. Currently, I am working on developing and evaluating a statistical model for the analysis of data collected from randomized pretest, posttest, follow-up experimental designs. 

Brynn Schuetter - Criminology and Criminal Justice

Research Interests: Pending.

Sophia Shaiman - Criminology and Criminal Justice

Research Interests: My research centers on understanding violence against women through quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Presently, I am interested in understanding how women make decisions about engagement with the criminal legal system following violent, gender-based victimization. My work aims to identify barriers to justice-seeking to inform policies and practices that better support victim/survivors while prioritizing victim/survivor autonomy.

Kiley Stoj - Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Kiley studies plant-insect interactions, with a focus on nocturnal pollination and how factors like artificial light and environmental unpredictability shape pollination success. She also investigates carnivorous plants, examining what drives successful prey capture in sundews, and explores how random events influence the survival and germination of sticky seeds.

Kalil Warren - Psychology

Research Interests: Kalil's broad research interests center on how language interfaces with other cognitive faculties in the mind and brain. His current work investigates the interaction between language and spatial cognition, with a particular focus on referential processing and production, and the role of the superior parietal lobule in these processes. He also collaborates with researchers in Communication Sciences and Disorders to study how the language system operates and adapts when disruptions occur. 

Kira R. Wright - Clinical-Community Psychology

Research Interests: My goal is to study interventions for processing trauma and strategies for preventing and addressing child maltreatment, specifically as they relate to parenting, the family environment, and the community. My research questions will examine the associations between emotion regulation and childhood adversity, as well as long-term mental health outcomes and intergenerational transmission of trauma, risk, and resilience.

Jinyu Yang - Anthropology

Research Interests: My research examines the intersections of multilingualism, transnationalism, and globalization. I am particularly interested in how language practices shape identity formation, negotiations of belonging, and the maintenance of social relationships across borders. 

Shameema M. Yousuf - Foundations of Education

Research Interests: Shameema (Shams) researches cultural theories in education with an interdisciplinary approach to impact in sport, physical education, and psychology. Her focus is on leadership and policy to create spaces of positive mental health, wellness, safety and thriving for stakeholders in these domains.