Faculty

Research/Areas of Interest: Japanese Language

Research/Areas of Interest: engineering education research, learning and engagement in the university classroom, development of disciplinary practices, instructional design and technology development, instructional practices, organizational change, social practice theory

Research/Areas of Interest: Infectious diseases, global health, One Health, schistosomiasis, water infrastructure

Research/Areas of Interest: Planetary Chemical Analysis & Astrobiology - In the search for life in our solar system over the past several decades, it has become increasingly clear that there may be multiple worlds besides Earth that either once had or may still have environments capable of supporting microbial life as we know it. Our current research is focused on two aspects of this search: (1) In the search for life on Mars, one key question is; how are biologically-produced molecules (biomarkers) altered when exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation in the presence of oxychlorines and their intermediate formation products? To help answer this question we are investigating the "fragmentation" patterns of such altered biogenic compounds which could then be used to identify the original biomarker and thus provide evidence for life on Mars. (2) We are developing in-situ analytical instrumentation that is designed to unambiguously detect microbial life and determine the habitability of planetary environments that may be present at the surface or subsurface of Mars, and the oceans of icy-worlds such as Saturn's moon Enceladus or Jupiter's moon Europa.

Research/Areas of Interest: Clinical neuroscience

Research/Areas of Interest: Bioorganic, Biophysical, & Chemical Biology. Peptides and their mimetics can target protein surfaces in ways small molecules rarely do, making peptide libraries attractive for screening for nontraditional modes of action. The Kritzer research group takes advantage of peptide and peptidomimetic libraries to bypass many of the disadvantages of small molecule screening. They also explore how modifications such as substitution of peptide bonds with isosteres, amide N-methylation, and head-to-tail cyclization affect the activities, specificities, and bioavailabilities of functional peptides. By combining powerful techniques from organic synthesis, biophysical chemistry, molecular biology and genetics, they are developing new molecules and new strategies to attack cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.

Research/Areas of Interest: Inorganic Chemistry. Kinetics and mechanism of oxygen and hydrogen peroxide activation by metal complexes.

Research/Areas of Interest: Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology The research interests of the Kumar laboratory are centered on the (1) use of chemistry to design molecules to interrogate and illuminate fundamental mechanisms in biology, or be used as therapeutics; and (2) use of biology to "evolve" and "select" molecules that can perform chemistry in non-biological and medicinal settings. These are some questions we are trying to answer: (i) Is it possible to design and mimic natural proteins and other biological macromolecules by use of building blocks that nature does not use – and whether such constructs can be endowed with properties that are not found in biology?; (ii) How did the first enzymes arise in the imagined Darwin's pond – is there a way to recreate this scenario and in the process develop a fundamentally new method to create enzymes?; (iii) Biology uses phase separation, that is, clustering of different compounds in confined locations – a process that is key in orchestrating the daily activities of a cell – can we find methods that can predictably dictate where molecules are located in a given environment and thereby direct the phenotype that is generated?; (iv) Can we rationally design small molecules and peptides that can function against antibiotic resistant bacteria that are threatening the most basic tenet of modern medicine?

Research/Areas of Interest: Cognitive Neuroscience, Language (semantics), Clinical cognitive neuroscience

Research/Areas of Interest: Applied Microeconomics

Research/Areas of Interest: Health equity, health services research, decision-making, and bioethics

Research/Areas of Interest: water, sanitation, hygiene, infectious diseases, developing countries, emergencies

Research/Areas of Interest: digital image processing, computer animation, swarm robotics, innovation, engineering method & design

Research/Areas of Interest: Expertise: Musicology; Research interests: 16th and 17th c. Music; the Cultural History of Philosophy; Stoicism and Neostoicism; Tone and Timbre; Mexican Music.

Research/Areas of Interest: Global history; decolonization; Cold War; South Asia; borderlands; international relations and global governance; internationalisms; transnational anti-colonialism

Research/Areas of Interest: literature and drama of the English Renaissance; post-Reformation public culture; conversion; citizenship; migration and empire; classical reception; world literature; phenomenology of theater

Research/Areas of Interest: Film music, chromaticism, Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century art music, ambient music, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, transformation theory, neo-Riemannian theory, the symphony, and music aesthetics.

Research/Areas of Interest: Number theory

Research/Areas of Interest: Religion and Culture Religious Thought in the Modern/Contemporary West Philosophy of Religion Religion and Culture in the United States Gender and Women's Studies in Religion

Research/Areas of Interest: The application of developmental science across the life span; developmental systems theory; personality and social development in adolescence; developmental methodology; programs and policies for children, youth, and families; university-community collaboration and outreach scholarship. Developmental Science

Research/Areas of Interest: History of Japan

Research/Areas of Interest: Neighborhood and community context; housing context; family context; poverty and socioeconomic status; social policy; adolescence; immigrant young children

Research/Areas of Interest: Morphological and behavioral information processing in living systems

Research/Areas of Interest: Political Theory, American Politics, Civic Studies

Research/Areas of Interest: Creative Writing Religion Education

Research/Areas of Interest: Foreign language methodology; Second language acquisition; Immersion techniques; Curriculum and instruction: university/high school/middle school with an emphasis on interdisciplinary curriculum development, content-based learning, technology/video in the classroom, cooperative learning, blended and distance learning; Experiential learning/Community and service learning; Caribbean literature and culture with an emphasis on Puerto Rico

Research/Areas of Interest: Insect behavior, ecology and evolution; firefly conservation

Research/Areas of Interest: Chinese Language, Chinese Syntax and Language Teaching Pedagogy