Thirty-two scholars have joined the faculty this academic year, bringing with them a wealth of new academic and research talent. These tenured or tenure-track faculty come from a range of disciplines and exemplify Dartmouth’s teacher-scholar model.
Provost Joseph Helble says he’s impressed by the diversity of background and extensive research the new professors bring to campus.
“Dartmouth’s newest faculty include humanists and scientists and scholars of business, deep thinkers who represent the full spectrum of intellectual life at Dartmouth. Together, they bring a broadened global perspective and a passion for their work to the entire community.”
Luis Alvarez León
Assistant Professor of Geography
I study the political economy of geospatial data, media, and technologies—broadly understood. Specifically, I explore how various geographic technologies and representations (from maps to GPS) intertwine with economic, political, and social processes. My two main projects involve examining the new spaces created by autonomous navigation technologies and the implications of the new space race in the context of the small and miniaturized satellite revolution.
Joshua Bennett
Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing
I am interested, broadly speaking, in the black environmental imagination. My first book of critical prose, for instance, Being Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man, focuses on how writers across the African diaspora have reclaimed language and imagery intended to dehumanize them—specifically as it pertains to animals— and marshaled it in service of their most radical freedom dreams: narrating their relationship to animal life as one rooted in opacity, collaboration, wonder, and the possibility of a world without cages or chains.
Davin Chor
Associate Professor and Globalization Chair at the Tuck School of Business
My research has focused on understanding how institutional forces such as the contracting environment act to shape patterns of trade, multinational activity, and global value chains, as well as how these globalization trends can, in turn, have profound socioeconomic consequences. In one of my recent research projects, for example, I am studying how China’s ongoing export slowdown has led to a rise in incidents of labor-related strikes, as well as the nature of the political response on the part of local government leaders.
Mia Costa
Assistant Professor of Government
I study issues of political representation and political behavior in American politics, generally using experimental methods. Broadly, my current projects focus on how our perceptions of government are affected by factors such as gender and partisanship. I am also interested in civic engagement and how to mobilize underrepresented segments of the electorate.
Jennifer Dannals
Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business
I study how people perceive groups and teams, and how groups and teams interact. Specifically, I use experimental methods to help understand how individuals learn perceive social norms in their groups and how they update these perceptions over time.
Matthew Delmont
Professor of History
My research focuses on African American history and civil rights. Each of my books takes on a popular subject—the rise of rock ‘n’ roll, school desegregation, and Alex Haley’s Roots—and then tries to reveal the hidden histories that are obscured by the standard narratives on the subject. With the support of a Guggenheim Fellowship, I am currently working on a book on African Americans during World War II.
Stuart Finkel
Associate Professor of Russian Studies
My research focuses on the intersecting history of human rights, politics, and the intelligentsia. I am currently completing For Martyrs or for Enemies: Aid to Political Prisoners in Russia and the USSR, a book surveying the long history of such aid through the 19th and 20th centuries, examining in particular the so-called “Political Red Cross,” which lobbied on behalf of political detainees from 1918 to 1937.
H. Robert Frost
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science at the Geisel School of Medicine
I develop statistical methods for analyzing high-dimensional genomic data with a specific focus on the genome-wide profiling of single cells. Applied research areas include gene set testing, gene-gene and gene-environment interactions, biomedical ontologies and cancer genomics.
Lauren Grewal
Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business
My research examines managerially relevant questions from a consumer perspective. Particularly, I examine how a consumer’s identity influences actions and behaviors, how consumers use and process digital and social media when making decisions, and ways that marketing can improve consumer well-being.
Brooke Harrington
Professor of Sociology
I am an economic and organizational sociologist by training, with an empirical focus on finance. My latest book concerns an elite occupational group within finance and its impact on international law and stratification. Previously, my research examined the effects of diversity and decision-making processes on the performance of investment groups. I’m interested in how things get done—what social actors actually do in their daily lives—and how that aggregates to the macro-level of financial markets, culture, and political institutions. My work intersects with the literatures of political economy, anthropology, social psychology, and behavioral finance.
Robert Hill
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
A complex cell structure called “myelin” has evolved to speed up and fine-tune the transmission of signals in the brain. Using advanced optical imaging coupled with genetic manipulation, I study how this structure develops and changes throughout life. These studies provide insight into neural plasticity, with broad implications for understanding brain function and disease.
Jedidah Isler
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
I study supermassive, hyperactive black holes called blazars in order to understand how nature does particle acceleration. I use blazars–supermassive black holes at the centers of massive galaxies that “spin up” jets of particles moving at nearly the speed of light–as my laboratory. By obtaining observations across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio, optical, and all the way through to gamma-rays, I piece together how and why these black holes are able to create such efficient particle accelerators and, by extension, I understand the universe a tiny bit better. I’m also very interested in and active about creating more equitable STEM spaces for scholars of color broadly, and particularly for women of color.
C. Brenhin Keller
Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences
Despite the static appearance of Earth’s continental crust on human timescales, the composition and structure of the crust has changed markedly throughout Earth history. My research applies a wide range of integrated computational, field, and geochronological approaches to better understand the history of the solid Earth, particularly including the formation of the continental crust and its coevolution with the biosphere and the surface Earth system.
Ramon Lecuona
Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business
I study how companies design organizations to implement their strategies. I have specific expertise in the field of mobile communications and the offshoring of production facilities to emerging markets. In addition to my academic work, I have been part of the founding team of multiple startups and I serve as an adviser for senior leaders of multinational companies and governmental agencies.
Yoonsang Lee
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
My research focuses on computational mathematics for accurate prediction of complex dynamical systems. I am particularly interested in combining mathematical models with observation data, which can capture rare events or anomalies. My recent research includes applications to numerical weather prediction that is stable and accurate for sparse observation data.
Justin Mankin
Assistant Professor of Geography
I study the origins and consequences of climate variability and climate change, focusing on how global warming will impact the things we care about—snow on our mountains, water in our streams, and the distribution of extreme weather to which our societies are most vulnerable. I do this using large, distributed datasets and numerical models of the Earth system, all in an effort to constrain uncertainty in what the future will look like.
Brian Melzer
Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business
I work in the field of household finance. I study the financial decisions and experiences of households, the behaviors of intermediaries such as lenders and financial advisers, and the impacts of financial regulation and other public policies.
Erika Moen
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science at the Geisel School of Medicine
Evidence-based medicine means that the care of individual patients is informed by the best evidence from biomedical research, clinical experience, and patient values. My research uses data science methods to explore relationships between the structure of health care systems and the likelihood that a patient receives evidence-based care. I am particularly interested in cancer care coordination, adoption of cancer precision medicine, and patient outcomes.
Katherine Nautiyal
Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences
I am interested in how the brain generates self-control. My research focuses on the role of serotonin in modulating the neural circuits that regulate impulsive behavior. My lab manipulates serotonin signaling in rodent models and measures the resulting ability to wait or delay gratification. We also image the activity of neurons in the brain in order to understand how the brain executes impulse control.
Elisabeth Newton
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Three-quarters of the stars in our galaxy are red dwarfs, similar to the sun but about one-fourth its size. Many of these stars have their own planetary systems. I use observations to investigate: How do red dwarfs generate their magnetic fields? How do their rotation rates and magnetic properties evolve with time? How do their planets form and evolve?
Golnar Nikpour
Assistant Professor of History
I am a cultural and intellectual historian of modern Iran and have written extensively on questions of power, rights, and incarceration. I teach on an interdisciplinary set of topics, including modern Middle Eastern and North African history, Iranian history, political theory, Islamic studies, critical prison studies, and women and gender studies.
David Petruccelli
Assistant Professor of History
My current book manuscript looks at the problem of international crime in interwar Europe. I look at the ways that crime was understood as transnational and particularly threatening after the First World War and the norms and structures built by police officials, legal experts, and political leaders to confront the problem.
Temiloluwa Prioleau
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
I develop technology for chronic-disease management. This includes the design and application of digital solutions to understand bio-behavioral factors that influence health. I do this through human-sensing, data analysis, and user experience studies for interventions. In my research, I extract insights from mobile and wearable systems to facilitate behavioral changes that can lead to improved outcomes.
Alberto Quattrini Li
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
My general research interests lie in artificial intelligence and robotics. Specifically, my group studies how multiple robots, such as boats and underwater robots, can sense and navigate efficiently in an environment to accomplish an information gathering task. Applications include environmental monitoring, exploration, and search and rescue.
Jorge Quintana-Navarrete
Assistant Professor of Spanish
My research focuses on the relationship between politics and culture in modern Latin America, with a specific focus on Mexico. I am currently studying how the cultural production of the Mexican Revolution was marked by a strong utopian impulse to conceive a new social order. My aim is to show the opportunities and limitations of political art and utopian imagination during times of unrest.
Caroline Robertson
Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences
My research seeks to understand the neurobiology of autism. I use a combination of neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI and MRS, and naturalistic measurements, such as wearable virtual reality, to link neural insights to behavioral differences that affect individuals’ day-to-day lives.
Christopher Shoemaker
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Geisel School of Medicine
We are interested in how cells eliminate large, potentially toxic structures, such as damaged organelles or toxic protein aggregates, via a process called autophagy. Defects in autophagy result in the accumulation of toxic structures and contribute to many human diseases, including neurodegeneration, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging. A better understanding of autophagy mechanisms will inform our understanding of how autophagy becomes dysregulated in disease and guide therapeutic attempts to ameliorate these deficiencies.
James Smith
The Jack Byrne Distinguished Professor of Decision Science at the Tuck School of Business
My research area is decision analysis, studying mathematical models of decision problems where uncertainty and dynamics play a key role. My work is primarily methodological in nature, that is, considering methods that are applicable in a variety of contexts. In applied work, I have often studied applications in energy, particularly in oil and gas exploration, and occasionally in energy efficiency or environmental issues.
Soroush Vosoughi
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
My research interests lie at the intersection of natural language processing, machine learning, and network science, with a specific focus on mining and modeling social networks. I use social networks to study complex social behaviors. Most recently, I have been studying and modeling the diffusion of misinformation on social networks.
Jacqueline Wernimont
Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
My research and teaching are broadly interdisciplinary and trans-historical (1600 to the present), and I focus on computational and digital media, exploring how we construct and consume both information and imaginative visions. This entails both traditional scholarly work (my book Numbered Lives: Life and Death in Quantum Media will be out with MIT Press this fall) and a creative new media practice.
Bo Zhu
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
I develop computational approaches to study complex natural systems and make novel robotic systems. By combining numerical algorithms, applied mathematics, and 3D printing techniques, I investigate and develop physical systems that are fluidic, soft, multi-scale, mixed-dimensional, and computation-driven. In particular, I seek to create computer algorithms to unveil the connections between geometry, topology, material, and dynamics of these complex systems.
Also joining the faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine is Associate Professor of Biomedical Data Science Alfredo Tirado-Ramos.
Joseph Blumberg can be reached at joseph.e.blumberg@dartmouth.edu.
