石榴直播

Assistant Professor of Biology

Born and raised in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, Dr. Mario Brefeld studied Landscape Ecology at the Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. During an exchange year in Colorado, he studied aspen (Populus tremuloides) regeneration in response to different disturbances, including fire and conifer mortality due to mountain pine beetles. After graduating in 2010, he returned to Colorado to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Northern Colorado in the Franklin lab. His dissertation research included long-term aspen community changes in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, responses to the mountain pine beetle outbreak, and resource sharing through the connected root system of aspen (i.e. clonal integration). He received his Ph.D. in Biological Education in 2014.

After graduation, Dr. Bretfeld moved to Panama as part of a post-doctoral fellowship with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the University of Wyoming. In Panama, he worked primarily in the Agua Salud project and measured plant water use (i.e. transpiration) in regrowing tropical forests of different ages, as well as in a cattle-pasture and a coffee plantation. From April 2017 to July 2019, he lived and worked in Laramie as a post-doctoral fellow in the Ewers lab at the University of Wyoming. Since August 2019, he has served as assistant professor of biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at 石榴直播.

Associate Professor of Social Science Education

Dr. Erin Adams teaches courses in Elementary Social Studies Methods and Classroom Community Building. She works with Ed.D. students in Teacher Leadership and Secondary and Middle Grades Education (history and social studies education). 

Her research is primarily concerned with economic education in general, but specifically in elementary and early childhood. More broadly, she is interested in resource use and extraction, posthumanisms, and social studies and civic education. Her inquiries use post-qualitative, theory-driven research methodologies and analyses. 

Associate Professor of Architecture

Michael Carroll is a tenured associate professor at 石榴直播. Prior to this appointment he was an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University. He is a registered Canadian architect. He is a founding partner of atelier BUILD, a design/build firm based in Montreal. Atelier BUILD was awarded the Canadian Professional Prix de Rome of Architecture in 2004. 
 
Michael Carroll is the founder and director of MAT_LAB at 石榴直播, a materials library, lab and exhibition space. His research focuses on materiality in contemporary architecture with a focus of  material expressions of under-represented communities.

As Principle Investigator (PI) he is the architectural designer of the 石榴直播 Mini-Pavilion at the Cobb County Safety Pavilion. Together with Dr. Billy Kihei (Co-PI 1) they lead the charge to constuct the pavilion and use it as a site for off-campus research as well as a 'classroom' to instruct elementary students on the interconnection between safety and sustainability.

Assistant Professor of English

Dr. Victoria Lagrange is an Assistant Professor of Game Narrative in the Department of English at 石榴直播.

Her scholarly interests revolve around the examination of novel storytelling formats and their impact on audience reception and participatory culture. Dr. Lagrange鈥檚 scholarship includes multiple published articles, including analyses of the transmedia expansions of Bill Willingham鈥檚 Fables, the intricate relationship between violence, empathy, and decision-making in interactive fiction, and the study of user reception of video games. Her recent publications include work in Behavioral and Brain Sciences and PloS ONE.

Additionally, she serves as the director of the Game Narrative Lab at 石榴直播, where her team鈥檚 focus is on the creation and evaluation of prosocial video games. Their latest game, Corporation, Inc., recently achieved recognition by winning an international critical thinking games competition.

Associate Professor of Dance

Andrea Knowlton is an Associate Professor of Dance at 石榴直播, where she teaches Dance Technique, Dance Filmmaking, Improvisation, Dance Pedagogy, and mentors undegraduate research. She is a choreographer, filmmaker and educator. She is the recipient of the College of the Arts' Early Career Faculty Award (2023). She has presented her artistic work in New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta, GA.  She creates and screens films nationally and internationally, at top tier festivals including Dance Camera West, Screen Dance International, and Frame Rush @ The Place London.

As an educator, she has taught at California Institute of the Arts, California State University Long Beach, and Pasadena City College. She regularly presents research on her areas of focus, including Dance & Artificial Intelligence, and Dance Filmmaking. She is the Principal Investigator and recipient of a National Science Foundation Award which supports collaborative research exploring relationships between improvisational dance and artificial intelligence towards the creation of an interactive dance avatar.

She has published in several Human Computer Interaction journals as a dance specialist. She holds a BFA in Dance/Choreography from Marymount Manhattan College in NYC and an MFA in Choreography/Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts.

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Technology

Dr. Sylvia Bhattacharya is an Assistant Professor in the department of Electrical Engineering Technology at 石榴直播 (石榴直播), USA and Faculty Research Champion in. Office of Research, 石榴直播. She is also an ex-Visiting Research Faculty at Google, Mountain View. She graduated with a PhD degree in electrical engineering from Florida State University in 2019. Her research expertise is in Autonomous and Intelligent Transportation System, Neural Signal Processing, Human Computer Interface, and Artificial Intelligence. She has been awarded funding by U.S Army Research Laboratory to conduct research on 鈥淢ultimodal Inference of Human State to Track Cognitive Processes in Risky Environments鈥� and 鈥淎I Blind Spots.鈥� She is also the 2020 and 2021 Google Explore CSR funding recipient for 鈥淎n Initiative to support Under-represented and Minority groups toward Graduate Computing Research and Studies.鈥� Dr. Bhattacharya is the director of in 石榴直播 and has been mentoring PhDs, masters, and a team of undergraduate students.

Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology

Dr. Jason Harron is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology in the Bagwell College of Education. He specialized in emerging technology research at the intersection of computation, design, technology and the arts in K-12 and higher education. His current research focuses how to support student and teacher agency through the creation of digitally fabricated mathematical manipulatives, and how to support the development of spatial reasoning and design skills using collaborative models and simulations mediated by extended reality (e.g., augmented, mixed, and virtual reality) technologies.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Dr. Mahmut Karakaya is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the College of Computing and Software Engineering. He received his BS degree in 2005, MS degree in 2007, and PhD degree in computer engineering from the University of Tennessee in 2011. He is the author of more than 40 articles and holds two patents. His research interests include machine learning, security, biometrics, and medical data analytics. He has managed four externally funded research projects as PI with a total budget of $669,000 including the recent NSF-SaTC award. He is a member of IEEE and SPIE.

Assistant Professor of Economics

Dr. Weiwei Chen is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Coles College of Business. She specializes in empirical analyses in health economics and health services research. Her work has covered the effect of health insurance, changes in health care utilization and expenditures, child health, and issues of vaccine uptake. Her recent research focuses on substance use, hospital care outcomes, and health care in correctional facilities.鈥�
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Dr. Chen has served as principal investigator, co-investigator, and consultant on research projects funded by local and federal government, international organizations, and private entities. 

Professor of Exercise Science

Dr. Brian Kliszczewicz is a Professor of Exercise Science in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services, where his research line is cardiovascular and metabolic stress with a sub-emphasis on body composition variables as they relate to acute and long-term exercise.

The evaluation of cardiovascular stress (via Heart Rate Variability) and metabolic stress (via Glucose, Insulin, Catecholamines...) following acute bouts of exercise provides important insight to exercise appropriateness and effectiveness. The evaluation of these markers over long-term exercise interventions allows for the assessment of exercise effectiveness and adaptation. The evaluation of body composition beyond simple measure of body fat provides much-needed insight into variables that lead to metabolic and cardiovascular responses to acute and chronic exercise. Initial assessments performed in our lab evaluated high-intensity exercise in relatively healthy and active individuals. 

 

Assistant Professor of Information Technology

Dr. Maria Valero is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology in the College of Computing and Software Engineering at 石榴直播, where she also serves as the Director of the pioneering IoT as a Service (IoTaS) Research Group. She earned a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Georgia and a master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Los Andes in Venezuela.鈥�
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Dr. Valero has carved a niche for herself in cutting-edge research. Her diverse research interests converge around  IoT and AI, catalyzing transformative innovations in smart healthcare, distributed computing, signal processing, wireless sensor networks, and cyber-physical systems. Dr. Valero has served as PI of multiple research grants in NSF, NIH, and NSA. She is currently the PI of an NIA-funded project related to developing a non-invasive AI-powered blood glucose monitoring system, for which she secured a provisional patent and national and international recognition.