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College of Humanities and Sciences

Faculty and Staff Resources

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Dean's Research Seminar Series

Fall 2025

The Dean's Research Seminar Series is a monthly presentation to celebrate the scholarship, research and creative work of those faculty who enjoyed research leave during the previous academic year.

These seminars typically consist of two to three brief presentations from faculty colleagues designed for a general audience, followed by a discussion and refreshments. Please let us know which sessions you will be attending by filling out our registration form.

Register for the seminar series

Monday, Sept. 8

Time: 3-4 p.m
Location: STEM-817WF Building, Room 112

Presentations by:

  • Leigh Ann Craig, Ph.D. (History) - "Antoine's Survival: Physicians, Historians, and the Premodern Technology of Rabies Treatment"
  • Cecelia Valrie, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "Exploring Links Between Sleep and Pain in Sickle Cell Disease"

Wednesday, Oct. 22

Time: 3-4 p.m.
Location: STEM-817WF Building, Room 202

Presentations by:

  • Joshua Eckhardt, Ph.D. (English)
  • Aspen Brinton, Ph.D. (School of World Studies) 

Monday, Dec. 10

Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location STEM-817WF Building, Room 110

Presentations by:

  • Cheng Ly, Ph.D. (Mathematics and Applied Mathematics) - "Are differences between Parkinson’s patients and healthy subjects like other brain diseases?"
  • Catherine Hulshof, Ph.D. (School of Life Sciences and Sustainability) - "Extreme environments in a world of new extremes"
  • Faedah M. Totah, Ph.D. (School of World Studies) - "Can a refugee be a guest?: Palestinian refugees in Syria."

Lunch will be provided at this session only.

Past Seminars

 

March 17
  • Indika Arachchige, Ph.D. (Chemistry) - "Design and Synthesis of Efficient Nanomaterials for Optical, Electronic, and Energy Applications"
  • Michael Southam-Gerow, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "Working out the irrigation system: Toward better access to quality mental health services"
April 7
  • Jesse Goldstein, Ph.D. (Sociology) - " Enclosures of Creativity: Carbon, Cannabis, College"
  • Fantasy Lozado, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "Emotions in Action: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Youth's Sociopolitical Development through YPAR"
May 5
  • Victor Chen, Ph.D. (Sociology) - "Precarity, Predation, and Lack of Purpose: An Ethnographic Study of the Economic and Social Factors Contributing to Opioid Use Disorder among the Working Class"
  • Rivka Swenson,  Ph.D. (English) - "Sex and the City: Seeing Women after the Rise of the Sash Window"
  • Suzanne Mazzeo, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "The impact of school salad bars on fruit and vegetable selection, intake, and waste in Mid-Atlantic elementary schools"

Oct. 7

  • Chris Gough, Ph.D. (Biology) - "Sustaining Healthy ecosystems in an era of rapid change"
  • Andrew Moon, Ph.D. (Philosophy) - "What is a Belief?"

Nov. 18

  • Brooke Newman, Ph.D. (History) - "The Queen's Silence: Tracing the British Monarchy's Links to Slavery in the Archives."
  • Ed Acevedo, Ph.D. (KHS) - "Research Adventures in Brazil”
Dec. 9
  • Ihsan Topaloglu, Ph.D. (Mathematics) - "Suds, Squares, and Symmetry"
  • Robin Everhart, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "Findings from the RVA Breathes Study"
  • Oliver Speck, Ph.D. (World Studies) - "Representations of Slavery in Cinema"

Feb. 12

  • Kim Case, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "Creating a Faculty Activism Commons for Social Justice: Finding Hope in the Messy Truth"
  • Eugene Mills, Ph.D. (Philosophy) - "The Paradox of the Heap: Vagueness and the Limits of Knowledge"

March 18

  • Sonja Livingston, Ph.D. (English) - "Blood: One Writer's Exploration into Personal Ancestry and Collective American Inheritance"
  • Brent Cody, Ph.D. (Mathematics) - "Infinitary Combinatorics and Connections Between Mathematics, Music and Discrete Optimization”
May 6
  • Heather Jones, Ph.D. (Psychology) - "Graduate Student Training and Program Evaluation in Integrated Pediatric Primary Care"
  • Patricia Cummins, Ph.D. (World Studies) - "Transforming International Higher Education Across Disciplines"
  • Derek Johnson, Ph.D. (Biology) - "Effects of Climate Variation on the Production of Ecologically and Economically Important Forest Mushrooms in Northern Spain"

Oct. 16

  • Ken Akiba, Ph.D., (Philosophy) - "Indeterminacy and Vagueness: The Boolean Many-Valued Approach"

Oct. 30

  • Harold Ogrosky, Ph.D., (Mathematics) - "Data Assimilation and Weather Forecasting: The Role of Balanced and Unbalanced Moisture"
  • Deirdre Condit, Ph.D., (Political Science) - "Through the Eyes of Les Femmes: James Ellroy’s Gender Politics of “Killing Women to Save Them”
Nov. 13
  • Thomas Cropp, Ph.D., (Chemistry) - "Genetic Code Expansion with Unnatural Histidines"
  • Karen Rader, Ph.D., (History) - "Science Education for Grown-Ups: STS in Science Cafes"
Dec. 12
  • Bridget Camden (Robertson) - "Cross Pollination"
  • Julio Alvarez, Ph.D., (Chemistry) - "Snooping on Single Microbial Cells using Microscopic Electrodes"
  • Ryan Smith, Ph.D., (History) - "Historic American Lighthouses: Renewed Beacons for a Troubled Age"