Tenure Track Faculty 2023 | Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs | SIU

Research: Software Engineering, Cybersecurity Analysis, Data Analytics, AI, and Cloud Computing

Teaching Interest: Java, Discrete Math, Python, Human Computer Interaction, Visual Programming, Object-Oriented Programming, Software Modeling and Design, Computer Skills

Why I Chose SIU: Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU) is a reputable institution known for its academic excellence, with a diverse range of programs including a strong emphasis on Information Technology. SIU provides ample research opportunities, being an R2 doctoral university. The university's comprehensive student support services, beautiful campus, diverse student body, and affordability through various scholarships and financial aid options, make it a desirable choice for students globally. These qualities, coupled with a commitment to hands-on learning and a rich cultural experience, create a conducive environment for academic and personal growth.

Research: Academic/Industry relations, advisory boards, aviation student success, diversity, accreditation

Teaching Interest: Business Writing, Career Development, Communication

Why I Chose SIU: I’ve known SIU professors through professional associations and conference attendance. I have always been impressed with the aviation program, so when my previous program was discontinued, I was invited to apply for a position and readily agreed.

Research: Currently researching the factors contributing to the shortage of aircraft technicians. Designing training aids and equipment to create a safer and more efficient training environment for technicians in training.

Teaching Interest: Aircraft maintenance

Why I Chose SIU: As a southern Illinois native I love the area and the atmosphere it provides. SIU has offered me a way to do what I love in a place I love.

Research: Broad Areas of Networks and Network Security. Specific Topics of Wireless Network Security, Cognitive Radio Networks, Internet of Things, Green Communication, etc.

Teaching Interest: I love to teach the following subjects: 

• CS 440 - Computer Networks
• CS 441 - Mobile and Wireless Computing
• CS 510 - Wireless and Network Security
• CS 540 - Advanced Computer Networks

Why I Chose SIU: I chose to join SIU as an Assistant Professor, because it will be a great opportunity for me to carry on teaching the brilliant students of SIU and also pursue my research work in the existing ambiance created by the eminent faculty members.

Research: My research seeks to equip scientists, engineers, and doctors with a better understanding of how cancerous tumors grow and develop inside the human body and how those tumors can be identified and treated in the operating room. This research permits the development of cameras, sensitive to the biochemical changes unique to tumors, that enable cancer surgeons to peer through the healthy tissue that often occludes their view of the surgical site and identify the cancerous tissue that must be removed for their patient to be fully cured.

Teaching Interest: My teaching seeks to provide students with a better understanding of the broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation they are bathed in every day, with the hopes that they will use these many forms of light, visible and invisible, to better observe and understand the world in which they live.

Why I Chose SIU: As someone who was born and raised in Carbondale and who, in turn, graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, there has always been and will always be a special place in my heart for the students, staff, and community members that have made this campus what it is today. Southern Illinois University Carbondale offers not only to change Southern Illinois but also to change the world through its commitment to both research and teaching, and I look forward to being a part of that transformative force right here in this place I call home.

Research: My research interests include electronic materials, MEMS, flexible electronics, soluble electronics, and gas plasma with applications focused on sensing (bio/chemical/physical), harsh environment computing, energy storage, and renewable energy. My long-term vision is to develop efficient sensors, implantable bio-medical devices, early disease detectors, ultra-fast harsh environment computing circuits, sustainable and economical clean energy systems, and smart health monitoring systems. I am always open to learning and researching new areas outside my comfort zone.

Teaching Interest: My goal as a teacher is for my students to develop a passion for learning new things, learn how to think and not what to think, and develop logical thinking and problem-solving skills. I will nurture the students in a stress-free and non-competitive environment, where the students will learn with real-life examples and gain hands-on experience. As a faculty in the School of Applied Engineering and Technology, I will be teaching courses related to electronic engineering. I aim to introduce undergraduate students to academic research through the course curriculum and develop new courses on nanoscience/nanotechnology to kindle their interest in higher studies. I look forward to mentoring students from diverse backgrounds at SIU.

Why I Chose SIU: Other than the apparent reason that SIU has a great environment to achieve my teaching, research, and career goals, I chose SIU simply because being part of this institute makes me proud. The mesmerizing campus surrounded by nature makes it a fantastic place to work. Unlike the big cities, Carbondale is a great place to live and raise a family and has a perfect blend of mild winters and pleasant summers.

Research: My primary research interests are in the fields of medical physics, big data mining, machine learning, deep learning, and bioinformatics. My research focuses on the design, analysis, implementation, and experimental evaluation of streaming data mining algorithms and deep learning techniques. I am an Associate Editor at the Editorial Board of Medical Physics and an Editorial Member of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. I am a Review Editor on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Neurorobotics and Frontiers in Big Data and I have served as one of Program Committees at the 27th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD'23) and 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT'23). In addition, I have been invited to serve as the ad hoc reviewer of international journals including Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment (TCRT), Complexity, Information Sciences (INS), Neurocomputing, Cognitive Computation, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (TMI), ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data (TKDD), Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, Frontiers in Endocrinology, Frontiers in Oncology, IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems (TCSS), IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking (TGCN), IEEE Internet of Things, IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems (TCSS), IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems (TNNLS), International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics (JMLC), and Briefings in Bioinformatics; and international conferences such as ICDM'16, SDM'17, ICDM'17, ICDM'18, AIKE'18, ICAIS'19, AAAI'19, CIKM'19, ICDM'19, AAAI'20, ICDM'20, AAAI'21, ICDM'21, AAAI'22, IJCAI'22, ICDM'22, BIBM'22, AAAI'23, PAKDD'23, IJCAI'23, KDD'23, FAccT'23, and SMC'23.

Teaching Interest: I believe teaching is one of the most enjoyable ways to have a lifelong learning experience and to interact with budding talents. Teaching gives me immense satisfaction and joy for having a job as an assistant professor and at the same time offers me the responsibility for stepping in the initial stages of the learning journey of the students. It also provides me a platform for improving my skills both in terms of expressing myself as well as being a great source of research ideas. In the future, I can teach (1) Machine Learning, (2) Online Learning, (3) Statistics and Optimization, (4) ML/AI for Bioinformatics, and (5) Fundamental Big Data Analytics courses for graduate students, and (1) Data Structures, (2) Discrete Math, or (3) Programming with R/Matlab/Python/Java for undergraduate students, which covers both the essential basic skills and applications of the modern AI and big data technologies with applications to data streams and bioinformatics.

Why I Chose SIU: Southern Illinois University (SIU) is a national public university in the United States, and classified as a R2 institution, i.e., doctoral university with high research activity, by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The reasons that I chose SIU are : (1) SIU Carbondale is 27th among the nation's 50 most entrepreneurial research universities - the number of alumni and students who identify themselves as founders and business owners on LinkedIn. (2) SIU students are very involved in campus life and the community, donating thousands of service hours each year to various organizations, programs and activities through the Center for Service-Learning and Volunteerism, spring break trips. (3) SIU is an ideal place to live, work, educate excellent students, and do the research I'm interested.

Research: Writing program administration, open education, software, student retention.

Teaching Interest: I direct the Writing Studies program and am interested in the teaching of writing, digital writing, and how teaching and program building can best be used for enrollment and retention.

Why I Chose SIU: Because it is the place to be.

Research: My studies focus on the design, modeling, and analysis of vibratory mechanical systems, especially those that are symmetric and rotating. My research innovates new symmetry-based vibration analyses and studies the modal properties of single/multi-stage symmetric systems. My research interests include space-time symmetry, parametric instability, and nonlinear dynamics for the purpose of vibration analysis and control.

Teaching Interest: I am especially interested in teaching courses in mechanics and mechanical design.

• Mechanics: statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, mechanical vibrations
• Mechanical design: mechanical analysis and design, finite element method and analysis.

Why I Chose SIU: I have found the department a vibrant and energizing place for emphasizing teaching quality and encouraging research partnerships. There are simply so many potential opportunities for junior faculty members to grow under the assistance from senior mentors. I also enjoy the highly-famed forest adventures around the area.

Research: Feminist theories; gender and sexuality in performance; digital theater and media in performance; social activism and protest cultures; ethnography; and theater historiography. Current book project, Repealing Mary: A Performance Historiography of Ireland's Campaign for Abortion Rights, investigates feminist body politics and religious syncretism in the digital era.

Teaching Interest: Feminist theater; feminisms, gender, and sexuality in performance; digital theater and media in performance; dramaturgy; world drama; Irish theater and performance; theater history and historiography.

Why I Chose SIU: The SIU School of Theater and Dance emphasizes academic rigor within a professional training environment. I am excited to engage in cross-disciplinary research while using my professional and artistic experience.

Research: My primary research interests concern the sociolinguistics of indigenous-colonial language relationships, language contact, indigenous ideologies, writing systems, and language activism in indigenous languages. I specialize in these phenomena pertaining to Ecuadorean Kichwa in contact with Spanish in Ecuador. My research area is located in Kichwa-speaking communities around Otavalo and Cotacachi in the province of Imbabura, Ecuador. I intend to apply the same approach already in place in Ecuador with the Kichwa diaspora in the United States, specifically the Kichwa community in Chicago. My overarching research goal is to understand the outcomes of Kichwa language production due to the long-lasting Spanish-Kichwa language contact in the Ecuadorean highlands. I also examine the positioning of indigenous scholars in academia. Although we enter academia under the colonialist academic framework, we must promote and invigorate our indigenous ontological systems.

Teaching Interest: I have taught lower-level and advanced-level undergraduate Spanish classes for six years at the Ohio State University and Kichwa as a private tutor from time to time to Spanish and English speakers. Starting on day one, I encourage students to be critical thinkers in my classes. To successfully interact with students beyond the materials used in class, I bring memes, social media posts, news, linguistics discussion groups, and class presentations to help students understand language usage in the real world. This real-world usage approach is critical in the Spanish-speaking world as a considerable linguistic variation occurs in the language. I highly encourage students to discuss the materials in pairs or small groups. I have seen significant improvements in their learning when they interact with each other and engage in independent learning than with the instructor-centered knowledge-sharing approach. I could use all these social and linguistic resources to provide students with the most interactive and objective learning experience. At SIU, I will be teaching Spanish in the United States and Introduction to Spanish Linguistics. I could also teach sociolinguistics, language contact, and variation. I am also prepared to develop and teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Kichwa linguistics, the sociolinguistics of Kichwa and other indigenous languages, language contact, language change, language ideologies, indigenous studies, and indigenous activism.

Why I Chose SIU: I chose SIU because I see that this university has the potential to become a world-class university, as I have read in the 2030 SIU plan. I also like the idea that the university is located in a college town, similar to my place of origin in Ecuador. During the campus visit, I saw that the area has beautiful parks, lakes, and nature to enjoy and is an excellent place to raise a family. The university and the School of Languages and Linguistics offer a collaborative space for faculty members, which could help me grow as a scholar alongside wonderful colleagues in the department. Also, I am happy to share my knowledge with the SIU community and, more specifically, help my students grow and discover their full potential. I am looking forward to this new chapter of my life!

Research: K. Allison Hammer is an interdisciplinary, cross-genre scholar and cultural critic. They conduct research in feminist theory, African American Diaspora Studies, critical masculinity studies, transgender studies, critical disability studies, as well as 20th and 21st century literature, film, and media studies. In their critical practice, they discover new connections between historical time periods and reveal the trace of the past in the present. Hammer’s research is featured in their first upcoming monograph, Masculinity in Transition, which will be published by the University of Minnesota Press on October 17, 2023. In this work, they take a critical approach to American masculinity as a complex gender formation that is tied to different embodiments, subjectivities, sexualities, identifications, and ideologies. Additional articles and essays can be found in the Routledge Companion to Art and Disability, Frontiers, Women's Studies Quarterly, Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Feminist Formations, Transgender Studies Quarterly, The Lifted Brow, and EOAGH, among others.

Teaching Interest: K. Allison Hammer creates highly interactive online and classroom modules, through which they communicate key theories in feminist, queer, transgender, and critical masculinities studies. They teach with the goal of helping students become better readers of literature, film and media, and performance. They also aim to expand students’ understanding of the unique histories that give rise to different artistic and activist movements. In line with their own research practices, Dr. Hammer desires that students reach across disciplinary boundaries and take a transnational perspective. They also believe it’s important for students to gain confidence in writing academic prose and in creating projects that reflect their future goals, including presentations, zines, creative non-fiction, blog posts, and more. Mastering the various appeals used in visual and written communication is a necessary skill in today’s complex world, as well as exposure to various online tools. Dr. Hammer teaches students basic and advanced research skills using digital and brick-and-mortar archives, databases, and university art galleries. Opportunities for collaboration and peer-peer learning are also important to them. They also enjoy creating new classes that explore the most pressing issues of our time, such as “Gender and Sexuality in Times of Pandemic,” in which students looked at cultural responses to the flu of 1918-1920, polio, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19. Hammer takes an intersectional approach to instruction where students develop a deep understanding of power and responses to power.

Why I Chose SIU: Dr. Hammer chose SIU because of the highly collaborative research environment and the opportunities to teach both graduate and undergraduate students. They also chose SIU because of the outstanding research and teaching of their future colleagues and the ways in which they engage students in their own projects. Dr. Hammer chose the School of Africana and Multicultural Studies and the WGSS program in particular because of the possibility for collaboration across identity categories and disciplines. They were also impressed by the friendliness, knowledgeability, and humility of the students they encountered on their campus visit. Dr. Hammer appreciates the more rural atmosphere of the university and the opportunities to explore the natural world.

Research: Within the purview of my research agenda lies a comprehensive examination of the transformative dynamics governing the interactions between higher education institutions, students, and the broader societal fabric. With a meticulous focus on the manifold changes and experiences that catalyze shifts in societal roles, my scholarship remains acutely attuned to the concurrent emergence of inequalities and inequities. This research trajectory converges upon four intricately interwoven facets intrinsic to higher education, encompassing student development and success, the internationalization of higher education, the dimensions of racism, and the imperatives of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice (DEIJ).

Integral to my methodological and theoretical praxis is the seamless integration of critical frameworks, aimed at effecting incisive social and cultural critique. This critical lens unveils power dynamics inherent in ontological, epistemological, and methodological paradigms, substantiating an earnest pursuit of social justice imperatives. The multifaceted nature of my research comes to light in the discernment of the nuanced interplay between globalization, the internationalization of education, and the scholarly milieu. Within this intricate nexus, diverse cultural heritages, ideas, and perspectives find convergence, unfurling the tapestry of higher education's global discourse.

My research, in harmonious alignment with the pursuit of equity, delves intricately into the labyrinthine narratives comprising international student experiences. This enterprise is executed with a sensitivity towards the challenges and opportunities inherently intertwined with the globalized academic terrain. By virtue of amplifying the voices of international students, my research enriches comprehension of the intricate amalgamation of identities and stories, constituting the bedrock of the global academic community. This empathic journey transcends mere scholarship; it fosters an environment conducive to the holistic development of international students, precipitating a more interconnected and harmonious world.

Furthermore, my scholarly inquiry extends its purview into the domain of student development and agency, unraveling the potentially transformative capacity embedded within education. Employing a critical qualitative approach, this line of investigation casts illumination upon the intricate interplay between institutional structures and the cultivation of students' autonomy and self-efficacy. The examination of educational systems' propensities to either facilitate or impede agency contributes invaluable insights, wielding the potential to guide pedagogical practices and curricular design. By extension, my research becomes a conduit for endowing students with the agency to sculpt their educational journeys actively.

Teaching Interest: I am interested in teaching courses related to qualitative research, research design, student development, U.S. higher education, student development, diversity, equity, and inclusion, etc.

Why I Chose SIU: SIU constitutes an ardent anti-racism community steadfastly committed to the repudiation of all manifestations of racism, discrimination, and inequity across their multifarious dimensions. Within this ethos, I aspire to partake in an anti-racism community at SIU characterized by its heterogeneous composition, wherein individuals of diverse backgrounds converge in a collaborative pursuit of shared professional aspirations. Concurrently, I seek to reciprocate this academic ecosystem's ethos through dedicated service, thereby engendering a reciprocal interplay of contribution and empowerment.

Central to SIU's institutional ethos is an unwavering dedication to student-centeredness, a foundational tenet harmoniously resonant with my pedagogical and scholarly aspirations. With a purposeful alignment between SIU's student-centered focus and my own ambitions pertaining to teaching and research, I am poised to craft a didactic framework that engenders transformative learning experiences. My overarching objective is to curate pedagogical contexts that foster diverse, inclusive, equitable, and belonging learning environments, thereby nurturing student triumph and metamorphosis. My values converge with SIU's in their comprehensive acknowledgment of student accomplishment, extending beyond mere academic attainment to encompass professional growth and an indelible impact on their surroundings.

Research: Dr. Christina L. Ivey (they/she) their B.S. in Corporate Communication from West Texas A&M (2010), their M.A. in Communication Studies from Kansas State University (2012), and their Ph.D. in Communication Studies from University of Nebraska – Lincoln (2016). While in her Ph.D. program, she held a major emphasis in Rhetoric and Public Culture and a minor emphasis in Interpersonal and Intergroup Communication. She also obtained a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies from UNL. 

Their primary research interests include: intersections of gender/religion, embodiment of marginalized identity, queer/feminist rhetorics, autoethnography, and gaming. Specifically, they are interested in the various intersections of personal identities, namely issues faced by individuals identifying in ways that are normatively understood to be in conflict. For example, in her recent publication Queering Queer Conversations (2021), she interrogates the relationship between the labels of “queer” and “prude” to uncover how the performance of sexuality undergirds normative understandings of the queer experience. Other identity intersections studied by Dr. Ivey include: feminism(s) and Islam, queerness and Christianity, academia and neurodivergency.

Their work has been featured in such journals as: Journal of Autoethnography, QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Women’s Studies in Communication, and The Forensic of Pi Kappa Delta. They also have chapters in Urban Communication Reader IV: Cities as Communicative Change Agents, and Doing Autoethnography. Dr. Ivey also has a self-published chapbook of poetry entitled Sacred Geometry, and enjoys incorporating poetic inquiry into her research wherever she can. She has toured across the country as a featured poet and performing artist, sharing her work in a variety of creative ways.

Teaching Interest: Dr. Ivey takes pedagogical inspiration from narrative, feminist, and queer theories. The primary goal is to empower students to take control of their own stories, and playfully interrogate the way in which academic theories play out in their real lives.
Specific courses she has taught that do this include: Narrative Theory; Gender, Communication, and Difference; Queer Masculinities; Critical Communication Pedagogy; Critical/Cultural Communication.

They are also the new Introductory Course Coordinator for CMST 101 and enjoy working with/inspiring new teachers in developing their own pedagogical identities.

Why I Chose SIU: I have been trying to get to SIU since I was in graduate school. I was accepted for the PhD program in CMST, but due to personal reasons, had to decline the offer and go elsewhere. Back then, I knew the quality of the graduate students/scholarship from meeting SIU folks at conferences and wanted to be a part of such a thriving program. Now, I feel blessed to be a part of it in a more full-time capacity.

Research: My areas of practice for the last 20 years have mainly included insurance defense, medical malpractice, personal injury, premise liability, workers’ compensation, and appellate work. I have also researched, published, and presented in the areas of diversity, disability, and medical-legal issues.

Teaching Interest: Currently, my top interests include disability law, employment discrimination, torts, diversity, appellate advocacy, and legal writing.

Why I Chose SIU: I am from Murphysboro and attended SIU for both undergrad and law school. I have a strong affection for Southern Illinois and SIU. I am invested in the school and its students. Accordingly, I have volunteered, as time allowed, for law school events since graduating.

Research: My research is focused on agricultural and food marketing, commodity price analysis and forecasting, futures and options markets, and farm risk management.

Teaching Interest: I prefer teaching topics that align with my research interests. I see teaching as an effective way to explore and learn more about things that I am passionate about. At the undergraduate and graduate levels, I am interested in teaching courses in agricultural policy, agricultural marketing, commodity marketing, agricultural price analysis and forecasting, quantitative methods, advanced agribusiness management, and entrepreneurship.

Why I Chose SIU: I have high regard for the Agribusiness Economics program at SIU. As an alumnus of the program and having spent several years at the school, I know firsthand that the department has built a well-balanced program. The positive culture I have experienced at the department and the university, in general, has left a lasting impression on my mind. In addition, the specific job role I have taken has a good balance of teaching and research and presents ample opportunity for collaborative research. Overall, the program appears to be a good fit.

Research: Dr. Kalua’s research attempts to solve architectural problems in a way that benefits both the community and the individual. At the community level, he seeks to make a contribution towards architecture that minimally impacts on the environment. At the individual level, he seeks to make a contribution towards architecture that speaks to multiple needs of the human being; architecture that speaks to not only the sense of sight, but also the totality of the other senses such as touch, smell and hearing. Through his research work, he investigates the interactions between architecture, building physics and environmental sustainability with the objective of enhancing human health and comfort in a more sustainable manner. The body of his work addresses the themes of green building practices, building energy consumption, building envelope design, thermal comfort, indoor air quality and the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling in architectural design.

Teaching Interest: Dr. Kalua subscribes to the critical pedagogy theory of teaching which requires that teaching must be grounded within the wider social context. For this contextual grounding to be possible, the teacher must learn of the students’ needs and experiences. The learners, on the other hand, having been exposed to the teacher’s knowledge and equipped with their own prior experiences and knowledge, must then create new knowledge that relates to realities within their own social contexts. The newly created knowledge essentially teaches the learners of other alternative realities. In this way, teaching and learning interact in harmony to become one and the same. He hopes to apply this philosophy in teaching building structures courses and architectural design studios.

Why I Chose SIU: I chose SIU because of the School of Architecture’s emphasis on sustainability within the process of architectural design and the built environment in general. I find this emphasis on sustainability to be a good fit for my own research interests.

Research: My interdisciplinary research unites two strands of significant language inquiry: the underlying neural regions of language and the technological applications that support neural recovery. In my doctoral dissertation, I draw from electrophysiological neural responses and computational models of speech and language production to investigate a neural marker of speech intention and its position in the hierarchical stages of speech production. Also, I evaluated the use of high-tech AAC and non-invasive brain stimulation approaches for aphasia rehabilitation. During my postdoctoral research, I have learned to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging data and I am investigating transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve spoken language production in individuals with stroke induced apraxia of speech. I had the opportunity to present my research work at numerous national conferences and have also published my work in different peer reviewed journals including Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and Aphasiology.
In the short term (3-5 years), I plan to continue my current research trajectory by building upon the foundations of my doctoral and postdoctoral research. My goal is to develop a foundation of evidence to promote early inclusion of technology like tDCS in aphasia rehabilitation. This will be achieved by continued assessment of neural regions of speech motor control in individuals with different types and severity of aphasia, which may influence outcomes across varying tDCS approaches. Based on neural reorganization, I plan to evaluate different stimulation types of tDCS in individuals with aphasia. In addition, to ensure clinical application of my research plan, I plan to continue to use qualitative methods to identify the training needs of clinicians and caregivers. I plan to fund my line of research from a range of funding sources like American Speech Language Hearing Foundation, and the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders that lists novel technological solutions to rehabilitation as a funding priority.

Teaching Interest: Throughout my graduate career, I have taught a variety of courses. As a Masters’ student in India, I taught several topics of the curriculum to my cohort. During my doctoral program at University of Kansas (KU), I continuously worked as a primary instructor for undergraduate and graduate students teaching Language Sample Analysis Lab, Principles of Speech Science Lab, Language Development, and Fluency Disorders. These teaching opportunities have been an excellent learning experience for me, as I learned how to set up a syllabus, prepare lectures, develop in-class activities and student assessments, and evaluate exams for class sizes ranging from 25-35 students. My goal as a teacher is for students to firmly grasp the theoretical concept being taught in class and understand its real-life application in clinical and research scenarios. An important objective when I am teaching is student engagement. I set up my classes with a discussion of the salient points of reading materials interspersed with periodic checkpoints providing successive opportunities for students to ask questions. Following discussion of reading materials, activity-based learning is encouraged in my classroom through discussion between classmates, for example, group analysis of language samples for bound morphemes.
Additionally, as I progressed through my doctoral program at KU and gained intertwined research and teaching experience, I made dedicated effort to incorporate bite-sized research-based activities in my undergraduate classes (e.g., how to synthesize information from an article, read an article to find different language analysis software). Integrating research in classes enables students to learn meta-disciplines of interpreting literature, empirical inquiry and problem-solving. As a doctoral student, I also had the opportunity to mentor undergraduate students in Speech and Applied Neuroscience Lab at KU, overseeing development of variety of research skills including data collection, data analysis and study design. As a result of these opportunities, these undergraduate students submitted and presented at local and national conferences. Teaching and mentoring have given me the opportunity to share my knowledge with future professionals in the field. Looking forward to my role as a new professor, I would welcome the opportunity to teach and mentor students at Southern Illinois University. Given my research and teaching experiences, I am qualified to teach courses such as anatomy and physiology of speech and language, adult neurogenic disorders, aphasia, motor speech disorders, and fluency disorders.
Concurrently, teaching provided me the opportunity to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in an academic environment. During my doctoral program at KU, batches of students increasingly became diverse. I made it a point that we had group activities of role-play in class where students were paired in a manner that helped them work together and learn from their academic, racial, and ethnic differences. Additionally, role-play allowed students to bring their personal experiences to class, enabling awareness among students of varied linguistic and cultural habits, and made my students feel represented in class.

Why I Chose SIU: School of Health Sciences at Southern Illinois University fosters a collaborative environment helping promote the clinical applicability of my research and a well-rounded education for my students. My job responsibilities as a tenure track assistant professor include teaching, research, clinical supervision, and service to the department and university. My teaching and research experiences complement the existing faculty in the School of Health Sciences at Southern Illinois University and add to the program of Communication Disorders and Sciences. In order to provide clinical supervision, I am actively doing a part-time clinical fellowship at NeuroRestorative in Carbondale. I plan to do this clinical fellowship in the first two years as a tenure track faculty member, where I can simultaneously provide service to the community. I intend to use my teaching and research experiences to support the mission of preparing students for a rewarding career in speech-language pathology at Southern Illinois University.

Research: 

• The quality of long-term care
• Culture change movement in long-term care industry
• Resident satisfaction in long-term care facilities
• Virtual caregiver
• Virtual reality intervention to healthcare education on dementia

Teaching Interest: 

• Long-term care administration
• Quality improvement in healthcare
• Managerial epidemiology and population health
• Research method for healthcare professions
• Qualitative research method
• Lean Six Sigma in healthcare

Why I Chose SIU: SIU has a great Healthcare Management program and will explore long-term care administration as a major for health science students. This is an opportunity for me to use my knowledge to help with this. SIU aims to be an R1 university and provide all resources to help TT faculty to do research. SIU is a student-centered university.

Research: Childhood dental disease, obstructive sleep apnea in children, emotional dentistry, access to care issues in rural communities.

Teaching Interest: Local anesthesia, power instrumentation, dental nutrition, patient treatment planning.

Why I Chose SIU: I attended SIU as a dental hygiene student, graduating with my BSDH in 1999. I became an NTT immediately after graduation, and have been employed at the University ever since. I spent 23 years as an NTT, and accepted a professor position in 2022. I chose to remain at SIU because it feels like family to me- SIU has been a consistent in my life for 24 years, and I am proud to be a Saluki!!

Research: My research focuses on quantum computing and quantum information. A quantum computer stores information in quantum states and processes it in the quantum mechanical way. Thanks to the superposition and entanglement of quantum states, a quantum computer could solve some problems that are hard to tackle with supercomputer alone. I’m interested in practical applications of quantum computers, especially in simulating new materials, quantum machine learning, optimization, quantum financing, etc.

My current study is to seek applications of random circuit sampling. Random circuit sampling is to sample bit-strings on a quantum computer, and is analogous to playing with a quantum dice. In 2019, a Google team claimed the demonstration of quantum advantage of a quantum computer over supercomputers using random circuit sampling. My goal is to understand random circuit sampling better and to find its applications, for example to data hiding or to randomized linear algebra problems.

I’m also interested in quantum machine learning. Machine learning shares some ideas with physics. I studied how the learning process of restricted Boltzmann machines, basic building block of neural networks, could be viewed as the relation between work and free energy. There I’m studying two interesting connections between quantum mechanics and machine learning. The first is how to implement the neural representation of quantum states on quantum computers. The second is to leverage quantum computers to boost machine learning.

My other research area of expertise includes a theoretical study of quantum hardware such as spin qubits and superconducting qubits, entanglement in quantum many-body systems, photovoltaic simulation, and condensed matter physics. I would like to know what I don’t know.

Teaching Interest: On the side of the coin opposite to learning is teaching. I believe learning is more than just knowing techniques in order to repeat the same task efficiently. After learning physics, students should be able to apply methods or principles to solve problems. This may be called research. My role in teaching physics is to help students achieve the mastery needed to become researchers. The essential part of teaching physics is to help students have a clear picture of physical concepts. To this end, I encourage students to solve as many problems as possible. Through this challenging exercise, a student will be able to master how to solve scientific problems and how to think scientifically.

Why I Chose SIU: I appreciate SIU for giving me an opportunity to work with talented students and reputed faculties. SIU provides a good research environment. The people are gentle and the campus is beautiful. I believe SIU is one of the best places to make my dream come true.

Jaemin is a native of South Korea and began his career as a lighting designer in 2005 by designing the opera "La Traviata" in South Korea. He has designed more than 100 productions in various genres such as plays, musicals, operas, and dances.

While he was in South Korea, he worked as a full-time lighting supervisor and resident designer in the national theatre with about 1,200 seats in Daegu, South Korea. His unique background in studying vocal music during his undergraduate courses has given him a keen ear for analyzing and expressing music. He has directed opera and loves musical works.

He was the most popular lighting designer in Cleveland for the 2021-2022 season. He had nominated for Best Lighting Design of A Play Or Musical at the 2022 Broadway World Cleveland Awards for all seven shows I designed during that season and I had the honor of being a winner for one of them.

In addition, he won the 2023 Barbizon Lighting Company Jonathan Resnick Lighting Design Award. The United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) for Young Designers Managers and Technicians in the Performing Arts presents the annual award.

Research: I have more than 20 years of experience as a journalist and specialize in enterprise and investigative reporting. This summer, RFK Human Rights recognized our work detailing patient abuses inside state-run mental health and developmental centers as the Domestic Print Award winner in its prestigious national contest. Prior work exposed corruption by housing officials and oversight failures by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that led to unsafe housing conditions for hundreds of children and their families in Cairo, Illinois. The stories led HUD to help about 400 people move into more appropriate housing. Areas of reporting expertise include social and child welfare programs, social justice, courts, crime and government. I currently work with Springfield, Illinois-based Capitol News Illinois, the news wire service of the Illinois Press Foundation that distributes content to news organizations across the state, as well as with ProPublica, a New York-based investigative powerhouse, through its Local Reporting Network. Both nonprofit newsrooms utilize creative and collaborative approaches to reach new audiences and bring light to stories that would otherwise go untold.

Teaching Interest: Journalists play a critical role in a democratic society. News helps people understand and participate in how their tax dollars are spent and serves as a foundation of community and civic participation. Investigative and enterprise pieces have the power to rid the government of corrupt officials and compel positive changes in programs and policies. It’s work that can literally save lives. In addition to teaching students the basics of news reporting across platforms, I hope to inspire them to pursue a career as a “helping” journalist – one that aims to serve their communities, the nation and our shared world. My teaching focus is primarily investigative and enterprise reporting that demands curiosity, tenacity, persistence and patience to expose wrongs and explore solutions to the myriad dilemmas facing society.

Why I Chose SIU: I am a graduate of Southern Illinois University. My husband, my parents and many other influential people in my life are as well. I grew up in a tiny southern Illinois town. SIU opened my world. I met so many wonderful professors on this campus who were committed to my success in journalism. I had an opportunity to make friends with people from around the globe, which enriched my life and expanded my worldview. I’ve been blessed by a wonderful career doing what I love thanks to the people who invested in me at SIU. I hope I can give that to my students. I want them to know that wherever they go from here, they will always have a home – and people cheering for them – at SIU.

Research: My primary research interest can be categorized under the broad umbrella of interpersonal violence. My research in this area has included topics such as sexual violence and child sexual abuse, homicide, and prison violence. I approach my research through a multi-disciplinary lens, informed by the literature on the psychology of criminal behavior, life-course theories, and the criminal career framework. The overarching goal of my research is to help inform best practices for crime prevention and intervention and to provide evidence-based public policy recommendations.

Teaching Interest: As a university instructor in Criminology and Criminal Justice, I am dedicated to teaching the major debates and perspectives in the field and challenging students to think critically and in new ways. Moreover, I ensure that my teaching links broader structural and contextual explanations of crime that incorporate intersectional issues, such as race, sex, and class. I also hope to develop and expand the existing curriculum based on my research background and practical experiences, including topics such as criminal profiling.

Why I Chose SIU: I chose to come to SIU because of the opportunity to be a part of a nationally ranked research institution and the high caliber of teaching opportunities. I was also drawn to the strong reputation of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department for their collaborative work with various criminal justice agencies. Overall, SIU offered strong faculty research support, teaching and mentoring opportunities, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to a growing department and program.

Research: I am currently focused on completing my dissertation on effective support services for undocumented students in higher education. Other research areas include increasing diversity in aviation to include support, recruiting, and retention methods, in addition to instructional methodologies to improve completion rates among female and BIPOC aviation students.

Teaching Interest: My teaching interests include fiscal aspects of aviation management, labor relations, safety management systems, and human factors.

Why I Chose SIU: I chose SIU's School of Aviation because it is an outstanding program. The program feels like a large family, which is something unique and special. In addition, the faculty share a common goal to see students become successful aviation professionals and collaborate to fill gaps in aviation research.

Research: My research interests are mainly in the areas of distributed computing systems and the internet of things. The primary objective of my research is to develop the next generation of mobile and distributed computing systems that enable the efficient execution of emerging resource-intensive and real-time internet of things and 5G network applications.

Teaching Interest: I have been teaching a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science, including Data Structures, Programming Languages, Operating Systems, Distributed Computing Systems, IoT Systems, and Computer Networks. I am also open to teaching new undergraduate and graduate courses.

Why I Chose SIU: I chose SIU because it offers an excellent teaching and research environment.!!

Research: I specialize in the intersection of Cybersecurity and Intelligent Systems, concentrating on crafting robust AI solutions for cyber-physical systems like the Internet of Things, Smart Grid, drones, and autonomous vehicles, emphasizing security, privacy, trustworthiness, and digital twins.

Teaching Interest: Programming (C, C++, Java, Python), Networks, Parallel and Distributed Computing, Databases, Data Structures and Algorithms, System Analysis and Design, Data Analytics, Data Warehousing, Data Mining, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Internet of Things, Mobile Computing, Blockchain.

Why I Chose SIU: Opting for SIU is a choice driven by its commitment to teaching excellence and vibrant research opportunities. SIU’s reputation for cutting-edge research, particularly in cybersecurity, aligns with my ambitions. The well-equipped facilities and collaborative faculty promise exceptional grounds for innovative solutions to emerging cybersecurity challenges. SIU’s student-centric educational approach is another pivotal driver in my selection. The university’s emphasis on cultivating an inclusive and diverse learning environment resonates profoundly with my pedagogical beliefs. As an assistant professor, I eagerly anticipate engaging with a diverse student body, imparting my cybersecurity expertise while nurturing critical thinking and pragmatic problem-solving skills. This aligns seamlessly with SIU’s mission of preparing students to excel in a rapidly transforming world.

Research: My research often challenges the field of Writing Studies, as I examine institutional writing spaces and explore ways in which patriarchal practices still dominate the teaching and administering of writing, be that in a writing program or center, and the real difficulties of building coalitions and doing the work of social justice. One text that represents my scholarship well is the edited volume, Out in the Center: Public Controversies and Private Struggles, which won the International Writing Center Association’s Best Book Award in 2019. This text explores the need for writing centers to be more prepared for conversations of identity with our tutors and those who seek our services, using intersectionality as an analytic tool to understand the ways in which identities are always impacting and informing the ways we talk about writing, and the need to embrace new literacies and pedagogies to have critical conversations on race, gender, culture, language, sexuality, faith, and class. This book is especially important to me as we intentionally recruited authors to tell their stories on difficult moments in the center, theorizing their experiences through public conversations, and sought out tutors from a wide range of communities, backgrounds, and institutions. Many of the authors were junior scholars, some undergraduate writers, and the book is powerful because of the kinds of stories it tells.

Intersectionality, a term now critiqued and oft-misunderstood, as informed by feminist theorists Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks, and Sara Ahmed, has been at the center of my scholarship on exploring gender, sexism, and institutional oppression. This can be seen in articles of mine published in CCCs, College English, JAEPL, Praxis, Peitho The Writing Center Journal, and Composition Studies, as well as an edited collection just now out with Utah State University Press, titled Our Body of Work: Embodied Writing Program Administration (which just received honorable mention by the Council of Writing Program Administrators) and multiple book chapters. Continuing and deepening my interest in identity and intersectionality, I have been working with a diverse group of researchers to investigate faith and identity through an intersectional framework, which is currently under review with Utah State University Press. My research interests, while exploring the institution of the academy through feminist research methodologies and theories, are centered in exploring different communities and ways in which the academy excludes those from marginalized communities; I am currently working on a book proposal on ways in which white feminism has dominated the teaching of writing, particularly in the writing center, and ways we need to embrace new theoretical and pedagogical approaches from different communities to rethink this space entirely. USUP has already expressed interest in this new project.

Teaching Interest: An inclusive pedagogical approach to writing informs both my undergraduate and graduate teaching philosophies, as I center my classes on listening to learn, self-actualization, and empowerment through difference. At previous institutions, I have had the great opportunity to teach a diverse group of classes, one popular course being an Environmental Writing course I teach at the graduate level. In this class, my graduate students have created many interesting community- engagement and service-learning projects, working with local communities, such as the domestic violence shelter in the community and restorative writing events, and putting on open mic events and writing workshops at the food pantry organization, as well as local art museums. The graduate students learn through feminist ecological theories posited by Donna Haraway, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Stacy Alaimo, as well as explore rhetoric and pedagogical frameworks through Writing Studies scholars such Marilyn Cooper, Eileen Schell, Christian Weisser, Sidney Dobrin, and Derek Owens. We follow a “SF” methodology (Haraway), one that embraces interdisciplinary learning and dwelling with partial knowledges for collaboration and community building. With a diverse group of scholars, both in terms of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and class, as well as in disciplines, this graduate course is a good example of my pedagogy and the ways we must think about inclusion for sustainability. I have also had the opportunity to teach graduate courses such as Feminist Rhetorics, Writing Program/Center Administration, and Style & Editing and look forward to mentoring graduate students in the Writing, Literature, and Digital Humanities at SIU.

In all my courses, I also help students think about writing for publication, as I worked with Professional Writing undergraduate students and am always thinking about the professional development of the graduate students. Having undergraduates and graduates view their written work as potential manuscripts for publication gives them a keen sense of intended audience, as well as the importance of understanding different genres, writing styles, and conventions. This, too, further helps them see their classes not just as learning spaces but as communities of writing. With the PW undergraduates, publication might look very different for them, as I help them think about the production side of the publishing process, as well as building style guides, how-to manuals, and digital portfolios. In a popular undergraduate course I teach, “Style & Editing,” I had a student who created an entire website showcasing their skills as a freelance editor, including their own style guide, modifying APA to be more inclusive, and creating a list of harmful phrases and terms with explanations as to why, and suggestions on how to modify the phrase. It is exciting to see how invested undergraduate students become with their projects when they think about outside audiences and the impact their work can and does have.

Why I Chose SIU: I am excited to be at a university that has a unique tradition of access and opportunity, and recognizes the need for innovative thinking in research, teaching, and service for inclusive excellence. It is clear that SIU embraces working and learning with different communities to do and be better, and I am looking forward to working with the students at this institution, as well as learning from my colleagues. There is an energy on campus that you can feel immediately, and a great deal of potential to do meaningful work—and to enjoy the work that we do.

Research: I have spent most of my career in and around flight training; as a result, my research interest is flight training. Specifically, I would like to develop tools and methods to reduce training time toward certification, improve the quality of training and improve training outcomes. I intend to explore virtual reality and possibly augmented reality as one means of reaching those goals.

Teaching Interest: I enjoy teaching about aviation laws and regulations. I also enjoy teaching aerodynamics and aircraft systems.

Why I Chose SIU: I recently transitioned from being an NTT instructor with the goal of advancing my career. SIU has been home since 2015 and it is a good home to have. We have a great aviation program, and unlike some of our competitors, we have a good sense of community within the program thanks to our size and the hard work of our faculty and staff. One of the reasons our students come here over other places is that they do not want to be just a number and I think that is important.

Research: I am working on landfills, renewable energy, geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, LCA and attenuation of carbon footprint and global warming impact.

Teaching Interest: I like teaching courses in environmental and geoenvironmental engineering courses.

Why I Chose SIU: SIU will be the best place for me in that it already has wide research networks. I would be honored to work with such esteemed colleagues. Also, I believe that teaching at SIU will provide me with a rewarding and valuable experience through which I can unleash my full potential as an educator and a mentor.