November 2012
Changing of the Guard — New Recruits and Retirements
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The college welcomed 10 new tenure-track faculty members this fall and said goodbye to some familiar faces.
Who’s New?
Faculty members: Heather Starnes (Kinesiology); Eric Brussel, Emily Hamilton, Erin Pearse (Mathematics); Peter Chi, Gary Hughes, Gail Potter, Kevin Ross (Statistics); and Tanya Flushman and Linda Prieto (School of Education). View their photos, education and research interests.
Staff members: The Dean’s Office has two new faces: Student Analyst Teresa Medrano and Public Affairs Specialist Rachel Henry. In the department offices, Melanie Alejandro-Gutierrez joins Biological Sciences and Kevin Dunham joins Chemistry and Biochemistry. IT Tech Will Thompson will provide college-wide support.
Who Retired?
A number of faculty members retired, including Michael Silvestri (Chemistry); Ann McDermott (Kinesiology); Jim Mueller, Sheryl O'Neill and Don Rawlings (Math); Randy Knight (Physics); and Anita Hernandez and Kathleen Harris (School of Education). Long-time staff members Maddie Nix in Biological Sciences and Harriet Ross in the Dean's Office also joined the emeritus ranks.
Keep up with Cal Poly professors through COSAM’s department web sites — all easy to find on the COSAM home page.
New Faculty & Their Backgrounds
Kinesiology
Professor Heather Starnes
Ph.D., Health and Kinesiology,
Purdue University (2012);
M.A., Kinesiology (2006) and
B.S., Exercise Physiology (2003),
Cal State Chico.
Research Interests:
Physical activity and public health,
effects of built environment on
physical activity, measurement
of the built environment
for physical activity research.
Mathematics
Professor Eric Brussel
Ph.D., Mathematics, UCLA
(1993); B.A., Physics,
UC Santa Cruz (1982).
Postdoctoral studies: Harvard and
University of Texas, Austin
(1993-96). Formerly Associate
Professor at Emory University.
Research Interests:
the Brauer group, division
algebras, (algebraic) field theory.
Mathematics
Professor Emily Hamilton
Ph.D. (1995) and M.A. (1991),
Mathematics, UCLA;
B.A., Mathematics,
University of Chicago (1989).
Formerly Associate Professor
at Emory University
Research Interests:
Low-dimensional topology,
geometric group theory,
hyperbolic geometry.
Mathematics
Professor Erin Pearse
Ph.D. (2006) and M.S. (2001), Mathematics,
and B.S., Philosophy (1997), U.C. Riverside.
Postdoctoral studies: Visiting
Assistant Professor, Cornell (2006-07),
Univ. of Oklahoma (2010-2012);
VIGRE Postdoctoral Fellow,
Univ. of Iowa (2007-10); Research Interests:
Fractal geometry, fractal analysis,
resistance forms, infinite networks,
geometry and curvature of large networks,
network-based methods of data analysis,
student retention.
Statistics
Professor Peter Chi
Ph.D., Biostatistics, University of
Washington (Expected 2012);
M.H.S., Genetic Epidemiology,
Johns Hopkins (2006); B.S., Cellular
and Molecular Biology (minor Statistics),
University of Michigan (2003).
Research Interests: biomedical research,
statistical genetics
Statistics
Professor Gary Hughes
Ph.D. Earth and Environmental Science,
University of Pennsylvania (1999);
M.A. Applied Mathematics,
UC Santa Barbara (1992);
B.A. Mathematics, Northwestern
University (1986). Employment:
Raytheon (1999-2005); ATK Mission
Research Corporation (2003-05);
FLIR (2005-2012). Research interests:
Time-series analysis and climate
modeling, correlated time-series,
infrared imaging, statistics
in industrial processes.
Statistics
Professor Gail Potter
Ph.D., Statistics, University of Washington
(2010); B.A., Mathematics, Oberlin
College (1997). Postdoctoral
studies: Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center (2010-12).
Research interests: applications of
statistics to global health and social
network modeling for infectious
disease transmission.
Statistics
Professor Kevin Ross
Ph.D. (2006) and M.S. (2005),
Statistics, B.S. (1997), Mathematical
Sciences, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Postdoctoral Studies: NSF
VIGRE Postdoctoral Fellow,
Stanford University (2006-09).
Visiting Assistant Professor,
Swarthmore College (2009-12).
Research interests: probability theory.
School of Education
Professor Tanya Flushman
Ph.D., Education, Vanderbilt (2012);
M.S. Educational Curriculum and
I
nstruction Research, SUNY
Buffalo (2006); B.A., Modern
Literary Studies, UC Santa Cruz
(1998). Research interests:
literacy and language development
in early childhood and elementary
school, teacher education for
pre-service and in-service teachers.
School of Education
Professor Linda Pierto
Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction,
University of Texas, Austin (2009);
Ed.M., Administration Planning
and Social Policy, Harvard (1999);
B.A., Sociology, Stanford (1997).
Assistant Professor, Midwestern
State University, (2010-12).
Research interests: bilingual education,
biliterate behaviors in family
settings, Chicana feminist
thought, testimonios.