Expert Directory
Ian Kanski
Director of the Center for Agricultural Research
Harrisburg University of Science and TechnologyTechnology, Social Impact, Environmental Impact, Sustainability, advanced agriculture, agricultural biotechnology
Ian is an entrepreneur with a career dedicated to technologies that enable positive social and environmental impact. He is the Director of the Center for Advanced Agriculture and Sustainability at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, and Chairman of FarmTech Society, an international industry association for technology-enabled agriculture-based in Brussels, Belgium. He is also co-founder of INTAG, a developer of biological systems for nutrient recycling, waste, and water remediation in the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) sector. With over fifteen years of new product and service development in dynamic industry sectors within Agriculture, Energy, Software, and Education, Ian has developed a portfolio of business and humanitarian projects spanning Europe, West Africa, Central America, and the South Pacific. Throughout his career, Ian’s work has centered on creative and practical solutions for making new and impactful technologies more accessible to people.
Mehdi Noorbaksh, PhD
Professor of International Affairs
Harrisburg University of Science and TechnologyInternational Business, strategic management , global organization, Healthcare Systems, Global Health, Alternative Energy, Risk Management, International Relationships
Dr. Noorbaksh specializes in several areas, such as international politics, global energy and health, and democratic movements and processes in Middle East politics. Dr. Noorbaksh has published extensively on the Middle East politics, including the Foreign Policy Association, Middle East Policy Journal, and the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Dr. Noorbaksh’s most recent academic achievements include receiving his master of business administration and master of health administration (MHA) in 2006 from the University of Houston. Previous to these degrees, Dr. Noorbaksh earned his B.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Texas in 1979 and M.A. in political science from the University of Houston in 1986. In 1996, Dr. Noorbaksh earned both his Ph.D. in government studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a position at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies as a Post-Doctoral Fellow before joining Harrisburg University in 2006. He is currently working on a number of articles on the Middle East and Iran, and a book on the interaction of Islam, nationalism and democratic change in Iran. Research Interests: International management and business, Strategic management, Global organizations, Healthcare systems and Global health, Energy and alternative sources, Risk management, International relationship issues
Bruce Young, MBA
Instructor of Cybersecurity & Information Assurance
Harrisburg University of Science and TechnologyCybersecurity, cloud research, Artificial Intelligence, computing security
Bruce Young is an Information Security Executive with 25 years of experience in corporate and public organizations. Bruce has designed and led programs including Information Security (CISO), leading Threat Management, Security Operations, Assessment, Vulnerability Analysis and Information Risk Management. Bruce aligns with business management and considers how security initiatives can reduce risk and provide competitive advantage. Researches security vulnerability and compromise trends and develops strategies to combat emerging threats. Recognized as a change agent. Has proven problem solving, project management, and interpersonal skills. Effects cultural change through awareness programs and security advocacy. Teaching & Research Interests: Cybersecurity, research in cloud, artificial intelligence, and analytic computing security
Scott Foulkrod, JD
Associate Professor of Philosophy & Legal Studies
Harrisburg University of Science and TechnologyCriminal Defense, business counseling, Litigation, Law, Philosophy, Literature
Scott Foulkrod practiced law in the Harrisburg region for 20 years in the areas of criminal defense, business counseling, and litigation. As part of HU’s corporate faculty he teaches courses in law, philosophy and literature. He is a graduate of Cumberland Valley High School near Harrisburg, the University of Richmond with a BA in both English and French, and Widener University School of Law’s Harrisburg campus. He has served on the board of and as president of the Harrisburg Young Professionals (HYP) and remains involved in that non-profit organization’s efforts to continue to improve Harrisburg’s quality of life for younger adults. In 2004 he helped to develop and served as the first leader of the Pennsylvania Young Professionals, our nation’s first statewide young professionals organization developed to reverse the state’s brain drain of young talent leaving the state. Scott serves as advisor to a number of HU student organizations including the student athletic club.
social validity, Special Education, Applied Behavior Analysis, challenging behaviors
Dr. Hamrick is an Assistant Professor at The Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research. She is also a certified teacher and Board Certified Behavior Analyst with over 18 years of experience in the field of special education in large, public school districts primarily monitoring educational programming for self-contained special education programs across multiple campuses. Dr. Hamrick received her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin with an emphasis in Autism and Developmental Disabilities. Having provided supervision and training to teachers, paraprofessionals, and ABA therapists in both the public school and private sector, she has a wealth of experience and knowledge related to best practices when working effectively with students with special needs. Dr. Hamrick's primary focus is staff training as she feels quality training has a substantial impact on treatment integrity and the success of each individual child. Her research has also focused on the social validation of interventions commonly used when working with individuals with autism spectrum disorders. In her role at the Burkhart Center, she is currently the director of the Mobile Outreach Clinic for Autism and coordinator of the Applied Behavior Analysis Verified Course Sequence with the Teacher Training.
Jay Jayamohan, MS
Executive Director of New Ventures and Lecturer
Harrisburg University of Science and TechnologyInnovation, strategic management , Design Thinking., Entreprenership
Jay Jayamohan is a leading expert in disruptive innovation, design thinking, and strategic management. He has worked extensively with Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, the U.S. government, startups, venture capitalists and foundations. As Executive Director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Harrisburg University, he is responsible for creating a multi-pronged and interconnected hub that aligns entrepreneurial activities across campus and across disciplines. He leads the effort to establish a permanent center of innovation that strategically positions HU to have a greater impact – socially and commercially – by having innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs from and around Harrisburg coming together with students and faculty to collaborate on ideas and solve problems. He is the founder of RollStream, a Software-as-a-Service company and as CEO grew the company from concept to over 100 people globally, raised tens of millions in venture capital and won numerous accolades including ‘top 100 supply and demand chain vendors in 2008’. RollStream under Jay’s leadership innovated to define a new space and acquire Fortune 500 customers like Walgreens, Tesco, McKesson and Tyco within the first year of product release. The company was acquired in 2012 by GXS, now OpenText. Jay has broad industry knowledge in Software, Financial, & Manufacturing and international experience in Asia, Europe and Middle East. He has been profiled multiple times in press including Washington Post, Business Journal etc. and is a speaker at local business events. Jay Holds an M.S in Management from George Mason University and Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering.
Student Affairs, ASD, autism and education, Student Aid
Taylor Fidler, M.A., is the Director for the Connections for Academic Success and Employment (CASE) Program. He has worked at Texas Tech University in various roles since 2014, helping students realize their potential as they navigate college and beyond. Fidler has extensive experience in helping students with disabilities achieve their personal and academic goals. Taylor earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Texas Tech University, focusing on communications and higher education. He enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, as well as volunteering in the community.
Teaching, Education, School Reform, education leadership
Adam Laats, professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, studies the history of American education. He is interested in the history of cultural battles over schooling and school reform. His books have examined the campaigns of conservative evangelical Protestants in both K-12 and higher education, the history of creation/evolution debates, and the evolution of conservative thinking about K-12 education. His current research examines the first systematic attempt at urban school reform in American history.
Psychology, Pseudoscience, Mindfulness, Acceptance, Trauma, Hypnosis, Psychotherapy
Steven Jay Lynn is a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Laboratory of Consciousness, Cognition, and Psychopathology. His research interests include: dissociation and dissociative disorders, experimental psychopathology, mindfulness/acceptance, effects of trauma, hypnosis, evidence-based psychotherapy, and science vs. pseudoscience. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society (Charter Fellow), American Association for Applied and Preventive Psychology, American Academy of Forensic Psychology, Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, American Academy of Clinical Psychology, and Institute for Science in Medicine.
Anthropology, Paleoanthropology, Evolution, Language, Language evolution, Neandertals
Quam is a paleoanthropologist who focuses on evolutionary aspects of the cranium and mandible. In particular, he has collaborated on a long-term research project to reconstruct the hearing capacities in our fossil human ancestors. In addition to reconstructing an aspect of sensory perception, this research line has shed new light on the process of language evolution, including in our closest evolutionary relatives the Neandertals. Since 1996, he has participated in the ongoing fieldwork being carried out at the Pleistocene locality of Atapuerca in northern Spain. These sites contain some of the richest human fossil bearing deposits in the world and represent the earliest evidence for incipient mortuary practices in the fossil record. During the course of his research, Quam has personally studied a wide diversity of original human fossils from Europe, the Middle East and Africa spanning the last 3 million years of human evolution.
asian american culture, Asian American literature and culture, Asian diasporas, Food, cultural politics of food, Food studies, Ethnic Studies, Korea
Robert Ku’s research and teaching interests include Asian American studies, food studies, and transnational and diasporic Korean popular culture. Prior to Binghamton, he chaired the Department of Ethnic Studies at California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo and taught in the Department of English and directed the Asian American Studies Program at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Dubious Gastronomy: Eating Asian in the USA (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2014) and co-editor of Eating Asian America: A Food Studies Reader (New York University Press, 2013). He is also co-editor of the Food in Asia and the Pacific series for the University of Hawai‘i Press. His co-edited volume, Pop Empires: Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019), that juxtaposes the popular culture regimes of Korea, India, and the United States, was published in 2019. Born in Korea, he grew up in Hawai‘i and lived in Southern California and New York City before moving to Binghamton.
Jesenia Pizarro-Terrill
Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University
Arizona State University (ASU)Criminology and Criminal Justice, crime policy, Corrections, Child Health, Violence
Jesenia Pizarro-Terrill studies situational factors around gun violence, specifically, what combination of circumstances might lead to or avoid a shooting, such as weapon selection. As an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, her research focuses on the importance of understanding the situational factors that result in violence. In doing this, she examines violence and homicide through the lens of theories of crime, and how various contextual factors come together in time and place to result in a homicide. While her research focus centers on violence, she also studies the politics of punishment. With a surge in funding for gun violence studies, she is helping to set the national agenda on research into pediatric firearm injury and death.
Jeremy Blackburn, PhD
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Binghamton University, State University of New YorkComputer Science, Social Media, toxic behavior, Hate Speech, data science, social network analysis
Jeremy Blackburn joined the Department of Computer Science at Binghamton University in fall 2019. Blackburn is broadly interested in data science, with a focus on large-scale measurements and modeling. His largest line of work is in understanding jerks on the Internet. His research into understanding toxic behavior, hate speech, and fringe and extremist Web communities has been covered in the press by The Washington Post, the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC and New Scientist, among others.
Robin Best, PhD
Associate Professor of Political Science
Binghamton University, State University of New YorkPolitical Science, Politics, Comparative Politics, Election
Robin Best's research focuses on political parties and electoral politics in democratic systems of government. She is especially interested in the dynamics of party system size, party policy positions, electoral systems, and voting behavior in industrialized democracies. Her current research examines party polarization, support for minor or new political parties, the geography of party support, and how electoral systems and social divisions affect voting behavior. Her work has been published in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Political Analysis, the European Journal of Political Research, and Electoral Studies.
Olga Shvetsova, PhD
Professor of Political Science
Binghamton University, State University of New YorkPolitical Science, Politics, political strategy, Comparative Politics, political parties, Politics Of Health, Federalism
Professor Shvetsova’s research focuses on determinants of political strategy in the political process. Broadly stated, these include political institutions that define the “rules of the game” and societal characteristics that shape goals and opportunities of the participant players. Her work belongs in the fields of constitutional political economy and institutional design. She published in The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Democracy, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, Law and Society Review, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Constitutional Political Economy, Journal of Modern African Studies, and other peer-reviewed journals. She wrote Designing Federalism, co-authored with Mikhail Filippov and Peter Ordeshook (2004, Cambridge University Press) and Party System Change in Legislatures Worldwide (2013, Cambridge University Press) and Formal Modeling in Social Science, both co-authored with Carol Mershon (2019, University of Michigan Press). Professor Shvetsova teaches courses on Constitutional political economy, Comparative Constitutions, Comparative Government, Political Parties, Democratic Institutional Design, Formal Theory, and Political Economy of Health.
Olga Shurchkov, PhD
Associate Professor of Economics; Director, Knapp Social Science Center
Wellesley CollegeEconomics, Behavioral Economics, Gender Differences
My research interests span two areas within behavioral economics, unified by a common theme of the use of experimental methodology as the means to investigate the mechanisms underlying observed behavior. The first area focuses on uncovering and explaining differences in economic outcomes according to individual characteristics, such as gender and appearance. For example, I have studied gender differences in performance under competition and time pressure, appearance-based discrimination, and gender differences in leadership productivity. The second area focuses broadly on the importance of information and belief formation in various economic environments. Finally, I am also interested in the effects of institutions and culture on economic decision-making and economic outcomes. Recent professional activities include presentations at the American Economic Association conference. At Wellesley College, I teach introductory and intermediate macroeconomics, as well as a seminar on behavioral and experimental economics. As a visiting professor at Columbia Business School, I have also taught Global Economic Environment: Business Cycles and Financial Markets. My objective in teaching macroeconomics is to provide the students with the tools necessary for understanding the policy issues and for engaging in meaningful discussions of current economic events. Behavioral and experimental economics is a course I designed to introduce students to the many ways in which economic and psychological factors jointly influence behavior. As a 5th-degree black belt, I enjoy practicing and teaching Taekwon-Do.
Early Modern Philosophy, human freedom
The primary focus of my research is on the metaphysics and ethics of human freedom in the early modern period. In particular, my work centres around conceptions of volition, which, in this period, intersected with theories of perception, motivation, intellect, imagination, the psycho-physical interface, moral responsibility, and freedom. To date, my work has treated the vexed notions of volition and freedom in the systems of the French Oratorian Nicolas Malebranche and the British philosopher John Locke. More recently, I have shifted my attention to how early modern views of physiology inform or underlie commitments about human freedom in the early modern period. This line of inquiry requires an analysis of how thinkers conceived of the function and behavior of animal spirits and their influence on the imagination and overall health of the body. Looking at moral responsibility and freedom from the perspective of environmental and social factors that influence the animal spirits allows us to better appreciate the complexity of moral theories in the period, and to see how responsibility ought (and ought not) to be attributed. Currently, I am working on mapping Malebranche's medieval influences with respect to how he understands the fine distinction between human and divine action, in particular as expressed in his final work, Réflexions sur la prémotion physique (1715). I am also thinking about Locke's notion of clear and obscure ideas in the context of his claim that we do not have a maximally clear idea of our own active power. I teach classes in early modern philosophy and ethics, including Introduction to Moral Philosophy and Early Modern Philosophy, as well as seminars that focus on philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries. I have a particular interest in examining the writings of women philosophers in the period. If I am not thinking about philosophy, I am likely reading fiction, doing the NYT crossword, or watching hockey.
Biological Sciences, Marine ecosystems
My research focuses on how fishing and climate change are altering marine ecosystems. In turn, I examine how food web structure mediates resilience to the cumulative impact of these stressors and the potential for ecosystem recovery. Finally, I investigate how social-ecological systems respond to global change. To do this, I use a combination of field, observational, and quantitative approaches to examine historical and future ecosystem changes and evaluate the outcome of management interventions. I aim to equip the students of my courses with the skills needed to tackle the multi-faceted nature of complex environmental problems. To accomplish this, I facilitate student-driven learning in applying scientific concepts to find solutions for conservation and management issues. The marine ecosystems in New England provide an ideal focal point for course content and field laboratories. Further, I look forward to incorporating innovative active learning approaches, such as the interactive Shifting Fishes game I developed with NPR’s Science Friday, to help bridge the gap between students who enter college interested in STEM and those who ultimately pursue science careers. At Wellesley, I teach a lecture section of introductory Organismal Biology (BISC 111), Statistics in the Biosciences (BISC 198), Marine Biology (BISC 210), and Issues in Marine Biology seminar (BISC 310). I strive for my research to be relevant for policy. To that end, I have sought out opportunities to present my research to decision-makers. I testified about my research on climate and fisheries in front of the House Sub-committee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife in May 2019. I was invited to discuss the implications of climate change for marine restoration in a panel for congressional staff during Capitol Hill Ocean Week in June 2019. Finally, I presented my views on the power of interdisciplinarity in achieving ocean solutions in a side panel at the United Nations in June 2019. I enjoy playing ice hockey and soccer, cooking and eating good food, and exploring with my husband and son.
Rosanna Hertz, PhD
Class of 1919 – 50th Reunion Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies
Wellesley CollegeSociology, women studies, Gender Studies, contemporary reproduction
Professor Hertz has taught at Wellesley College for 35 years in both the sociology and women’s and gender studies departments. She teaches courses on the contemporary reproduction, changing families and social inequalities, global families and social policies, the social construction of gender, and women’s leadership at work. She also teaches a first year seminar on “The Body.” Hertz believes that working independently and individually with students is one of the hallmarks of a small college and her favorite way of teaching and sharing knowledge. She always has undergraduate research assistants on her projects. Hertz is known for her research on the intersection of families, work and gender. For the past 25 years, she has focused on the emergence of new family forms and how they expand our understanding of kinship. She is especially interested in how the Internet is revolutionizing the choices people make as they enter into third-party reproduction arrangements (e.g. sperm and egg donor use) and also how the Internet has become a site of new possibilities for connection between genetic relatives. Her 2006 book, Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice captured popular attention with its finding that the age-old desire for motherhood was in fact reinforced by new scientific advances in reproduction. Her new book, Random Families: Genetic Strangers, Sperm Donor Siblings and the Creation of New Kin, with her coauthor Margaret K. Nelson, examines the contemporary interplay of genetics, social interaction, and culture expectations in the formation of web-based donor sibling kin groups. A new set of complexities emerge as donor siblings attempt to expand our understanding of kinship. (Oxford University Press 2019). She continues her focus on how social inequality at home and in the workplace shape the experiences of women and men. Her first book, More Equal than Others: Women and Men in Dual-Career Marriages and also Working Families (edited with Nancy Marshall) address inequalities that persist between spouses and within the broader economy and how people attempt to resolve them. Most recently, she is interested in the pivotal moments that influence the behavior of women as leaders and how they stretch their thinking about what is possible, often resisting and productively “breaking rules.” Hertz has had a long-standing interest in social science methodology. This includes new conventions in data collection and ethnographic writing. For example, Random Families presents an innovative way to study donor sibling networks. In this research the researchers crisscrossed the U.S. in order to gather in-person interviews and technology based interviews with over 350 parents, children and sometimes the children’s donor who are genetically related. In other books and articles she addresses issues of reflexivity and voice as well as studies of elites. In addition, she has edited several volumes about how social scientist autobiographical accounts influence their research. She is the former editor of Qualitative Sociology. Hertz received her PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University and completed a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Most recently she has held appointments at Harvard’s Law School in the Petrie-Flem Center and at the Brocher Foundation in Switzerland. Most recently the National Science Foundation and the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation have funded her research. She is frequently quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe. She appears in the broadcast media commenting on social problems for local news specials.
women studies, Gender Studies, Asian American
I came to Wellesley straight out of my PhD program in the History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz in the fall of 1993 to develop courses in Asian American women's and gender studies—which remains my personal, intellectual, and theoretical passion. My research and teaching have long engaged with questions of the representation of Asian American women from the silent film era to the pop culture phenomenon known as #AsianAugust 2019. My first two books, Imagining Japanese America: The Visual Construction of Citizenship, Nation, and the Body (NYU Press, 2004) and Following Her Own Road: Miné Okubo (University of Washington Press 2008) focus on the gendered legacy of wartime Japanese American internment camp experience in art, culture, and historical American memory. More recently, I spent eight years doing archival research on Japanese women and photography that was a pure labor of love. Shadow Traces examines visual archives of four groups of Japanese/American women from the early to mid-twentieth century in America. My analyses include photographs of indigenous Japanese Ainu women at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, picture brides at the turn of the century, photographs of the incarceration of the Japanese-American population during WWII, and a postwar picture album kept by my own Japanese war bride mother. My study builds a case for understanding the influential role of photographic archives in shaping Asian/American women’s history. When people ask me, “What do you teach?” I enjoy confounding them with my long and eclectic list of courses that include: Elvis Presley, Techno-Orientalism, Asian Women in Film, and Rainbow Cowboys and Cowgirls (a multicultural approach to the history of the American West). Right now, I’m in the early stages of planning a new interdisciplinary course that will be called “Women and Horses.” Twenty-three years ago, my colleague, good friend (and apparently a prophet), Geeta Patel said, “Creef, you really need to develop a research project on horses.” I remember asking her at the time, “but what would that even look like?” I had no idea that it would take me two decades to launch myself headlong into the world of sacred Lakota horse rides and communities in the Dakotas. Since I started this journey in 2013, I have never looked back. These days, I literally follow the change of seasons according to the schedule of sacred Lakota prayer rides I’ve been privileged to support and participate on that include The Future Generations Ride (formerly known as The Chief Big Foot Ride) to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the Victory Ride to commemorate the Battle at Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn) in Montana, the Dakota 38 Ride in Mankato, Minnesota, and the recent ride to Fort Laramie, Wyoming to observe the 150 year anniversary of the signing of the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty. My hope is that by working in partnership with my Lakota friends, we can produce some invaluable documentation of these rides that can be shared in public form—as podcasts, photo-essays, and as a book that can be used for teaching Native youth about this rich history and legacy.
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