New Faculty
Kylie Ching
assistant professor of art Education: Ph.D. visual studies, M.A. art history, B.A. art history and English, UC IrvineResearch Interests: Contemporary art, art of the Asian diaspora, history of photography, modern art, feminist theory, Asian American studies, critical militarisms
Jingyao Li
assistant professor of information systems and decision sciences Education: Ph.D. information systems, Bentley UniversityResearch Interests: Emerging technology, societal impact, ethical concern, governance, artificial intelligence
Yang Feng
assistant professor of communications Education: Ph.D. mass communication, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; M.A. communication studies, Nanyang Technological University; B.A. business administration, Communication University of ChinaResearch Interests: AI-mediated marketing communication, human-AI collaboration, delegated trust, responsible AI in advertising
John Kim
assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders Education: Ph.D. special education, UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University; M.S. speech-language pathology, California Baptist University; B.A. communicative disorders, Cal State FullertonResearch Interests: Qualitative methodologies, community-based participatory research, augmentative and alternative communication, language acquisition, translanguaging literacy practice, speech-language pathology
Cailin Kuchenbecker
assistant professor of communications Education: Ph.D. communication, Chapman University; MBA, B.S. communication-public relations, Cal Poly PomonaResearch Interests: Experimentation, quantitative content analysis, persuasive messaging, advertising, marketing, crisis and risk communication, health communication
Rodolfo Acosta
assistant professor of educational leadership Education: Ph.D. urban education policy, USC; M.A. education, Pace University; B.A. political science/legal studies, UC Santa CruzResearch Interests: Qualitative methods, ethnographic research, democratic engagement, policy analysis
Yolanda Cataño
assistant professor of educational leadership Education: Ed.D. educational leadership, San Diego State University; M.A. sociological practice, B.A. women's studies, Cal State San MarcosResearch Interests: Qualitative research; community college and LGBTQ+ communities; queer theory, joteria and muxerista pedagogy; Hispanic-Serving Institutions policy, servingness and queering HSI frameworks
David Trautman
assistant professor of educational leadership Education: Ph.D. education studies, UC San Diego; Ed.M. education leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University; M.A. Latin American studies, UC Berkeley; B.A. anthropology and Latin American studies, University of ArizonaResearch Interests: Organizational theory, social network analysis, critical race theory, education leadership, equity
Nathan Justin
assistant professor of computer science Education: Ph.D. computer science, USC; B.S. computer science and mathematics, Harvey Mudd CollegeResearch Interests: Data-driven decision-making, robust optimization, artificial intelligence for social good, interpretable machine learning, operations research, mixed-integer optimization, data analytics
Keren Acuna
assistant professor of counseling Education: Ph.D. counselor education and supervision, M.S. clinical psychology, B.S. counseling, Oregon State UniversityResearch Interests: Experiences of underrepresented counselors in clinical practice, culturally responsive mental health support for Latinx communities, preparation for emerging clinicians working with diverse real-world clinical cases
Frania Mendoza-Lua
assistant professor of social work Education: Ph.D. social work, policy and practice, University of Chicago; MSW, University of Michigan; B.A. political science and anthropology, UCLAResearch Interests: Immigration and social policy, children of immigrants, health disparities, Latino populations, sexual and reproductive health, multi-method research design
Dolores Ortega
assistant professor of kinesiology Education: Ph.D. human sciences-nutrition and health sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; M.S. kinesiology, B.S. kinesiology, Cal State FullertonResearch Interests: Strength and conditioning, muscle function, neuromuscular fatigue, human performance, nutritional interventions, motor unit behavior
Cam Cannon
assistant professor of American studies Education: Ph.D. American studies, George Washington University; M.A. ethics and applied philosophy, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; B.A. philosophy, Warren Wilson CollegeResearch Interests: American studies, history of medicine, history of science, gender studies, trans studies
Clement Damoah
assistant professor of politics, administration and justice Education: Ph.D. public administration and policy, Arizona State University; M.Phil. public administration, B.A. political science, University of GhanaResearch Interests: Digital government, civic engagement, participatory government, public policy, public-private partnership
Katy Maldonado Dominguez
assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano studies Education: Ph.D. American studies, M.A. American studies, M. Phil. American studies, Yale University; B.A. Chicana and Chicano studies, B.A. geography, UCLAResearch Interests: Central American studies, illegality, kinship, public humanities, qualitative methods, oral history, digital archiving, ethnographic poetry, digital collaging, fiber arts, photography
Asako Yonan
assistant professor of Asian American studies Education: Ph.D. Indigenous, race and ethnic studies, University of Oregon; M.A. women's, gender and sexuality studies, San Diego State UniversityResearch Interests: Asian American studies, visual culture, queer of color critique, Asian diaspora studies, performance studies
Navneet Hakhu
assistant professor of mathematics Education: Ph.D. statistics, UC Irvine; M.S. biostatistics, University of Washington; B.S. mathematics, Santa Clara UniversityResearch Interests: Design, monitoring and analysis of clinical trials, missing data methods, censored time-to-event methods
Rebecca Lee
assistant professor of mathematics Education: Ph.D. statistics, Texas A&M University; B.S. mathematics, B.S. political science, University of OregonResearch Interests: Bayesian hierarchical nonparametric methods, stationary and non-stationary time-series analysis, spectral analysis, biomedical and clinical applications, spatial statistics, ecology/zoology applications, election and policy analysis
Francesca Vaccaro
assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry Education: Ph.D. chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.S. biochemistry, Loyola University New OrleansResearch Interests: Bacterial and fungal metal homeostasis, structural biochemistry, metallochaperones, host-pathogen interactions