Fellows Directory

Niveen AbiGhannam

Dr. Niveen AbiGhannam is a science communication researcher and educator whose work centers around the strategic and inclusive communication of technical knowledge. More specifically, her research seeks to understand individual, organizational, and social factors that can drive or hinder public engagement with STEM behaviors. She also examines the identities of publicly engaged scientists and engineers and the meanings that they associate with their engagement experiences. On the teaching front, Dr. AbiGhannam has taught Engineering Communication at UT since 2015.

Matthew Balhoff

Matthew is a professor in the Hildebrand Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (PGE) Department. Matt’s work as a PTF includes a curriculum-wide design project that is presented to the students in their first petroleum engineering class, taught in the spring of their first year. In every PGE class they are assigned at least one homework assignment or project taken directly from the design project. The objective of this initiative is to use unique methods and tools to develop an integrated and synergistic program.

Angela Beasley

Angie Beasley is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Computer Science department at UT, where she teaches Data Mining. Prior to teaching, Angie worked for 15 years as a software engineer on projects for the US Navy, including submarine sonar systems, periscope systems, unmanned underwater vehicles, radar systems, and radio and satellite communication systems. Angie received her MS in Computer Science with a concentration in Machine Learning from The George Washington University and her BS in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

 

Maura Borrego

Ruth Buskirk

Ruth Buskirk earned her A.B. at Earlham College, M.A. at Harvard University, and Ph.D. at the University of California at Davis. Her research on behavior and physiology includes work of orb-weaving spiders, dragonflies, baboons, and unusual animal behavior before earthquakes. She has taught biology courses at the University of Texas at Austin for over 35 years and currently works in research on student mindset and metacognition, coaching reading of scientific papers and assessing teaching effectiveness. 

Tara Craig

Arturo De Lozanne

Steven Finkelstein

Steven Finkelstein is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.S. degree from the University of Washington in 2003, his PhD in 2008 from Arizona State University, and from there he took a postdoctoral position at Texas A&M University. In 2011 he earned a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship which he took to the University of Texas in Austin, where he was hired on as faculty in 2012. His research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early universe, and the interplay of these sources with reionization.

Vernita Gordon

I did my undergraduate work at Vanderbilt, with a double major in physics and math, and my Ph.D. work in physics at Harvard. At both institutions, I saw and experienced the positive difference that caring, committed instructors and a nurturing university community can make in students' lives. I have been a faculty member in the Physics department at UT Austin since 2010. I have taught introductory calculus-based mechanics for Physics majors, a Plan II Physics course for liberal arts honors students, and an upper-division course on Biological Physics.

Layla Guyot

Layla Guyot is a data scientist, educator, and researcher, who joined UT Austin during Fall 2020. After pursuing mathematics and physics in undergrad, Layla completed a M.S. in Applied Probability and Statistics, just by chance. She gained some experience as a statistician before combining her aspiration to teach and conduct research through her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education at Texas State University. Her research focuses on designing courses and developing curriculum materials to promote authentic practices and ease the transition to the workplace.

Krishna Kumar

Krishna Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Civil, Architecture, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Krishna’s work involves developing exascale micro and macro-scale numerical methods for modeling natural hazards. Krishna also develops Scientific Machine Learning algorithms: Graph Network Simulators and Differentiable programming to accelerate numerical methods and solve optimization, design, and inverse problems.

Cynthia LaBrake

Cynthia LaBrake is a former Chair of the Provost's Teaching Fellows. Cynthia was instrumental in the design and creation of the Provost's Teaching Fellows program, first as a faculty affiliate of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and then as a member of the 2015 cohort of Teaching Fellows. She served as 2017 Chair. Cynthia's current interest is in serving the CNS as the Badging Fellow. In this role, she is leading the college effort to create sustainable structures for the development and awarding of badged micro credentials.

Fernanda Leite

Fernanda Leite is a Professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds the John A. Focht Centennial Teaching Fellowship in Civil Engineering. She is the past Chair of a University-wide Bridging Barriers research initiative called Planet Texas 2050. Her built environment research program sits at the interface of engineering and computing. She teaches courses on Building Information Modeling, Project Management and Economics, Construction Safety, and Sustainable Systems Engineering.

Calvin Lin

Calvin Lin is a computer science professor at the University of Texas. He does research in compilers, with a current focus on security and scalable and precise analysis, including pointer analysis. He also has interests in microarchitecture, and he has written a textbook with Larry Snyder called Principles of Parallel Programming. His research also includes increasing programmer productivity by improving system performance, correctness, and ease of programming. He is a member of the UT Academy of Distinguished Teachers and received the UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2011.

Karen M Landolt

Karen Landolt is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Business, Government and Society Department and in the Department of Computer Science. She teaches Business Law, Behavioral Ethics, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property Law, and Negotiations. Her courses have a service-learning component, allowing students to use real-life problems and tasks to increase cultural awareness, learning, and retention. She previously received a Course-developer Award (2020-2022) from the Provost Experiential-Learning Initiative.

Christina Markert

Jen Moon

Jennifer (Jen) Moon is a Professor of Instruction in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and the Assistant Dean for Non Tenure Track Faculty in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Indiana University studying regulated gene expression, and completed her postdoctoral work at University of Texas at Austin in 2007. Dr. Moon regularly teaches Advanced Introduction to Genetics, Cell and Developmental Biology Lab, and an undergraduate teaching assistant (UGTA) training course.

Rick Neptune

Project Title: Integrating Computational Techniques in the Engineering Curriculum 

 

Alison Norman

Dr. Alison N. Norman is an Associate Professor of Instruction and the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin. She is also a UT Austin Provost's Teaching Fellow, a 2019 Regent's Outstanding Teaching Award recipient, a 2017 President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award recipient, and a 2017 College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award recipient. Alison works to improve the experience of students in computer science.

Paola Passalacqua

Kristin Patterson

Kristin Patterson is the Fourth-Year Fellow Representative on the 2021 Provost's Teaching Fellows Steering Committee.

Jonathan Perry

Jonathan Perry is a Texas native who, after completing his BA and MS in physics at Baylor University and his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, has managed to stick around the state. For his doctoral work he found himself with an unexpected passion for teaching and learning in his field, and so he focused on physics education research. He joined the faculty at UT Austin in 2019 as an Assistant Professor of Instruction.

D'Arcy Randall

Shelly Rodriguez

Shelly Rodriguez is a Professor of Practice and instructor for the UTeach program in The College of Natural Sciences. She also directs UTeach Maker, a micro-credentialing program that helps preservice teachers bring innovative, project-based maker practices into their STEM classrooms. As a PTF, she is passionate about improving the career experiences of professional faculty at UT Austin.

Navid Saleh

Navid Saleh is an Associate Professor at the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering department. He is an environmental engineering faculty member with a passion for teaching. His mission as an educator and researcher has been to engage with the community and co-create knowledge. He has developed modules utilizing problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy, conducted detailed and systematic evaluation, and devoted himself to student learning at UT.