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.

Marina Alexandrova

Dr. Alexandrova teaches a variety of courses on Russian history, culture, and language. Her current research interests include international modernism and avant-garde, Russian radical and revolutionary movements, spirituality in Imperial Russia, and, most recently, cultural and spiritual ties between Russia and the United States. Her Signature Course, UGS 303 "Tsars and Mystics," examines (un)Orthodox spiritual practices of Russian rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Nicholas II.

Samy Ayoub

Angela Beasley

Angie Beasley is an Associate 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.

 

Mary Beer

Mary Beer is an LCSW-S and is a clinical associate professor and the Assistant Dean for Practicum Education at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She has taught Practice and Field, Theories and Methods of Group Intervention, Experiential Leadership, Generalist Social Work Practice, Treatment of Children and Adolescents, and the Advanced Integrative Capstone courses. Mary has integrated compassionate pedagogy, alternative grading, and experiential learning into her courses and these approaches are the focus of her PTF project.

Matt Bowers

Dr. Matt Bowers is an Associate Professor of Instruction in Sport Management at the University of Texas at Austin. He studies youth development in and through sports and has published research studies related to the impact of sport participation on creativity and the value of sandlot/unstructured sports for children. His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Wired, The Atlantic, and Wall Street Journal, SXSW, and the Aspen Institute’s Sport for All, Play For Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game.

Julia Campbell

Dr. Julia Campbell is a clinical audiologist and auditory neuroscientist who specializes in cortical plasticity in auditory disorders such as hearing loss and tinnitus. She serves as the Audiology Graduate Program Director and Audiology Discipline and Training Coordinator for the ACT LEND program. She currently instructs audiology graduate students in clinical training, pediatric audiology, and medical audiology.
 

Robert Carroll

Dr. Robert Carroll is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Moody College of Communication. As a member of the Communication Studies department he teaches the 2nd year college-wide Foundation course and an Honors Service Learning and Community Engagement course. Additionally he works as an MBA+ Communication Coach where he leads interactive workshops on storytelling, leadership principles, and authenticity.

Wenhong Chen

Dr. Wenhong Chen is a professor of media studies and sociology, the founding co-director of Center for Entertainment and Media Industries, and a Distinguished Scholar in the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin.  

Tanya Clement

Tanya E Clement is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Texas at Austin. Her primary areas of research are textual studies, sound studies, and infrastructure studies as these concerns impact academic research, research libraries, and the creation of research tools and resources in Digital Humanities (DH).

Joe Cutbirth

Dr. Cutbirth is an assistant professor of instruction whose work focuses on the transdisciplinary practice of communication in leadership. He teaches in Moody College of Communication and the University Bridging Disciplines Program, where his classes examine the role of trust, deception, and hope in narratives used by leaders and about leadership itself. He was a finalist for the 2024 Moody College Teaching Award. His project is designed to examine the relationship between rigor and accommodation in the post-COVID era.

Natalie Czimskey

Natalie Czimskey, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The University of Texas where she earned all three of her degrees. She began teaching as a doctoral student in 2012 and continued teaching part time until completing her Ph.D. in 2019 when she joined the faculty full-time.  Her primary research area is adult neurogenic disorders with a special interest in traumatic brain injury, though her passion is teaching; she has taught 9 different courses in the past 2 years.

Andrew Dell'Antonio

Andrew Dell’Antonio (he/him/his) specializes in musical repertories of early modern Europe, with a focus on seventeenth-century Italy. His research interests include musical historiography, reception history, and disability studies.

Jules Elkins

Dr. Elkins is the Director of Sustainability Studies and Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Geography and the Environment. Dr. Elkins’ research and teaching is in environmental health, and healthy indoor environments. She is particularly interested in low-dose chemical exposures, especially during the period from preconception to early childhood. Her interests focus on how exposures can be practically and cost-effectively reduced or prevented based on evidence-based models of what interventions measurably work.

Erica "EG" Gionfriddo

Erica Gionfriddo is a dance artist, educator and somatic researcher who believes in the intelligent body each of us occupies. They are co-founder of ARCOS Dance (arcosdance.com), whose ongoing inquiry probes the intersection of technology and humanity through rigorous interdisciplinary experimentation. ARCOS’ recent work has focused on “hacking” consumer technologies, or repurposing them outside of their intended uses, into performance and developing an embodied cyborgian movement language.

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.

Laura I Gonzalez

BS Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (1988)

PhD University of New Mexico (1998)

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Santa Barbara (1999-2000)

Kristie J Loescher

Dr. Loescher is a Professor of Instruction in the Management Department of the McCombs School of Business. Her professional and education background includes recognition as a Senior Certified Professional in human resources, as well as a Doctorate in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. Prior to her career in academia, she earned a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan and worked in the healthcare industry for 15 years in the areas of quality assurance, utilization management, and clinical research.

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.

Elon Lang

Elon Lang is an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches a variety of undergraduate literature survey courses on ethical topics, medieval and early modern studies, dramatic literature, and Experiential Learning courses based in archival research. One example was his 2020-2021 courses called Archival Advocacy in which students learned how to bring archival techniques to bear on a real-world social justice issue facing the East Austin, Texas, community: the closing of one of Austin's historically Hispanic elementary schools.

Lara Latimer

Dr. Lara Latimer is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Health Behavior and Health Education at UT. She teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes, including Child & Adolescent Health, Theories of Substance Use & Abuse, Theories of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences, and Foundations of Epidemiology. Lara hopes to learn more about and make an impact on classroom safety practices through her PTF initiative.

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.

Filippo Mangolini

Filippo is an Assistant Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering. His interdisciplinary research activities aim to develop a fundamental understanding of the chemical and physical processes occurring on material surfaces as well as at interfaces under extreme environments and far-from-equilibrium conditions. Filippo teaches courses on Materials Engineering, Enhancing Sustainability through Tribology, Phase Transformations, and Advanced Methods in Surface Analysis.

Amy Nathan Wright

Amy Nathan Wright got her PhD in American Studies at UT Austin and returned in 2019 as an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Human Dimensions of Organizations.  She is a civil rights scholar completing a book on the Poor People’s Campaign and has taught interdisciplinary courses focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion for the past decade and a half.

Tolga Ozyurtcu

Tolga Ozyurtcu is a faculty member in Sport Management and Physical Culture and Sport Studies, in the department of Kinesiology and Health Education. He also serves as the department's Undergraduate Coordinator. He holds a PhD and MSc in Kinesiology from UT Austin and a B.A. in Political Science from Haverford College. Ozyurtcu teaches courses on the business and culture of sports and exercise, including topics such as organizational behavior, history, philosophy, and ethics.