Raluca Albu
Hometown: Romania / The Bronx
Education: MFA Creative Writing / MA Social Studies Secondary Education
NYU Position: Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Leslie Jamison’s Empathy Exams (essays and novels)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Dog walking, playing the fiddle, making documentaries
Research Interests: Immigrant narratives, storytelling, mental health
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” - Zora Neale Hurston
Anamaria Alexandrescu
Hometown: Sinaia, Romania
Education: A.A. in Pre-pharmacy, B.S. in Neuroscience, M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience focus)
NYU Position: College Core Curriculum Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Neural Science
Favorite Book: Sapiens - Harari; The Last Lecture - R. Pausch; Little Fires Everywhere - C. Ng; Becoming - M. Obama; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - B. Smith; The Little Prince - A. Saint-Exupery; anything by Oliver Sacks
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading, traveling
Research Interests: Learning & memory, educational/cognitive/pedagogical science
First-Generation College Student? yes
Craig Lanier Allen
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Education: Ph.D. in American Studies, George Washington University; M.A. in Latin American Studies, UCLA; B.A. in Political Science and International Studies, The Citadel.
NYU Position: ACLS Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor, History
Favorite Books: U.S.A Trilogy by John Dos Passos, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, In the Time of the Hero, Mario Vargas Llosa
Favorite Leisure Activities: baseball, soccer, fencing, all things water, food/cooking.
Research Interests: The Cold War, France, Latin America, literature, cities.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Dum Spiro Spero - "While I breathe there is always hope" (basically)
Natalia Andrievskikh
Hometown: Kurgan, Russia
Education: BA/MA in English, Kurgan State University, Russia; MA in English, Binghamton University, PhD in Comparative Literature, Binghamton University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Jeanette Winterson, Daphne du Maurier
Research Interests: Multimodal composition, digital and visual rhetoric, culture studies, multilingual writing
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Life isn’t about finding yourself: it is about creating yourself.
Chiye Aoki
Hometown: New York City, Los Angeles
Education: PhD, Rockefeller University
NYU Position: Professor of Neural Science & Biology
Favorite Book: Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramon Y Cajal
Favorite Leisure Activity: Working out
Research Interests: Biological basis of individuality in mental activity
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Hometown: Kumasi, Ghana
Education: B.A., M.A., Ph.D.: Philosophy, Cambridge University, England
NYU Position: Professor of Philosophy and Law
Favorite Books: On Liberty, John Stuart Mill; Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading novels, listening to music
Research Interests: Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Culture, Philosophy and Race, Ethics, Political Philosophy
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “If a person possesses any tolerable amount of common sense and experience, his own mode of laying out his existence is the best, not because it is the best in itself, but because it is his own mode. John Stuart Mill “On Liberty,” Chapter 3.”
Thomas Augst
Hometown: Berkeley, California
Education: AB double major history and Literature, Yale University
MA History, Harvard University
PhD History of American Civilization (American Studies)
NYU Position: Chair and Associate Professor, English
Favorite Books: Many, mainly American works of literature and historical that I teach from the period of exploration and colonization across the Americas, through life-writing in 19th and 20 century immigrant and indigenous peoples in the United States
Favorite Leisure Activities: Running, Walking my dog Oscar
Research Interests: https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/faculty/thomas-augst.html
Julie Avina
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Education: BS in Human Development, Masters in Art of Teaching, MA and EdD in Health Education, Columbia University Teachers College
NYU Position: Sr. Assoc. Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs, Global Public Health
Favorite Books: Recents: Circe - All the Light We Cannot See - Spillover
Favorite Leisure Activities: Playing music and riding my bicycle
Research Interests: Adolescent reproductive health, college hook-up culture
Zlatko Bacic
Hometown: Zagreb, Croatia
Education: B.S. in Chemistry, University of Zagreb, Croatia; Ph.D. in Chemistry, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
NYU Position: Professor of Chemistry
Favorite Books: Kazuo Ishiguro: Remains of the day, Never let me go; Margaret Atwood: Handmaid's tale; Ray Bradbury: The Martian chronicles, Fahrenheit 451
Favorite Leisure Activity: Travel, classical music, reading
Research Interests: Theoretical and computational chemistry, quantum spectroscopy, dynamics, and diffusion of molecules in nanoscale materials.
Norbert Baer
Hometown: New York, NY
Education: B.S. Brooklyn College, M.Sc. University of Wisconsin, PhD NYU
NYU Position: Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Conservation.. Emeritus on 1 September.
Ulrich Baer
(Proud to Be First Leadership Team)
Hometown: Berlin Germany
Education: BA Harvard Literature; MPhil and PhD Yale University
NYU Position: Professor in Comparative Literature
Favorite Books: Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God; Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a young poet; Thomas Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions; Anne Carson, Eros, The Bittersweet
Favorite Leisure Activities: Being in conversation.
Research Interests: Literature, Free speech, Globalization, Photography, Human Rights, Memorial Culture
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Live the questions.” Rilke
Shara Bailey
Hometown: Lansdale, PA
Education: PhD Arizona State University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Anthropology Department
Favorite Books: Cowboys are My Weakness
Favorite Leisure Activity: Painting
Research Interests: Human Evolution
Favorite Inspirational Quote: If you don’t ask the answer will always be no.
Emily Balcetis
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Education: B.A. in Psychology, B.F.A. in Music Performance from University of Nebraska at Kearney; PhD in Social and Personality Psychology from Cornell University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Psychology Department
Favorite Books: "I was told there would be cake" by Sloane Crosley; "Me talk pretty" by David Sedaris; "Educated" by Tara Westover; "Happy Money" by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton
Favorite Leisure Activity: hiking, going to concerts, cooking
Research Interests: motivation, strategies for goal success, encouraging children of all backgrounds to become leaders, bias in the legal system, improving health for everyone
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "You'll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut" --Dr. Seuss
First-Generation College Student? No
Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer
Hometown: Ankara, Turkey
Education: B.A. in History, Koç University (Turkey); M.A. and Ph.D. in History, Ohio State University
NYU Position: Assistant Professor
Favorite Books: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez); My Name is Red (Orhan Pamuk); Balthasar's Odyssey (Amin Maalouf); Cairo Trilogy (Naguib Mahfouz)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading, traveling, cooking
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” (Einstein)
Anasse Bari
Hometown: Tangier
Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, George Washington University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Soccer
Reserch Interests: Predictive Analytics, Data Science and Bio-inspired Knowledge Discovery
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Earned not given.
Chris Barker
Hometown: all over: the south, the midwest, the east coast, the west coast (US)
Education: B.A.: English, Yale University; B.A.: Computer and Information Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz; PhD in Linguistics, University of California, Santa Cruz
NYU Position: Professor, Linguistics
Favorite Books: The Phantom Tollbooth, The Lambda Calculus
Favorite Leisure Activities: Cooking for friends
Research Interests: The mathematical structure of human language meaning
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “If it's worth doing, it's worth doing slowly"
First-Generation College Student? No
Catherine Barnett
Hometown: NYC
Education: B.A. in Political Science; MFA in Poetry
NYU Position: Clinical Associate Professor
Argelinda Baroni
Hometown: Rome, Italy
Education: MD University of Rome, Italy
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, CAMS/Child and Adolescent, Psychiatry Department
Favorite Books: Elias Canetti autobiography
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading
Research Interests: Sleep/Mental health
Brigitte Bedos-Rezak
Hometown: New York City
Education: PhD Ecole nationales des chartes (Paris, Sorbonne)
NYU Position: Professor, History Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: reading, writing, cooking, walking, singing, listening to opera and Classical music
Research Interests: producing alternative perspectives on and stories of the Middle ages and the pre-modern world
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Lech-Lecha לֶךְ-לְךָ " Go" (go for yourself, go find yourself) - Genesis 12:1
Cristina Beltran
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Education: B.A. in Politics from UC Santa Cruz; Ph.D. in Political Science (emphasis in Political Theory) from Rutgers University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Social and Cultural Analysis Department
Favorite Books: FICTION: Jane Austin, Michael Chabon, Stephen King; Laurie Colwin; Anne Tyler; Margaret Atwood; David Mitchell
NONFICTION/ACADEMIC: Gloria Anzaldua, James Baldwin, Bonnie Honig, Michel Foucault, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Audra Simpson, Wendy Brown, Juana Rodriguez, Sandra Soto, W.E.B. Du Bois, Walt Whitman, Joel Olson.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading, Watching TV, Great Restaurants, Spa Days, Exploring museums, Exploring neighborhoods, Political junkie, Films, Reading, Running/Spinning.
Research Interests: Political theory; race, gender and sexuality politics
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Currently: Vine Deloria: — “The white man must learn to stop viewing history as a plot against himself.”
Gerard Ben Arous
Hometown: Paris
Education: BS Mathematics, Ecole Normale Superieure Paris- MS Mathematics University Paris- MS Statistics University Paris Sud- PhD Mathematics University Paris.
NYU Position: Professor, Mathematics
Research Interests: Probability Theory, Statistical physics
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Hometown: Jerusalem
Education: PhD
NYU Position: Professor, History Department
Favorite Books: The 40 days of Musa Dagh
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading and watching soccer
Research Interests: History of china and of Islam
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places? If people do not recognize me and it doesn't bother me, am I not a noble man?”
Marsha Berger
Hometown: New York City
Education: Ph.D. Stanford University in Computer Science
NYU Position: Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, biking, racquet sports
Kimberly Bernhardt
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon
Education: B.A.: Philosophy, University of Washington; B.A.: English, University of Washington; Ph.D.: English, Rutgers University
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Leisure Activities: I love spending time hiking with my kids
Research Interests: Twentieth-Century Poetry; Composition
Marie-Helene Bertino
Hometown: Philadelphia
Education: MFA Creative Writing (Fiction), CUNY Brooklyn College
NYU Position: Lecturer, Classics
Favorite Books: The Little Prince
Favorite Leisure Activity: walking, running, hiking, singing
Research Interests: The Uncanny, Women in Surrealism, Film, Stand-up comedians
Emanuela Bianchi
Hometown: London, UK
Education: B.Sc. in Human Sciences, Sussex University (UK); M.A. in Philosophy, Sussex Univerity (UK), Ph.D. in Philosophy, New School for Social Research
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Comparative Literature Departmentsor, Comparative Literature Department
Reserch Interests: Ancient Greek Phil
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Alberto Bisin
Hometown: Milan, Italy
Education: B.A. in Economics, Bocconi University (Milan, Italy); M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago
NYU Position: Professor, Economics Department
Favorite Books: The bones of cuttlefish (Ossi di seppia), Eugenio Montale
Favorite Leisure Activity: Motorcycle riding
Research Interests: Math Econ, Social Economics, Historical Economics
Renee Blake
Hometown: New York
Education: B.Sc.: Biology, Stanford University M.A.: Linguistics, Stanford University Ph.D.: Linguistics, Stanford University
NYU Position: Associate Professor Department of Linguistics Department of Social and Cultural Analysis (Director, Africana Studies) CLACS (Affiliated)
Justin Blau
Hometown: London, UK
Education: BA in Biology (Cambridge, UK); PhD in molecular biology(London, UK).
NYU Position: Professor & Chair of Biology
Favorite Books: Immortality by Stephen Cave; The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Favorite Leisure Activity: Handboarding; Body surfing; Skiing; Meditation
Research Interests: The neurobiology of circadian rhythms
First-Generation College Student? No
Paul Boghossian
Hometown: Haifa, Israel
Education: B.Sc. in Physics, Trent University, PhD in Philosophy, Princeton University
NYU Position: Silver Professor of Philosophy- Director, NY Institute of Philosophy- Director, Global Institute for Advanced Study
Favorite Books: Doktor Faustus, Anna Karenina, Hamlet, Philosophical Investigations
Favorite Leisure Activities: Playing the piano
Research Interests: Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, Aesthetics/Philosophy of Music
Benoit Bolduc
Hometown: Montréal, Canada
Education: B.A., M.A. and PhD Université de Montréal (Canada)
NYU Position: Professor; French Literature, Thought and Culture Department
Kathryn Bonnen
Hometown: Austin, TX
Education: B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Psychology, Michigan State University, Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin
NYU Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Favorite Books: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Spindle's End by Robin McKinley, Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same…" an excerpt from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If."
Robert Boynton
Hometown: New York City
Education: BA in Philosophy and Religion, Haverford College; MA in Political Science, Yale University
NYU Position: Professor, Director of Literary Reportage program, Journalism Department
Favorite Books: Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower, anything by Michael Lewis
Favorite Leisure Activity: Tennis, reading
Research Interests: East Asian Studies, Japan and North Korea in particular. Also literary journalism
Favorite Quote: I am generally not inspired by quotes but by people.
Bruce D Bromley
Hometown: East Hampton, NY
Education: Composition, piano, and voice: Berklee College of Music; B.A. in English Literature, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Columbia University; M.A. NYU; Ph.D. NYU.
NYU Position: Senior Lecturer, Expository Writing
Favorite Books: Garth Greenwell _Cleanness; Ocean Vuong _On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous; Deborah Levy _The Cost of Living; Virginia Woolf _To the Lighthouse.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Swimming, running, dancing.
Research Interests: Comparative Literature; Plato Studies; Animal Studies; Woolf Studies; Environmental Studies.
Favorite Quote: "You must change your life." - Rainer Maria Rilke.
Teon Brooks
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Education: B.S.: Psychology and Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.A: Experimental Psychology, New York University Ph.D. (in progress): Experimental Psychology, New York University
Favorite Books: Black Boy, Richard Wright; Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin; Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Favorite Leisure Activities: Traveling, Hiking, Biking, Ballroom and Latin Dancing
Research Interests: Lexical representation and sematic memory in the brain
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Speech is social magic.” ~Firth
Adam Brown
Hometown: New York, NY
Education: B.A. in Psychology, SUNY Purchase, Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Andrea Brown
Hometown: La Habra, CA
Education: B.A. in Philosophy, UC Berkeley; M.A. in International Education, New York University
NYU Position: Undergraduate Advisor, Journalism
Favorite Books: First Stop in the New World by David Lida; The Duty of Genius by Ray Monk; anything by David Sedaris
Favorite Leisure Activity: Beach day!
Research Interests: Access, equity, and diversity in higher education; affirmative action; student motivation; intergroup dynamics; and implicit bias.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ― Maya Angelou
Daniela Buccella
Hometown: New York, NY
Education: B.S. in Chemistry, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela; Ph.D. in Chemistry, Columbia University, New York; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Chemistry
Research Interests: Bioinorganic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Molecular Imaging
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
Hometown: New York
Education: B.A. in Political Science, Queens College of CUNY, MA and Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Michigan (Honorary Doctorates from U of Groningen in the Netherlands and U of Haifa in Israel)
NYU Position: Julius Silver Professor of Politics
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, travel
Favorite Books: A Christmas Carol, Constantine and the Bishops
Research Interests: Political economy of development, governance
Favorite Inspirational Quote: You can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes you might find, you get what you need.
Oliver Buhler
Hometown: Berlin, Germany
Education: M.S.E: Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan Dipl.-Ing: Physical Engineering, TU Berlin (Germany) Ph.D: Applied Mathematics, University of Cambridge (UK) 1996
NYU Position: Professor of Mathematics and Atmosphere Ocean Science
John Burdick
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Education: B.A. in Sociology and American Studies, SUNY Buffalo; M.A. in American Studies, SUNY Buffalo; (soon to be completed) Ph.D. in Transnational Studies, SUNY Buffalo
NYU Position: CAS: Associate Director of Academic Support
Favorite Books: Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom - bell hooks, Living a Feminist Life - Sara Ahmed, Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire, The Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon, Sister Outsider - Audrey Lorde, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander, The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism - Jodi Byrd, Sweetness and Power - Sidney Mintz, Racial Indigestion - Kyla Wazana Tompkins
Samantha Busa
Hometown: Mount Laurel, NJ
Education: B.A. Psychology, Muhlenberg College, MA School Psychology at Yeshiva University, PsyD School-Clinical Psychology, Yeshiva University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor. NYU Child Study Center
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cooking
Research Interests: Dissemination of evidence based practices for anxiety and mood disorders for transgender youth
Favorite Inspriational Quote: Be yourself, everyone else is taken.
Stephen Butler
Hometown: Woodside, Queens, NYC
Education: B.A.: English, Iona College; M.A.: English, City College of New York; Ph.D: Modern History and Literature, Drew University
NYU Position: Expository Writing Program, CAS, New York University
Favorite Books: A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man, James Joyce; Ulysses, James Joyce The Confessions of St. Augustine; The Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez; Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Joan Didion; Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading, Writing, Thinking, James Joyce
Research Interests: Irish-American Studies
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Latent in every act of complete reading is the compulsion to write a book in reply. The intellectual is, quite simply, a human being who has a pencil in his or her hand when reading a book" (from George Steiner's “The Uncommon Reder”)
Joe Califf
Hometown: Rutherford, NJ
Education: B.S. in Evolutionary Anthropology, Rutgers University; M.A. and Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology, NYU
NYU Position: Lecturer, Expository Writing
Favorite Books: The Trouble With Testosterone and A Primate's Memoir (both by Robert Sapolsky); Animal Farm (Orwell); Trout Fishing in America and In Watermelon Sugar (Richard Brautigan)
Favorite Leisure Activity: being outside (running, walking, sitting, looking)
Research Interests: Evolution of social behavior; behavioral endocrinology; cognitive evolution; human evolution; science education; history of science and medicine; pedagogy
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." -Richard Feynman
First-Generation College Student? No
James Canary
Hometown: Sparks, NV
Education: B.S. in Chemistry, UC Berkeley; Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, UCLA; Postdoctoral fellowship, Columbia U
NYU Position: Professor and Chair, Chemistry Department
Research Interests: Molecular switches
Amanda Capelli
Hometown: Goshen, NY
Education: BA in Secondary Education, SUNY Cortland MA in English Literature, SUNY New Paltz Ph.D. in Literature, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
NYU Position: Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston); The Awakening (Kate Chopin); The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway); As I Lay Dying (Faulkner); Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)...There are so many. This is just what's on the "my favorite reads" bookshelf currently.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Long Walks with Dogs on winter beaches
Research Interests: American Literature, Madness and gender, Feminist Literary Criticism
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Write it, damn you, write it! What else are you good for? (James Joyce)
Sylvain Cappell
Hometown: Bronx, NY
Education: B.A. in Math., Columbia College, Columbia University, 1966; Ph.D. in Math., Princeton University, 1969
NYU Position: Silver Professor, Mathematics, Courant Institute
Reserch Interests: Topology and related areas of Mathematics
Tom Carew
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Education: 1966 B.A. Psychology - Loyola University of Los Angeles. Cum Laude
1967 M.A. Physiological Psychology - California State College at Los Angeles
1970 Ph.D. Physiological Psychology - University of California at Riverside
1984 M.A. Yale University
NYU Position: Professor of Neural Science, Faculty of Arts and Science
Research Interests: Neuroscience
Katherine Carlson
Hometown: Lansing, MI
Education: B.A. in English, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; M.A. in Humanities and Social Thought, New York University; M.F.A. in Fiction, New York University
NYU Position: Senior Lecturer in Expository Writing
Favorite Books: The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro; Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh; Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith; The Braindead Megaphone, George Saundrers
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running, biking
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "I've seen time and time again the way that the process of trying to say something dignifies and improves a person.” --George Saunders
Jennifer Cayer
Hometown: New Britain, CT
Education: BA in Literature and TESOL certification, American University; MPhil. and PhD in Comparative Literature, New York University
NYU Position: Senior Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red
Favorite Leisure Activity: Yoga, Biking
Research Interests: Modern and Contemporary Drama; Theater Studies; Intersections of Literary and Visual Art; Creative Nonfiction; Gender Studies and Feminist Theory; Performance Studies and Cultural Theory; Writing Pedagogies & Practices
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Ignorance, far more than knowledge, is what can never be taken for granted. If I perceive my ignorance as a gap in knowledge instead of an imperative that changes the very nature of what I think I know, then I do not truly experience my ignorance.” - Barbara Johnson, from A World of Difference
Jonathon Cayer
Hometown: Victoriaville, Quebec
Education: B.A. in Classics and Western Civilization and Culture, Concordia University in Montreal, M.Phil in Medieval Studies, Yale University, Ph.D. in French, Yale University
NYU Position: Lecturer, French Literature, Culture and Thought Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Walking around NYC
Research Interests: French literature, Medieval literature, Franco-American culture
Antoine Cerfon
Hometown: Strasbourg, France
Education: B.S.: Mathematics and Physics, Ecole des Mines de Paris, France M.Sc.: Nuclear Science and Engineering, Ecole des Mines de Paris, France Ph.D.: Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT
NYU Position: Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Favorite Books: Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies' Delight) by Emile Zola Quatrevingt-treize (Ninety-Three) by Victor Hugo Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Favorite Leisure Activities: Skiing
Research Interests: Numerical methods for plasma physics, Nuclear fusion, Energy policy
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel Beckett
Marianne Chai
Hometown: Pompton Plains, NJ
Education: B.A. in Environmental Science, Barnard College, M.D. from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, postgraduate medical training in Psychiatry (general, child and adolescent and addiction) at the NYU School of Medicine.
NYU Position: Clinical Instructor, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies Department
Favorite Books: Celine, Journey to the End of the Night
Favorite Leisure Activity: Dancing, walking, playing music
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. ~Oscar Wilde
Kanchan Chandra
Hometown: New Delhi, India
Education: Ph.D. in Government, Harvard University
NYU Position: Professor, Politics
First-Generation College Student? No
Sylvain Chassang
Hometown: Versailles, France
Education: MS Mathematics, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris; PhD Economics, MIT
NYU Position: Professor, Economics
Favorite Books: Mikhail Bulgakov, John Steinbeck, Jorn Riel, Nicolas Bouvier, Ivo Andric
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking
Research Interest: Microeconomics
Kyunghyun Cho
Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Education: B.Sc. in Computer Science, KAIST (Korea); M.Sc. in Information and Computer Science, Aalto University (Finland); Ph.D. in Computer Science, Aalto University (Finland)
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department
Research Interests: Machine Learning
Andrei Cimpian
Hometown: Constanta, Romania
Education: BA in Psychology and Philosophy, Franklin & Marshall College (PA), PhD in Psychology, Stanford University (CA)
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Psychology Department
Research Interests: I am a developmental psychologist. I study what keeps youth motivated in school and some of the societal barriers they may encounter along the way (like stereotypes). You can read more about my research here: http://cimpianlab.com
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Life isn’t about finding yourself: it is about creating yourself.
Corrin Clarkson
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Education: Mathematics A.B. University of Chicago, Mathematics Ph.D. Columbia University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Mathematics Department
Favorite Books: Asimov's I Robot, Brennan's A Natural History of Dragons, Dürrenmatt's Die Physiker, Krieger's Nina Here Nor There, Sartre's Les Jeux Sont Faits
Favorite Leisure Activity: Contra dancing, knitting
Research Interests: Low dimensional topology
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “We would never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.” ~Hellen Keller
Joshua Clayton
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Education: M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications, New York University; B.F.A, Western Michigan University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Travel
Research Interests: Art and computational media
Favorite Inspirational Quote: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
Brigid Cohen
Hometown: Dallas, TX
Education: B.A.: in Music, Wellesley College; M.Mus. in Musicology, King's College, University of London; Ph.D. in Historical Musicology, Harvard University
NYU Position: Associate Professor of Music
Favorite Books: Parade's End Tetralogy, Burger's Daughter, Wide Sargasso Sea, Dracula, The Bluest Eye, Beyond Black, Dubliners, To the Lighthouse, Persuasion, Middlemarch, NW, Swing Time, Midnight's Children, The Secret Agent, milkman
Favorite Leisure Activity: reading, listening to music, knitting, watching movies, cooking, yoga, walking in the city.
Research Interests: music and migration
Richard Cole
Hometown: London
Education: BA Mathematics, Oxford 1978; MS Computer Science 1980, PhD Computer Science 1982, Cornell
NYU Position: Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, reading
Research Interests: Algorithmic economics and game theory; algorithm design and analysis more generally
Alexandra Cordero
(Proud to Be First Leadership Team)
Hometown: New York, NY
Education: BA, Psychology, Harvard University;
MA, Counseling & Guidance-Bilingual, New York University, PhD, Counseling Psychology, New York University
NYU Position: Assistant Director of Proud to Be First, Academic Programs
Favorite Books: Books on mindfulness
Alison Cornish
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Education: BA in English, University of California, Berkeley MA in Medieval Studies, Cornell University PhD in Italian, Stanford University
NYU Position: Professor and Chair, Italian Studies
Favorite Books: Dante's Divine Comedy, Pullman's The Golden Compass, Augustine's Confessions
Favorite Leisure Activities: Walking, biking, paddle-boarding
Research Interests: Medieval Italian Literature, especially Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, science and literature, theology and literature
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.” ― G.K. Chesterton
Ludovic Cortade
Hometown: Collioure, France
Education: Ph.D. University of Paris (Sorbonne), Ecole Normale Supérieure
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, French Literature, Thought and Culture Department
Ailis Cournane
Hometown: Montreal, QC, Canada
Education: B.A. in Linguistics, Studio Art, Concordia University (Montréal), MA & PhD in Linguistics, University of Toronto
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Linguistics Department
Favorite Books: The Brief & Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Favorite Leisure Activity: Knitting
Research Interests: Child language development, Language change, Semantics
Sarah Cowan
Hometown: Glen Cove, NY
Education: B.A.: Ethics, Politics and Economics, Yale; Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography, UC Berkeley
NYU Position: Assistant Professor of Sociology
Pam Crabtree
Hometown: Jackson Heights, Queens and Stony Brook, Long Island
Education: B.A, in Art History and Economics, Barnard College, MA and PhD in Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
NYU Position: Professor of Anthropology
Favorite Books: Murder mysteries
Favorite Leisure Activity: Swimming and walking.
Research Interests: Archaeology
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “There are in nature neither rewards or punishments, only consequences.” Robert Ingersoll
Maureen Craig
Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
Education: B.A. in Psychology, Purdue University; M.S. & Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Northwestern University
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Psychology Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running & hiking
Research Interests: Intergroup relations; diversity; political psychology
Favorite Inspirational Quote: I am generally not inspired by quotes but by people.
David Cregar
Hometown: Hopatcong, NJ
Education: B.A., English; M.A., American & Comparative Literature, Montclair State University
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer, Expository Writing
Research Interests: Second Language Learners; Rhetoric & Composition
First-Generation College Student? No
Jennifer Crodelle
Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY
Education: PhD in Mathematics
NYU Position: Postdoctoral research fellow
Favorite Books: The Giver, The Help, all Harry Potter books!
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, watching TV, reading trashy novels
Research Interests: Computational neuroscience
Favorite Inspirational Quote: All models are wrong, some are useful
Christine Thu Nhi Dang
Hometown: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Education: B.A.: Liberal Arts, St. John's College - Santa Fe; M.A.: Eastern Classics, St. John's College - Santa Fe; Ph.D.: Ethnomusicology, University of Pennsylvania
NYU Position: Assistant Professor of Music
Research Interests: Music, religion, and politics; Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism; ethnography; the global south; urbanism; African studies; ethnic, racial, and spiritual diasporas; Vietnam
Gita DasBender
Hometown: Maplewood, NJ; Kolkata, India
Education: B.A. in English, M.A. in English, Rutgers University--Newark, Ph.D. in English Education, New York University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, Charles Seife
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running, cooking, gardening
Research Interests: Second language writing, transfer theory, writing center theory, global teacher training
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Lisa Davidson
Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY
Education: B.A. in Linguistics and Hispanic Studies, Brown University, M.A. and PhD in Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
NYU Position: Professor
Favorite Books: Kindred by Octavia Butler, Collapse by Jared Diamond, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Favorite Leisure Activity: Playing bass and guitar, hiking, exploring NYC
Research Interests: Phonetics (how we produce & perceive the sounds of the world's languages), second language acquisition
Lourdes Dávila
Hometown: Río Piedras Puerto Rico
Education: BA in Romance Languages, Harvard University; PhD in Latin American Literature, Harvard University
NYU Position: Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Favorite Books: To the Lighthouse; Rayuela; All of Borges; Puerto Rican literature
Favorite Leisure Activity: I am a dancer by profession; dance, movies; hiking; swimming
Research Interests: Movement and literature; photography and literature
Robyn d'Avignon
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Education: B.A. in Anthropology and Literature, Washington University in St. Louis; Ph.D. in Anthropology and History, University of Michigan
NYU Position: Assistant Professor of African History
Favorite Books: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running, Exploring NYC, Rummaging through Yard Sales
Research Interests: West Africa; science, nature, and technology
Favorite Inspirational Quote: What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
Patti Davis
Hometown: Toledo, OH
Education: B.A: Psychology, University of Toledo; M.A. Higher Education and Student Affairs, Indiana University
NYU Position: Associate Director, College Advising Center
Favorite Books: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Doris Kearns Goodwin; Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown; A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens; Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Favorite Leisure Activities: Swimming, puzzles
Tyrell Davis
Hometown: Queens, NY
Education: B.S. in Civil Engineering, Syracuse University, M.A. in Higher Education Administration, New York University
NYU Position: Associate Director, Engineering and Transfer Advising
Favorite Books: Manchild in the Promised Land, Shantaram, Devil in the White City, There are No Children Here
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading, Movies
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Life is in the details
Smaran Dayal
Hometown: Bombay, India
Education: B.A. in English and American Studies, University of Freiburg; M.A. in American Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin
NYU Position: Ph.D. Candidate and Adjunct Instructor; Comparative Literature
Favorite Books: Octavia Butler, Xenogenesis; Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children; Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia; Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed; Angela Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete?; Audra Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus
Favorite Leisure Activities: Biking, swimming, walking the city
Research Interests: Postcolonial Studies, Science Fiction, Queer Theory, African American Literature, Global Anglophone Literature
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "There's nothing new under the sun. But there are new suns." -Octavia E. Butler
First-Generation College Student? yes
Jacob Denz
Hometown: Greenwood, IN
Education: B.A. in German, Princeton University
NYU Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Teaching Assistant
Favorite Books: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, Irit Linur; Elective Affinities, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Michael Kohlhaas, Heinrich von Kleist; Capital, Thomas Piketty ; Critique of the Power of Judgment, Immanuel Kant; Phenomenology of Spirit, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Favorite Leisure Activities: Running
Research Interests: German Idealism, Marxism, Critical Theory, Law and Literature, History of Emotion, Feminist Theory, Queer Theory
Favorite Inspirational Quote: But what force on Earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one? The Union makes us strong! ~Ralph Chaplin
Seema Desai
Hometown: Randolph New Jersey
Education: BA Johns Hopkins University Anthropology/Minor in South Asian and Hispanic Italian Studies, MD Georgetown University, Psychiatry Resdency UC Irvine, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship UCLA Harbor Medical Center
NYU Position: Course Instructor CAMS
Favorite Books: Americanah, Books on south asian culture, Mindfulness practice books
Favorite Leisure Activity: Yoga
Research Interests: Mindfulness, contemplative studies & mental health
Claude Desplan
Hometown: Paris
Education: B.S.: Ecole Normale Superieure de St Cloud; PhD, Université de Paris VII
NYU Position: Professor, Department of Biology
Favorite Books: Marguerite Yourcenar: Memoirs of Hadrian
Favorite Leisure Activities: Cooking, Traveling
Research Interests: Developmental neurobiology, Vision
Rebecca Diamond
Hometown: East Meadow, NY
Education: B.A.: Communication, University of Pennsylvania, M.A., Social Organizational Psychology, Columbia University
NYU Position: Associate Director, Engineering & Transfer Student Programs
Favorite Leisure Activities: Practicing Yoga
Yamalis Diaz
Hometown: Riverside, NJ
Education: B.A. Double-major in Psyc/Sociology, Criminology Certificate, Rutgers University; PhD Clinical Child Psychology, University of Maryland-College Park
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. ~Oscar Wilde
Hasia Diner
Hometown: Milwaukee
Education: BA History, University of Wisconsin; MA History and Teaching, University of Chicago; Phd History University of Illinois Chicago
NYU Position: Professor, History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies Department
Favorite Books: Many!
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading, theater, movies, hiking
Research Interests: United States immigration history, American Jewish history
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Hang in there
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Eric Dickson
Hometown: Long Beach, California
Education: B.S., Physics, Caltech (1996); M.A., Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton (1997); A.M., Political Science, Harvard (1999); Ph.D., Political Science, Harvard (2003)
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Politics
Research Interests: Originally trained as a theoretical physicist, my academic research studies political societies from strategic and psychological perspectives: Why do citizens believe what they believe about power structures and the world around them? How do individuals' identities and motivations shape their understandings of political reality? This research combines experimental methods drawn from social psychology and behavioral economics with mathematical, game-theoretic models of human behavior. Apart from my academic endeavors, I also make artworks that probe related questions and explore the frontier between storytelling and installation art through interactive audio installations that embrace literary, technical, and site-specific challenges.
Leconte Dill
Hometown: South Central Los Angeles, CA
Education: B.A. in Sociology, Spelman College; MPH in Community Health Sciences, University of California Los Angeles; DrPH, University of California Berkeley
NYU Position: Director of Public Health Practice and Clinical Associate Professor
Favorite Books: Beloved, Parable of the Sower, Blues: For All the Changes, For Colored Girls Who Gave Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf
Favorite Leisure Activity: Creative Writing
Research Interests: Urban Adolescent Health; Resilience; Riolence Prevention; Arts-Based Research Methods; Black Girlhood Studies
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "And I still hunt for language to gather into a poem - that I pray will feed those like me, in need of proof they are not alone." - Suheir Hammad
Carolyn Dinshaw
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Education: A.B. Bryn Mawr College, PhD Princeton University
NYU Position: Silver Professor of English and of Social and Cultural Analysis
Lorraine Doran
Hometown: Wallington, New Jersey
Education: B.A. in English and Political Science, Rutgers College; J.D., NYU School of Law; M.F.A. in Poetry, NYU Creative Writing Program
NYU Position: Senior Lecturer, Expository Writing
Favorite Books: Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Favorite Leisure Activities: Writing poems, taking road trips, seeing live music
Research Interests: Law in literature and popular culture
First-Generation? yes
Andrea Dortmann
Hometown: Linz am Rhein, Germany
Education: (Equivalent of) B.A.: Romance Languages, German, and Comparative Literature, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitaet Bonn, Germany; M.A.: French and Comparative Literature, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany; Ph.D.: German Literature, New York University
NYU Position: Director of German Language Program
Timothy Duffy
Hometown: Woburn, MA
Education: A.B.: English Literature, College of the Holy Cross; Ph.D. in English Literature, University of Virginia
NYU Position: Assistant Professor/ Faculty Fellow of Comparative Literature
Favorite Books: Dante's Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri; Junot Diaz's This is How You Lose Her Renaissance Comparative Literature (English, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish)
Research Interests: Spatial philosophy and the history of Cartography, Renaissance Devotional practice, Literary Theory
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Fail better”
Michelle Dyke
Hometown: Beverly, MA
Education: BA in Philosophy, Yale; PhD in Philosophy, NYU
NYU Position: Postdoctoral Lecturer, Dept. of Philosophy (2018-2019), Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow, Center for Bioethics (2019-)
Favorite Books: Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury), A Naked Singularity (Sergio de la Pava), A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (David Hume)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cooking, Ballet
Research Interests: Ethics, Meta-Ethics, Epistemology
Brittany Edghill
Hometown: Queens, New York
Education: B.S. in Community Health, CUNY Hunter; M.P.A in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy, NYU Wagner (Class of 2022)
NYU Position: Program Administrator, Undergraduate Programs; Global Public Health
Favorite Books: Small Island by Andrea Levy; Born a Crime by Trevor Noah; The Memo by Minda Harts
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading (especially Caribbean literature, Afrofuturism and Fantasy)
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” - Zora Neale Hurston
First-Generation? yes
Chris Edling
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Education: B.A. from USC, M.F.A. in Writing (Nonfiction) and Certificate in Feminist Scholarship from Columbia University, CELTA certification from University of Cambridge
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program Department
Favorite Leisure Activities: Cooking, Reading, Travel, Meditation
Research Interests: Gender, Human Rights, Post-Soviet Eurasia
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” (E.B. White)
Frankie Edozien
Hometown: Asaba, Nigeria
Education: B.A:, Journalism New York University
NYU Position: Clinical Associate Professor
Favorite Books: Half of the Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; The Stranger, Albert Camus; One day I will Write About This Place Binyavanga Wainaina
Favorite Leisure Activities: Tennis
Research Interests: Africa, Healthcare, Politics
Favorite Inspirational Quote: You write in order to change the world ... if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.' - James Baldwin
Lindsey Edwards
Hometown: Lower Gwynedd, PA (Philadelphia area)
Education: Ph.D. in Sociology, Princeton University, M.A. in Sociology and Education, New York University, B.A. in Journalism, University of Maryland - College Park
NYU Position: Visiting Assistant Professor (current), Assistant Professor (starting Aug 2020) in Sociology
Favorite Books: So many! Just a few: The Bluest Eye (Morrison), Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston), The Kite Runner (Hosseini)
Favorite Leisure Activities: Spending time talking to loved ones, reading, yoga
Research Interests: Urban Poverty, Inequality and Stratification
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “There is no list of rules. There is one rule. The rule is: there are no rules.” - Shonda Rhimes
First-Generation College Student? No
Deena Engel
Hometown: New York City
Education: B.A. in French and German, Jackson College, Tufts University; M.A. in Comparative Literature, SUNY-Binghamton; M.S. in Computer Science, Courant Institute, NYU
NYU Position: Clinical Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Books: GODEL, ESCHER, BACH by Douglas Hofstadter
Favorite Leisure Activity: Music and art: I play the flute and I love to draw and paint.
Research Interests: Computer applications and approaches in the Humanities and the Arts
Karyn Faber
Hometown: Bronx, NY
Education: BA in Women's Studies, University of California Berkeley; MPH in Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Ed.D. in Health Education, Columbia University Teachers College.
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor and Director, Global Public Health
First-Gen? yes
Alexandra Falek
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Education: Ph.D. in Latin American Literature and Language, NYU
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer
Favorite Leisure Activity: Watching films, Translating/Writing, Reading, Pottery
Research Interests: Border Studies, Visual Arts, Translation Studies
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "Reveal the nature of your curiosity. Challenge your assumptions and the assumptions of culture. Go forth and be as convincing and compelling as possible. … Go deep and go with conviction." —Ken Schles
Rebecca Falkoff
Hometown: Watertown, MA
Education: B.A. in English and Comparative Literature at University of Pennsylvania; M.A. and Ph.D. in Italian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley
Favorite Books: Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Italian Studies Department
Favorite Book: The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
Favorite Leisure Activity: Stand-up comedy
Research Interests: Hoarding
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Umana cosa è l'avere compassione degli afflitti.
First-Generation College Student? No
Glennys Farrar
Hometown: My dad was in the army and I traveled all around
Education: B.A in Physics, U. C. Berkeley; Ph. D. in Physics, Princeton Univ.
NYU Position: Professor, Physics Department
Favorite Books: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Favorite Leisure Activity: Rock-climbing, mountaineering, skiing, opera, music
Research Interests: Fundamental physics and cosmology
Zixuan Feng
Hometown: China
Education: B.A. in Chemistry, Colorado State University
NYU Position: PhD student/ Teaching assistant, Chemistry
First-Generation? yes
André Fenton
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario (born Georgetown Guyana)
Education: B.Sc. Biology, McGill U.; Ph.D. SUNY, Downstate Medical Center
NYU Position: Professor, Neural Science
Favorite Books: Heart of Darkness, L'Etranger
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking
Research Interests: Neurobiology of learning and memory
Favorite Inspirational Quote: What you think, you become
Ada Ferrer
Hometown: Havana, Cuba and West New York, NJ
Education: A.B.: English, Vassar College M.A.: History, University of Texas in Austin Ph.D.: History, University of Michigan
NYU Position: Professor of History of Latin American and Caribbean Studies; CAS Director of Undergraduate Research
Sibylle Fischer
Hometown: Immigrated from Germany
Education: M.A. Free University Berlin, PhD Columbia
NYU Position: Associate professor, Spanish, History, CLACS
Favorite Books: Caribbean literature
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking
Research Interests: Caribbean culture and politics, Haiti
David Fitch
Hometown: New York
Education: A.B. in Biology, Dartmouth College; Ph.D. in Genetics, University of Connecticutc
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Origin of Species (Darwin), To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer), The Mismeasure of Man (Gould), Dune (Herbert), My Eighty Years in China (Fitch)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Iaido, Piano
Research Interests: Evolution and developmental genetics
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
First-Generation College Student? No
Jameson Fitzpatrick
Hometown: Simsbury, CT
Education: B.A. in Individualized Study (“Poetics of Desire”), New York University; M.F.A. in Creative Writing–Poetry, New York University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading
Research Interests: Queer literature, contemporary literature (poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction), gender and sexuality in popular culture
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Dr. Corner West: “Justice is what love looks like in public.”
Ben Fleming
Hometown: Regina, Sk. Canada
Education: B.F.A. University of Regina; M.A. Religious Studies, University of Regina; Ph.D. Religious Studies, McMaster University
NYU Position: Adjunct Instructor, Religious Studies
Favorite Books: Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky); The Gift (M. Mauss); The Art of the Book in India (J.P. Losty); The Dark Knight Returns (F. Miller); Much Maligned Monsters (P. Mitter).
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cello and camping
Research Interests: South Asian literature, history, and art. Asian Religions. Śaivism
Juliet Fleming
Hometown: A village in the UK and have lived in NYC for 12 years
Education: BA in English Cambridge University (UK), PhD in English, University of Pennsylvania
NYU Position: Professor, English Department
Favorite Books: Too many to list
Favorite Leisure Activity: Drinking tea and talking to my dog
Research Interests: Literary theory, history of graffiti
David Foley
Hometown: Hamilton, Massachusetts
Education: B.A.: English and Drama, Catholic University of America; M.F.A.: Creative Writing, New York University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “I believe we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes the shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some areas an athlete of God. To practice means to perform, in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” —Martha Graham
David Forgacs
Hometown: London
Education: MA, MPhil Oxford, Ph.D. Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa
NYU Position: Zerilli-Marimò Professor of Contemporary Italian Studies
Research Interests: Cultural and media history 19th-21st centuries, cinema studies
Paulette Forte
Hometown: New York, NY via Kingston, Jamaica
Education: B.A.: Psychology, Prairie View A&M University; M.S.: Counseling, SUNY Albany Ph.D.: Psychology, Columbia University
NYU Position: Adjunct Associate Professor, M.A.: Program in I/O Psychology
Favorite Books: Anything by Anthony C. Winkler or J. California Cooper
Favorite Leisure Activities: Eating Well - I'm a Foodie!
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela
Nicole Foubister
Hometown: Middletown, NJ
Education: B.A. in Biology Rutgers College, M.D. MCP Hahnemann University
NYU Position: Assistant Clinical Professor Child Psychiatry
Favorite Books: The Scarlet Letter
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Never, ever, ever give up. ~Winston Churchill
Richard Gallagher
Hometown: Clarks Summit, PA
Education: B.A. - dual major - Psychology and Sociology, University of Rochester; Ph.D. - Clinical Psychology, Temple University
NYU Position: Associate Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychiatry (Clinical)
Favorite Books: Personality and Assessment - Walter Mischel; Reflections on Behaviorism and Society - B.F. Skinner; Biographies; Science Fiction; Marvel Comics
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running and biking; Photography
Research Interests: Assessment and treatment of childhood disorders; recent research on academic performance and organizational skills in attention deficit hyperactivity disorders; clinical evaluation of treatments for selective mutism
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “There but for the grace of God go I.” ~unclear author.
Alys George
Hometown: Plymouth, MA
Education: B.A. in International Relations, University of Delaware; B.A. in German, University of Delaware; Ph.D. in German Studies, Stanford University
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Global Coordinator, German Department
Edwin Gerber
Hometown: Manchester, CT
Education: B.S. in Mathematics and Chemistry, University of the South; Ph.D. Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Mathematics Department
Favorite Books: Mason & Dixon
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cycling
Research Interests: Climate change
Favorite Quote: Too much sanity may be madness, but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be. ~Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
Dennis Geronimus
Hometown: New York
Education: B.A. in Art History and English, Williams College, Mass.; M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History, University of Oxford, UK
NYU Position: Associate Professor and Chair, Art History
Favorite Books: Anything by Lewis Carroll; J.R.R. Tolkien; Jorge Luis Borges; Vladimir Nabokov; F. Scott Fitzgerald; J.D. Salinger; Italo Calvino; W.B. Yeats; W.H. Auden; and Ted Hughes.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Tennis
Research Interests: Italian Renaissance Art
Favorite Quote: “So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.” -- Dr. Seuss
Andrew Getzfeld
Hometown: New York , NY
Education: B.A.: Psychology, Vassar College; MSSW, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ph.D.: School Psychology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
NYU Position: Adjunct Associate Professor, GSAS-Psychology
Favorite Leisure Activities: Travel South East Asia, Plays, movies, gaming on the PS4 or XBox1
Research Interests: Abnormal Psychology, specifically eating disorders
Favorite Quote: “Out of Confusion comes Enlightenment” ~Milton Erickson
Amakoe Gbedemah
Hometown: New York
Education: B.A. in Mathematics, Queens College, M.A. in Mathematics, Queens College, Ph.D. in Mathematics, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Position: Lecturer, Mathematics
Favorite Leisure Activities: Riding a motorcycle
Research Interests: In matrix algebra, convex geometry, analysis, and matrix inequalities. In particular, my research lies in developing more analogous inequalities seen in convex geometry using positive symmetric matrices instead of convex bodies and developing some applications.
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Ernest Gilman
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Education: B.A. MA and Ph.D in English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
NYU Position: Adjunct Associate Professor, GSAS-Psychology
Research Interests: English Renaissance literature, visual culture, the literature of medicine and disease
Favorite Quote: “When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’” – Sydney Harris
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Burt Goldberg
Hometown: New York City
Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, George Washington University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Drawing
Favorite Inspirational Quote: And I took the one less traveled....
Carlos Varón González
Hometown: Almería (Spain)
Education: B.A. in Spanish, Universidad de Almería (Spain); MA in Hispanic Studies, University of Washington; PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University
NYU Position: Faculty Fellow, Spanish and Portuguese Department
Favorite Books: Rayuela (Hopscotch), by Julio Cortázar
Favorite Leisure Activity: Soccer
Research Interests: Literature, Popular culture, Political philosophy
Jennifer Gordon
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Education: Ph.D in 18th-C French Literature, NYU
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer, French Department
Favorite Books: A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry; Essais, Michel de Montaigne; The Museum of Innocence, Orhan Pamuk; American Pastoral, Philip Roth, 1Q84, Haruki Murakami; Netherland, Joseph Mitchell; Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale-Hurston; all of Samuel Beckett (including the novels and essays) .. the list could go on for pages :-)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading ! And cooking (trained chef)
Favorite Quote: I am generally not inspired by quotes but by people.
Sanford C. Gordon
Hometown: New Rochelle, NY
Education: BA in Government and in History, Cornell University; MA and PhD in Politics, Princeton University
NYU Position: Professor and Chair, Department of Politics
Favorite Books: Master of the Senate by Robert Caro; Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson; Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Favorite Leisure Activity: Photography; piano
Research Interests: US political institutions; private influence in policymaking; electoral accountability; legitimacy
Allan Gottlieb
Hometown: Elmont, NY
Education: B.A MIT, M.S. ,and Ph.D. in Mathematics, Brandeis.
NYU Position: Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Books: Tom Clancy
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading / Watching NY Jets
Research Interests: Computer Architecture (parallel processing)
Favorite Inspirational Quote: It is not what they take away from you that counts. It is what you do with what you have left. -Hubert Humphrey
Michah Gottlieb
Hometown: Montreal, QC
Education: BA Philosophy, McGill University, MA, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, NYU, PHD Philosophy Indiana University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Hebrew and Judaic Studies
Research Interests: Ethics
First-Generation College Student? No
Bruce Grant
Hometown: Toronto
Education: BA in Cultural Anthropology McGill; PhD in Cultural Anthropology, Rice University
NYU Position: Professor, Anthropology Department
First-Generation College Student? No
Kris Gunsalus
Hometown: Urbana, IL
Education: BA in Chemistry and Biology, Cornell University; PhD, Genetics and Development, Cornell University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Biology Department
Favorite Books: Anything by Philip K. Dick
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, eating out with friends
Research Interests: Developmental systems, chemical genomics
Favorite Inspriational Quote: A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its former dimensions ~Oliver Wendell Holmes (paraphrase)
Gregory Guy
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Education: BA in English, Boston University; MA, PhD in Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
NYU Position: Professor, Linguistics Department
Favorite Books: Xenocide (O.S. Card), The Horse, the Wheel, and Language (D.W. Anthony)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Baseball
Reserch Interests: Language variation and change
Favorite Inspirational Quote: The acceptance of indeterminacy is the beginning of wisdom
Melanie Hackney
Hometown: Rockport, MA. But I consider myself a New Orleanian at heart.
Education: B.A. in French, Tulane University M.A. in French, University of South Florida Ph.D. in French Studies, Louisiana State University
NYU Position: Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Intermediate Level Coordinator Language, Lecturer, Department of French
Favorite Books: Partonopeu de Blois; Chaucer's Tales; Nana (Zola); Pride and Prejudice (Austen); Abundance (Jeter Naslund); Love, Lucy (Ball); Orality and Literacy (Ong); Rebecca (Du Maurier); The Giving Tree (Silverstein)
Favorite Leisure Activities: Travel
Research Interests: As a medievalist, I work on writing as technology in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance in France, Occitan lyric poetry, and the fabliaux. I also work on French New Wave cinema, and am in the process of creating a digital humanities tool for the study away cinema classroom.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page” ~Saint Augustine
John Halpin
Hometown: Troy, New York
Education: A.S. in Engineering Science, Hudson Valley Community College; B.S.: Chemistry, CAS, New York University; M.S.: Chemistry, GSAS; M.A.: Science Education (Steinhardt); Ph.D.: Chemistry, GSAS, New York University
NYU Position: Clinical Professor
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading
Research Interests: Chemical Education
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “If it doesn't challenge you, it can't change you.”
Soomie Han
Hometown: Hillsdale, New Jersey
Education: B.A.: Art and Biology, Williams College; J.D.: Columbia University School of Law
NYU Position: Assistant Dean for Academic Support Services; Director of the University Learning Center
Yukiko Hanawa
Hometown: Los Angeles, California & Tokyo, Japan
Education: B.A. in Communication Theory & Marine Biology, CSULB M.A. in Asian American Studies & Feminist Studies, CSULB M.A. in History, Stanford University Ph.D. in Asian Studies - Literature, Cornell University
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer, East Asian Department
Research Interests: Social justice and movements; feminist and gender research; history
Tara Hardy
Hometown: Hudson, New Hampshire
Education: B.M. in Music Education, New York University
NYU Position: Graduate Administrative Aide, NYU Department of Comparative Literature
Favorite Books: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, If Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body by James Hamblin
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading, playing clarinet, and petting dogs on the street
Catherine Hartley
Hometown: Riverside, CA
Education: B.S. in Symbolic Systems, Stanford University, Ph.D. in Psychology New York University
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Psychology Department
Research Interests: Developmental cognitive neuroscience
David Hogg
Hometown: Toronto
Education: PhD
NYU Position: Professor of Physics and Data Science
Favorite Books: Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair
Favorite Leisure Activity: Beach!
Research Interests: Planets around other stars, stars in our Galaxy
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ~MLKJr
Jennifer Homans
Hometown: Chicago
Education: Former professional dancer; BA Columbia University; PhD Modern European History NYU
NYU Position: Scholar in Residence; Founder and Director Center for Ballet and the Arts, History
Favorite Books: Don Quixote, War and Peace,
Favorite Leisure Activities: film, music, dancing
Research Interests: History of dance; cultural history
David Hoover
Hometown: New Paris, Indiana
Education: B.A. in English and Philosophy, Manchestor College (Indiana); M.A. and Ph.D. in English Language, Indiana University
NYU Position: Professor
Favorite Books: The Left Hand of Darkness, Riddley Walker, The Handmaid's Tale
Favorite Leisure Activity: Chess
Research Interests: Digital Humanities, Literary Style
Favorite Inspirational Quote:
such was a poet and shall be and is
—who'll solve the depths of horror to defend
a sunbeam's architecture with his life:
and carve immortal jungles of despair
to hold a mountain's heartbeat in his hand
Robert Hopkins
Hometown: Lancaster, Lancashire (UK)
Education: BA in Philosophy, University of Cambridge; MPhil in Philosophy, University College London; PhD in Philosophy, University of Cambridge
NYU Position: Professor Child Psychology
Favorite Books: The Charterhouse of Parma (Stendhal), The Imaginary (Sartre), A Handful of Dust (Evelyn Waugh)
Research Interests: Aesthetics and philosophy of mind: especially perception, the imagination, and picture perception, the aesthetics of the visual arts, and the nature and epistemology of aesthetic judgement.
Michael Hout
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Education: B.A.: History & Sociology, University of Pittsburgh; M.A., Ph.D.: Sociology, Indiana University
NYU Position: Professor of Sociology
Favorite Books: The American Occupational Structure, Peter Blau & Otis Dudley Duncan; The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters; Run by Ann Patchett; Life, Keith Richards (& James Fox); Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
Favorite Leisure Activities: Playing guitar
Research Interests: Social inequality, Social mobility, Demography, Sociology of religion
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Success cannot any more be directly inherited but must be legitimated by actual achievements that are socially acknowledged. ~Blau & Duncan
Robert Huddleston
Hometown: Washington D.C.
Education: B.A. in English, Dartmouth College, Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, M.F.A. in Creative Writing, New York University
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: Marry Shelley, Frankenstein, Stendhal, The Charterhouse of Parma, Hermann Broch, The Sleepwalkers
Favorite Leisure Activities: Performing and listening to music
Research Interests: Poetry and criticism, aesthetics and politics, philosophy
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "It must be a sign of talent that I do not give up, though I can get nobody to take an interest in my efforts." —Fanny Mendelssohn
Amy Huras
Hometown: Kitchener, Ontario (Canada)
Education: B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature, University of Guelph. M.Phil in Latin American Studies, Cambridge University. Ph.D. in History, University of Toronto.
NYU Position: Faculty Fellow, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Favorite Books: Harry Potter
Favorite Leisure Activity: Yoga
Research Interests: Colonial Latin America, social history of language (Spanish and Quechua)
Favorite Inspirational Quote: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Jennifer Hyde
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Education: BFA: Creative Writing, Pratt Institute; MFA: Creative Writing (Poetry), New York University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Artful, Ali Smith; A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit; The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem; Emily Dickinson: The Gorgeous Nothings edited by Marta Werner and Jen Bervin, The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam translated by Clarence Brown and WS Merwin; Derangements of My Contemporaries, poems by Li Shangyin translated by Chloe Garcia Roberts
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “The landscape in which identity is supposed to be grounded is not solid stuff; it's made out of memory and desire, rather than rock and soil.” ~Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost