Rohini Qamra
Hometown: India
Education: B.S. in Biochemistry, India; M.S. in Biochemistry, India; PhD in Biochemistry, India
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Chemistry Department
Favorite Books: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Favorite Leisure Activity: Swimming and walking
Research Interests: Language acquisition
Favorite Inspriational Quote: “Language is house of human being. The present is a present.”
Pablo Querubin
Hometown: Bogotá, Colombia
Education: BA and MA in Economics, Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) and PhD in Economics at the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT).
NYU Position: Associate Professor of Politics and Economics
Favorite Books: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Favorite Leisure Activity: Listening to Music and Watching Soccer
Research Interests: Politics of Developing Countries
Jenni Quilter
Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Education: BA in English Literature and Maori (Auckland University, New Zealand), M.Phil in Twentieth Century English Literature (Oxford University, UK), D.Phil in English Literature (Oxford University, UK).
NYU Position: Director of Global Awards, Clinical Assistant Professor, Global Awards / Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Naples 44 by Norman Lewis
Favorite Leisure Activity: Walking, or cycling.
Research Interests: Right now - reproductive histories of the United States. In the past, collaborations between visual artists and writers in New York from the 1930s to 70s.
Favorite Quote: “If I find out how to produce a certain change in the composition of my blood I want to know what it feels like to appreciate it as a fact of life as well as a fact of chemistry. Thus I regard it as interesting that, after taking the largest quantity of calcium chloride on record, I dreamt that Edward Lear had written and illustrated a life of Christ. It was a strange book, but not essentially irreverent. Unfortunately, the only detail of it which remains clearly in my memory is Pontius Pilate’s moustache.” ~J.B.S Haldane
Michael Ralph
Hometown: It's complicated
Education: PhD in Anthropology, University of Chicago; MA in Anthropology, University of Chicago; BA in Africana Studies, Morris Brown College
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Social and Cultural Analysis Department
Favorite Books: ASSATA by Assata Shakur; I WRITE WHAT I LIKE by Steve Biko; INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace; FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen; all of TONI MORRISON
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading, Basketball, Cooking
Research Interests: Citizenship; Sovereignty; Capitalism; Incarceration; Slavery; Sports
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Why shoot the breeze about it when you can be about it?” ~Nas
Ted Rappaport
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Education: BS, MS, and PhD at Purdue University, Electrical Engineering
NYU Position: David Lee/Ernst Weber Chair of Electrical Engineering, Prof. at Courant CS
Favorite Books: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Fahrenheit 451, The Bible
Favorite Leisure Activity: Ham Radio, Mindfulness
Research Interests: Wireless Communications
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Theodore Roosevelt, the man in the arena, 1910: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Eugenio Refini
Hometown: Siena, Italy
Education: BA & MA in Italian Studies, University of Pisa (Italy); PhD Modern Literature and Philology, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy)
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Italian Studies
Favorite Books: Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy; Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina; E.M. Forster's Howards End; Elias Canetti's The Tongue Set Free; Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Music (playing, listening, attending performances); reading novels and poetry; running; hiking; cooking.
Research Interests: Voice studies; reception and translation; the intersection of music and literature.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "The pain then is part of the happiness now" (from Richard Attenborough's film Shadowlands, 1993)
Adriana Rego
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY originally now Chappaqua NY
Education: BA in Spanish and Japanese Studies from Wellesley College, MD from Stony Brook college of Medicine, Specialty training from NYU CSC and Montefiore Medical Center
NYU Position: Adjunct Assistant Professor NYU Child Study Center, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at CUMC (Columbia University Medical Center), Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Favorite Books: Star Rover by Jack London, Persuasion Jane Austen, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon, El Tunel Ernesto Sabato, Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Cancion Desesperada Pablo Neruda
Favorite Leisure Activity: Biking, Swimming, reading
Research Interests: Cultural Psychiatry
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ~Jane Goodall
Jackie Reitzes
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Education: B.A. in English, University of Michigan; MFA in Creative Writing, Cornell University
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Middlesex, The Namesake, The Feast of Love, The Boys of My Youth, The Art of Fielding
Kathleen Rizy
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Education: B.A. in French, University of Tennessee; M.A. in French, University of Tennessee; Ph.D. in Romance Languages, University of Georgia
NYU Position: Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: Harry Potter, Angela's Ashes, The Color Purple, Truismes, Colline
Favorite Leisure Activities: traveling, walking around NYC with my dogs, visiting museums, reading, watching films
Research Interests: Ecocriticism, Animal Studies, Feminism
Favorite Inspirational Quote: You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it.
Timothy Roeper
Hometown: Amherst, MA
Education: B.A. in Economics at Swarthmore College, Ph.D. in Economics at CUNY Graduate Center
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Economics Department
Favorite Books: The Years of Lyndon Johnson series by Robert Caro
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading
Research Interests: Labor economics, Demography
Dylon Robbins
Hometown: Houston, TX
Education: BA Physics & Spanish, University of Texas at Austin, MA Spanish, Rice University, PhD Spanish and Portuguese, Princeton University
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Spanish and Portuguese/CLACS
Katie Roiphe
Hometown: New York City
Education: B.A. in English, Harvard University. Ph.d in English, Princeton University
NYU Position: Professor, Journalism Department
Favorite Books: Virginia Woolf, Room of One's Own, Janet Malcom's Silent Woman, Edith Wharton, House of Mirth. Mary McCarthy's The Company She Keeps
Karen Miner-Romanoff
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Education: B.S. in Criminal Justice (Arizona State), Masters of Arts in Public Policy and Administration, focus Criminology, (Ohio State), Juris Doctorate (University of Toledo Law School), Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration, focus Criminology (Walden)
NYU Position: Professional Adjunct, Sociology
Favorite Books: The Historian, The Nuremberg Trials, The Supreme Court, Passport
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading and Running
Research Interests: Youth Justice System
Favorite Quotes: "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." - Ruth Bader Ginsburg
First-Generation? yes
Jamie Root
Hometown: Delvean, NY
Education: B.A., French & Linguistics, University at Buffalo; M.A., French Linguistics, Indiana University; Ph.D., French Linguistics, Indiana University
NYU Position: Lecturer, Department of French Literature
Favorite Books: 1984 (Orwell), We (Zamyatin), Jude the Obscure (Hardy), Lullaby (Palahniuk)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Dancing, reading, cinema
Research Interests: Effects of language contact on morphosyntax; historical French/Germanic linguistics; dialectology
Marjorie Rhodes
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Education: B.S. in Biopsychology and Cognitive Science, University of Michigan; Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Psychology Department
Research Interests: Cognitive and social development
Brendan Rose
Hometown: Evanston/Chicago, IL
Education: B.A.: Philosophy, Northwestern University; M.F.A.: Film, Columbia University
NYU Position: CAS Academic Advisor
Favorite Books: Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy; Dubliners, James Joyce; Hopscotch, Julio Cortazar; Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison; The Odyssey, Homer; Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf; Underworld, Don DeLillo
Favorite Leisure Activities: Films, foreign languages, basketball, pizza, neighborhood walks
Peter Rosendorff
Hometown: Johannesburg, South Africa
Education: B.Sc. in Mathematics and Economics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, PhD in Economics, Columbia University
NYU Position: Professor, Politics Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Traveling the world!
Research Interests: Democratization, Political Economy of International Trade, Investment and Human Rights
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela
Howard Rosenthal
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Education: B.S., Economics, Politics, and Science, MIT, Ph.D., Economics, Politics, and Science, MIT
NYU Position: Professor
Favorite Books: Camus, Vonnegut, McMurty
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, snorkeling
Research Interests: Political Economy
Deirdre Royster
Hometown: Arlington, VA
Education: PhD in Sociology, The Johns Hopkins University
NYU Position: Associate Professor of Sociology and Public Policy
Favorite Books: The Gift By Hafiz (translated by Daniel Landinksy)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Interior Design, Home rehabilitation and art
Research Interests: Racial inequality and U.S. institutions and sorting processes
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “What a world this will be when human possibilities are freed, when we discover each other, when the stranger is no longer the potential criminal and the certain inferior.” ~W.E.B. DuBois
Ariel Rubinstein
Hometown: Tel Aviv
Education: PhD in Economics
NYU Position: Professor of Economics
Research Interests: Economic Theory
First-Generation College Student? No
Dubravko Sabo
Hometown: Krk, Croatia
Education: B.S. in Physics (Diploma in Physics), University of Zagreb, Croatia; PhD in Chemical Physics, New York University
NYU Position: Clinical Professor
Favorite Leisure Activities: Music, reading, sports, traveling
Research Interests: Study of equilibrium and dynamic properties of classical/quantum many-body systems
María Josefina (Josie) Saldaña-Portillo
Hometown: Laredo, Texas
Education: PhD, Modern thought and literature
NYU Position: Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis
Favorite Book: Jane Erye, y no se lo tragó la tierra, cien años de soledad
Favorite Leisure Activities: Flamenco
Research Interests: Comparative and transnational racial and ethnic studies, indigenous studies, revolution and critical development studies, all literature and culture
Favorite Inspirational Quote: No hay mal que por bien no venga
First-Generation College Student? No
David Samuels
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Education: B.A. in Philosophy, Wesleyan University; M.A. in Arts Management, NYU; PhD in Anthropology, University of Texas
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Music Department
Favorite Books: James Welch, The Heartsong of Charging Elk; TJ Jackson Lears, Something For Nothing
Favorite Leisure Activities: Music; movies; ice skating; baking
Reserch Interests: Music, sound, history & culture
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it.”
Jason Samuels
Hometown: New York City
Education: M.A. in Journalism, University of California - Berkeley, B.A. in English, Tufts University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Journalism Department
Favorite Books: A Different Mirror
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hanging out with my sons
Research Interests: Race and media
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “The world is yours.” ~NAS
Victor Pereira-Sanchez
Hometown: Redondela (Galicia, Spain)
Education: MD (University of Navarra), Psychiatry (University of Navarra), Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (NYU Grossman School of Medicine)
NYU Position: Instructor, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies (CAMS)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Bike riding and ice skating
Research Interests: Global Mental Health, International Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Andrew Sartori
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
Education: B.A. in History, University of Melbourne, M.A. in History, University of Melbourne, Ph.D. in History, University of Chicago
NYU Position: Professor, History Department
Research Interests: History of South Asia, History of British Empire, History of Political and Economic Thought, Global History
Shanker Satyanath
Hometown: Fort Cochin, Kerala, India
Education: Ph.D. in Political Science, Columbia University
NYU Position: Professor, Politics Department
Favorite Books: Best recently read-La Melancolia de los Feos (Mario Mendoza), La Oculta (Hector Abad Falciolince), La Cuadra (Gilmer Mesa), I Fratelli Karamazov (Dostoevsky), Memorie di un Cacciatore (Turgenev); Cristo si e Fermato a Eboli (Carlo Levi)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Soccer (watching Napoli FC and River Plate); reading fiction in Italian and Spanish; watching Italian neo-realist films; listening to classical and world music.
Research Interests: Persistence of elites and social mobility (particularly in South America and in Southern Italy).
Cristina Savin
Hometown: Sighisoara, Romania
Education: Dipl.Eng in Computer Science TUCN, Romania, PhD in Computational Neuroscience, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Center for Neural Science, Center for Data Science
Favorite Books: Atwood, Rushdie, Neruda, Sacks, Dennett
Favorite Leisure Activity: Dancing
Research Interests: Artificial and biological intelligence, how we learn, remember, or forget.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Spend half your time creating what makes you happiest and the other half doing what intimidates you the most. Coasting and climbing are both needed for a good journey.”
Brandon Schechter
Hometown: Rexford, NY
Education: Ph.D. in History, UC-Berkeley, B.A. n Russian Studies, Vassar College; non-terminal degree work at a number of other institutions, mostly in Russia
NYU Position: Elihu Rose Scholar in Modern Military History
Research Interests: Soviet Union, Post-Soviet Space, Material Culture, Gender, Ethnicity/Nationality/Race, Violence, Armies, Wars, Comparative History, History of Religion
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Life has no meaning in and of itself, it is up to us to provide it.
Tamar Schlick
Hometown: Hafia, Israel
Education: B.S. in applied math, Wayne state Univ., ph.D. In applied math, Courant Institute
NYU Position: Professor of Chemistry, Mathematics, and Computer Science
Favorite Books: Don Quixote, The Gentleman from Moscow, The Glass House
Favorite Leisure Activity: Swimming, running, theater, reading, baking, hiking
Research Interests: Genome organization - multi-scale modeling
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Not all those you wander are lost (Tolkien)
First-Generation College Student? No
Christopher Schlottmann
Hometown: Pound Ridge, NY
Education: B.A.: Philosophy, German Studies, Haverford College; Ed.M: Philosophy of Education, Haverford Graduate School of Education” Ph.D.: Philosophy of Education, New York University
NYU Position: Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Associate Chair, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Global Coordinator, Department of Environmental Studies
Hilke Schellman
Hometown: Bielefeld, Germany
Education: M.A. in Cultural Theory (Minor in Political Science and North American Studies) Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
M.S. in Journalism, Columbia University
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Journalism Department
David Schuster
Hometown: NYC
Education: B.A. in Chemistry, Columbia University; Ph.D. in Chemistry and Physics, Caltech
NYU Position: Professor Emeritus, Chemistry Department
Favorite Books: Biographies
Favorite Leisure Activity: Music, Art, Food
Research Interests: Solar Energy Storage, Chemistry of Fullerenes
Brian Schwartz
Hometown: Binghamton, NY
Education: B.A. in English, Brandeis University; M.F.A. in Creative Writing, U.C. Irvine; Ph.D. in English Education, New York University
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Research Interests: Areas of interest include creative non-fiction, the short story, the culture of American sports and contemporary fiction and films about schools and schooling.
Javad Shabani
Hometown: Briarcliff Manor, NY
Education: Ph.D., Princeton
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Physics Department
Research Interests: Quantum devices and circuits for computation
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” by Einstein
Lesha Shah
Hometown: Clifton, NJ
Education: BA Political Science, Barnard. MD Ross University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Wenteng Shao
Hometown: Shandong Province, P.R.China
Education: M.A.: Asian Studies, Cornell University
NYU Position: Chinese Lecturer
Patrick Sharkey
Hometown: Morristown, NJ
Education: PhD, Harvard
NYU Position: Professor, Sociology Department
Favorite Books: The Truly Disadvantaged (WJ Wilson), Henderson the Rain King (Saul Bellow)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Watching son play soccer
Research Interests: Urban inequality; crime and violence
Jess Shatkin
Hometown: San Rafael
Education: BA in History, UC Berkeley; MPH at UNC Chapel Hill; MD at SUNY Brooklyn; internship/residency/fellowship at UCLA
NYU Position: Professor, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Studies (CAMS) Department
Favorite Book: 1984, The Palace Thief, All the King's Men
Favorite Leisure Activity: Exercise & Guitar
Research Interests: College mental health - resilience & sleep; medical education
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “You say you want a revolution. Well, you know, we all want to change the world.”
Megan Shea
Hometown: Boston, MA
Education: B.A. in Theater and Dance, Trinity College-Hartford; M.A. in Theater, University of Kansas; Ph.D. in Theater, Cornell University
NYU Position: Senior Lecturer
Favorite Book: The Theater and Its Double; Cities of the Dead; The Explicit Body in Performance; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; The Lord of the Rings; Americanah; and so many plays...
Favorite Leisure Activity: Skiing
Research Interests: Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies; Theater Theory; Performance Studies; Cultural Studies; Playwriting; Acting; Directing; Film Studies
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "The easiest thing to do on earth is not write." - William Goldman
Victor Shoup
Hometown: Racine, Wisconsin
Education: PhD, University of Wisconsin
NYU Position: Professor, Computer Science Department
Favorite Leisure Activity: Folk Dancing
Research Interests: Cryptography
Favorite Inspirational Quote: A fish rots from the head
Patrick Shrout
Hometown: Tulsa, OK
Education: A.B. in Philosophy, St. Louis University; Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Chicago
NYU Position: Professor, FAS Psychology
Favorite Books: For fun: Mysteries; For enlightenment: statistical modeling
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cooking; cycling
Research Interests: Social support by partners in romantic relationships
Fanny Shum
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Education: B.A. Mathematics, CUNY Hunter College, M.A. Mathematics Education, CUNY Hunter College, Ph.D. Mathematics, University of Connecticut
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Favorite Books: Running with Scissors by A. Burroughs, Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Favorite Leisure Activity: Playing Boardgames with Friends
Research Interests: Probability, Stochastic Differential Equations
David Sider
Hometown: New York
Education: BA in math, City College of New York; MA, PhD in Greek, Columbia University
NYU Position: Professor, Classics
Victor Sierra Matute
Hometown: Madrid, Spain
Education: B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Literature, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid M.A. in Spanish and Portuguese, University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese, University of Pennsylvania
NYU Position: Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish
Favorite Books: Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote and Jorge Luis Borges's Fictions
Favorite Leisure Activity: Playing tennis and board games
Research Interests: Early modern and colonial literature and cultures
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Hannah Simpson
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Education: B.A.: Political Science, Carleton College; M.A. in Political Science, New York University; J.D., Harvard Law School
NYU Position: Ph.D Student/Adjunct Instructor
Favorite Books: Absalom! Absalom!, William Faulkner; King Lear by William Shakespeare
Favorite Leisure Activities: Lounging
Research Interests: Political Economy, Game Theory, Legal Institutions, Access to Justice
Stephen Small
Hometown: Covington, KY
Education: BA in Business Admin, Thomas More College, Covington KY; PhD in Developmental Biology, University of Cincinnati
NYU Position: Professor, CAS/Biology
Favorite Leisure Activity: Music, outdoor sports, making things
Research Interests: The formation of complex body plans in embryogenesis
Favorite Inspirational Quote: I have a dream.
Alastair Smith
Hometown: Egham, UK
Education: BA in Chemistry, Oxford University; PhD in Political Science, University of Rochester
NYU Position: Bernhardt Denmark Chair of International Politics
Favorite Book: Finer's History of Government
Favorite Leisure Activity: Kite boarding
Research Interests: How political leaders survive in power.
Sylvan Solloway
Hometown: Norman, Oklahoma
Education: B.A.: Journalism, New York University; M.A.: Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University
NYU Position: Director of Career Services, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
Favorite Books: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Favorite Leisure Activities: Salsa dancing
Research Interests: Family structures, gender, media, and social issues
Mutiara Sondjaja
Hometown: Jakarta, Indonesia
Education: B.S. in Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College; M.S. and Ph.D in Operations Research, Cornell University
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Mathematics Department
Favorite Books: I enjoy mystery novels in general; my favorite authors include Agatha Christie and P.D. James, among others. In addition, my favorite books include The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, and Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterley.
Favorite Leisure Activity: I have been taking pottery classes in the past few years and love spending time in my neighborhood pottery studio on the weekends. I also enjoy watching tv shows and solving crossword puzzles in my spare time.
Research Interests: I am generally interested in using mathematics to answer questions that arise in the real world. More specifically, I use tools from applied mathematics, computer science, and operations research to efficiently solve optimization problems that arise in real world applications. More recently, I have also been interested in using insights from mathematics (geometry and combinatorics) to answer questions about voting.
Leah Souffrant
Education: PhD, Grad Center CUNY; MFA, Bennington; BA, Vassar College
NYU Position: Expository Writing Program, CAS
Favorite Leisure Activity: Browsing through bookstores; enjoying coffee and conversation; writing and creating things
Research Interests: poetics, aesthetics, theories of visual culture and performance, feminist theory
Brennan Sprinkle
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Education: BS/MS in Applied Math from the Colorado School of Mines, PhD in Applied Math from Northwestern University
NYU Position: Courant Instructor (Assistant Professor), Mathematics
Favorite Books: Sometimes a Great Notion
Favorite Leisure Activity: Running
Research Interests: Stochastic Simulation, Fluid Dynamics
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "Something weird might just be something familiar viewed from a different angle."
First-Generation? yes
K.R. Sreenivasan
Hometown: Kolar, India
Education: B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, Bangalore University; M.E. in Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science; Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science M.A. (Privatim), Yale University; D.Sc. (Honoris Causa), Lucknow University, India; D.Sc. (Honoris Causa), University of Hyderabad, India; D.Sc. (Honoris Causa), Romanian Academy, Bucharest
NYU Position: Executive Vice Provost of Engineering and Applies Sciences, President and Dean, Polytechnic School of Engineering
David Stasavage
Hometown: Ithaca, New York
Education: PhD Harvard. BA Cornell
NYU Position: Dean for the Social Sciences
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cycling
Research Interests: Inequality, History of Democracy
Madeleine Stein
Hometown: New York, New York
Education: B.A.: Writing Seminars, The Johns Hopkins University; M.F.A.: Writing Seminars, The Johns Hopkins University
NYU Position: Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Books: Essays, James Baldwin; Collected Poems and Prose, Elizabeth Bishop; Little Virtues, Natalia Ginzburg;Cal, Bernard MacLaverty; Story collections, Alice Munro
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading, hiking, cinema
Research Interests: Contemporary Arab prose
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “’And,’ says Doris Lessing, in her preface to African Stories, ‘while the cruelties of the white man toward the black man are among the heaviest counts in the indictment against humanity, color prejudice is not [the] original fault, but only one aspect of the atrophy of the imagination that prevents us from seeing ourselves in every creature that breathes under the sun.’” Amen. En avant.” —from the preface to James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son (1984)
Catharine Stimpson
Hometown: Bellingham, WA
Education: A.B., Bryn Mawr College; B.A. and M.A. Cambridge University; Ph.D in English, Columbia University
NYU Position: University Professor and Dean Emerita, Graduate School of Arts and Science, English Department
Favorite Books: Sophocles, Shakespeare, Adrienne Rich, Toni Morrison—whatever I might be reading or teaching at the moment
Favorite Leisure Activity: Going to theater, museums, galleries, movies; keeping up with the news; some sports
Research Interests: Feminist criticism, women's studies and gender studies, higher education and the university, meanings of modernity
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Climb every mountain.
Noelle Stout
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Education: BA Anthropology and Feminist Studies, Stanford University; MA Anthropology Stanford University; MA Anthropology Harvard University; PhD Anthropology Harvard University
NYU Position: Associate Professor, Anthropology Department
Favorite Books: Too many to list!
Favorite Leisure Activity: Beach trips
Research Interests: Gender, race, class, and sexuality in the U.S. and Cuba; inequality
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou
Michael Strevens
Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Education: BA, BSc: Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Auckland; M.A.: Philosophy, University of Auckland; Ph.D.: Philosophy, Rutgers University
NYU Position: Professor of Philosophy
Research Interests: Philosophy of science, cognitive science
John Surico
Hometown: Floral Park, New York
Education: B.A. in Journalism and Politics, NYU; MSC in Transport and City Planning, University College London
NYU Position: Adjunct Faculty, Journalism
Favorite Books: Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Favorite Leisure Activity: Cycling
Research Interests: Mobility, sustainability, last mile solutions, open space, social infrastructure
Rachel Swarns
Hometown: Staten Island, New York
Education: B.A. in Spanish, Howard University. M.A. in International Relations, University of Kent in Canterbury, England
NYU Position: Associate Professor
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading, walking, genealogy, dining with friends
Research Interests: Race relations, history, journalism
Anna Szabolcsi
Hometown: Budapest, Hungary
Education: BA in Linguistics, ELTE Budapest; MA in Theoretical Linguistics, ELTE Budapest; PhD in Theoretical Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
NYU Position: Professor of Linguistics
Favorite Books: Joseph and His Brothers (Thomas Mann), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Research Interests: structure and meaning of sentences
First-Generation College Student? No
Avia Tadmor
Hometown: Israel/New York City
Education: B.A, Harvard University; M.F.A, Columbia University (Poetry and Literary Translation)
NYU Position: Language Lecturer, Expository Writing
Favorite Books: at the moment: The Wild Iris by Louise Glück, Incarnadine by Mary Szybist, Kingdom of Ordinary Time and Magdalene by Marie Howe, Rookery by Traci Brimhall, Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones, Silverchest by Carl Phillips, Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora, and Dancing in Odessa by Ilya Kaminsky
Favorite Leisure Activity: Walking, anywhere
Research Interests: poetics, translation studies, writing studies, medical humanities
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." -- Anaïs Nin
Ignatius Tan
Hometown: Minnesota
Education: BA in Biology, St. Thomas University; MS in Bioengineering, Tandon; Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Fordham University
NYU Position: Clinical Professor, Biology Department
Favorite Books: Authors: JR Tolkien, CS Lewis
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking
Research Interests: Cell biology
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” by Einstein
Nandini Thiyagarajan
Hometown: Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Education: B.A. in Honors English, University of Alberta; M.A. in Cultural Studies, McMaster University; PhD in English, McMaster University
NYU Position: Faculty Fellow, Environmental StudiesDepartment
Favorite Books: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy; We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Reading :)
Research Interests: Postcolonial studies, Asian diasporic literature, Animal Studies
Kimberly Thomas
Hometown: Greenville, South Carolina
Education: B.A.: Music and honors in English, Lenoir-Rhyne University; M.A.: Linguistics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and a Ph.D. in Composition and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Indiana University of Pennsylvania
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: Books by Nigerian writers including Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe; Romantic poets such as Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake, John Keats, and William Wordsworth; and American poets such as Robert Frost and Walt Whitman.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Watching anime along with independent and foreign films; writing poetry
Research Interests: Race and cultural identity; professionalization (what it means to be and becoming a professional); and mentoring
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "Teaching and preaching is beyond human power..." from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Thuy Linh Tu
Hometown: Torrington, CT
Education: B.A. English, Bates College; PhD, American Studies, NYU
NYU Position: Associate Professor
Michael Tyrell
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Education: B.A. in English and American Literature, New York University; M.F.A. in Creative Writing , The University of Iowa
NYU Position: Senior Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: Seize the Day, Saul Bellow; Geography III, Elizabeth Bishop; Life & Times of Michael K, J. M. Coetzee; The Shadow Knows, Diane Johnson; Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid; Dear Life, Alice Munro; Ariel, Sylvia Plath; The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger; Enemies: A Love Story, Isaac Bashevis Singer; The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens.
Favorite Leisure Activity: Walking Tallulah, my English Springer Spaniel.
Nader Uthman
Hometown: NYC
Education: BA, SUNY Albany; MA, Emory; MPhil, Columbia; Ph.D., Columbia
NYU Position: Clinical Associate Professor
Favorite Books: Beer in the Snooker Club; The Secret History
Favorite Leisure Activity: Travel
Research Interests: Arabic Pedagogy; Arabic Literature and Culture
Ariana Valle
Hometown: Los Angeles
Education: PhD in Sociology, UC Los Angeles, M.A. in Sociology, UC Los Angeles, B.A. in Economics, UC San Diego
NYU Position: Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow, Social and Cultural Analysis
Favorite Leisure Activity: Dancing
Research Interests: Race/Ethnicity, Immigration, Latina/o Sociology, Latina/o Politics, Political Sociology
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Joe Vallese
Hometown: Palisades Park, NJ
Education: B.A. in Creative Writing and Literature - Bard College, M.A.T. in Literature - Bard College, M.F.A. in Fiction - New York University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer
Favorite Books: Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys; Where I'm Calling From - Raymond Carver; Demonology - Rick Moody; Call Me By Your Name - Andre Aciman; Self-Help - Lorrie Moore; Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon; Reasons to Live - Amy Hempel; Election - Tom Perrotta; The Safety of Objects - AM Homes; Happy All the Time - Laurie Colwin
Favorite Leisure Activities: Cooking, reading, spinning
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "In a way, you've already won in this world because you're the only one who can be you." -Fred Rogers
Christine Van Houten
Hometown: Daytona Beach, FL
Education: PhD in English
NYU Position: Language Lecturer
Favorite Leisure Activities: Running, cooking
Research Interests: critical regionalism, feminist theory, American modernism
Dessi Vendova
Hometown: Sofia, Bulgaria
Education: Ph.D. in (Religion) Buddhist Studies, Columbia University; M.Phil. and M.A. in Religion (Buddhism), Columbia University; M.A. in Classical Chinese Literature, Peking University; B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University, Beijing
NYU Position: Adjunct Professor in Religious Studies
Favorite Books: Auto da Fé ("The Blinding")(by Elias Canetti); The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov); One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez); Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen); Vol de nuit (Night Flight) (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry); Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (Nikolai Gogol); A Wizard of Earthsea and the rest of the Earthsea cycle novels by Ursula LeGuin; Frank Herbert's Dune saga books; The Silmarilion (JRR Tolkien)
Favorite Leisure Activities: outdoors; traveling; hiking; photography; ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement)
Research Interests: Buddhism; The Biography of the Buddha; Buddhist Art; Buddhist Ethics; Buddhist Narratives; Body, Gender, Materiality; pre-modern Chinese Buddhism; East Asian Buddhism; Chinese Religions; Buddhist Ethics; Material Culture; East Asian Religions
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry "The Little Prince"
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Anne E. Venetsanos
Hometown: New York
Education: B.A. in Hellenic Studies, New York University | M.A. in Foreign Language Education, New York University
NYU Position: Language Lecturer
Laura Viidebaum
Hometown: Tallinn, Estonia
Education: BA (Tartu, Estonia), MPhil (Tartu, Estonia), MLitt (St Andrews, UK), PhD in Classics (Cambridge, UK)
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Classics Department
Christine Vogel
Hometown: Bitterfeld, Germany
Education: BA and Masters in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology (Schiller University Jena, Germany); Masters in Mathematical Biology (University College London, UK); PhD in Computational Structural Biology (University of Cambridge, UK)
NYU Position: Associate Professor of Biology
Favorite Books: White Teeth (Zadie Smith); Middlemarch (George Elliot); To Kill a Mocking Bird (Harper Lee)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking
Research Interests: Systems biology; protein expression regulation; neurodegenerative diseases; infectious diseases
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "If your dream does not scare you, it is not big enough" Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
First-Generation College Student? No
Sarah Waidler
Hometown: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Education: PhD, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge; MLitt. with Distinction in Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow; M.A. General University of St Andrews
NYU Position: Lecturer, Irish Studies
Favorite Books: At the moment: Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse), one or more books by Haruki Murakami (though I'm still debating which one...), Azazeel (Youssef Ziedan)
Favorite Leisure Activities: Horse riding (and training), mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking, archaeological drawing, travel writing
Research Interests: My main field is medieval Celtic history and literature, though I also focus on the cult of saints throughout the medieval world and on the intellectual environment of learning in the North Sea region from c.600–1300.
Lindsey Van Wagenen
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Education: PhD
NYU Position: Senior Lecturer, Director of Tandon Sophomore Mathematics
Favorite Books: Dante's Divine Comedy, The Sleepwalkers by A. Koestler
Favorite Leisure Activities: Traveling, swimming
Research Interests: Mathematics and Climate Change
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a difficult battle.
Pascal Wallisch
Hometown: Neufra, Germany
Education: BA Free University of Berlin, PhD University of Chicago (Psychology)
NYU Position: Clinical Assistant Professor
Favorite Books: Black Swan (Taleb), How to make friends and influence people (Carnegie)
Favorite Leisure Activity: Coding
Research Interests: Cognitive and neural diversity
Favorite Inspirational Quote: Most of them are made up and/or attributed to Einstein/Gandhi, always check sources
Marc Walters
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Education: B.A. in Chemistry NYU, Ph.D. in Chemistry Princeton, Postdoc in Chemistry MIT
NYU Position: Associate Professor
Favorite Books: Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison; Collapse, Jared Diamond
Favorite Leisure Activity: Playing guitar
Research Interests: Inorganic Chemistry of biological systems
Jini Kim Watson
Hometown: Melbourne, Asutralia
Education: B.P.D. (Architecture), University of Melbourne (Australia); B.A. (Hons), University of Queensland (Australia); PhD in Literature, Duke University
NYU Position: Associate Professor
Favorite Books: Too many to name!
Favorite Leisure Activity: Eating Dim Sum
Research Interests: literature/film of Asia-Pacific, postcolonial studies, Cold War studies, architecture and urban development
Favorite Inspirational Quote: "Research is formalized curiosity" -- Zora Neale Hurston
Joel Ward
Hometown: Oolitic, IN
Education: B.A.: History, Classical Languages, Hope College; M.A.: Classics, Tulane University; Ph.D.: Classics, New York University
NYU Position: Assistant Dean for Students
Michael Ward
Hometown: Binghamton, NY and New York City
Education: B.A. Chemistry, William Paterson College of New Jersey, PhD, Princeton University
NYU Position: Silver Professor
Favorite Books: Any Stephen Ambrose book
Reserach Interests: Solid-state Chemistry
Justin Warner
Hometown: Springfield, PA
Education: B.A. in Psychology, Neuroscience Concentration, Haverford College; M.F.A. in Playwriting, Catholic University
NYU Position: Lecturer, Expository Writing Program
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Let's write it so we have something to change.” ~Anecdotally attributed to Stephen Sondheim
Whitney Waugh
Hometown: Briarcliff Manor, NY
Education: BA in Psychology and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College and MA/Ph.D. in child and adolescent psychology, University of Pittsburgh
NYU Position: Director of Education Administration, CAMs
Favorite Leisure Activity: Athletic Activities: Walking/running/field hockey/tennis
Research Interests: The impact of positive emotions and parenting on the development of prosocial behavior (helping/sharing/comforting), social competence and psychopathology
Favorite Inspirational Quote: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. A. A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)
Jon White
Hometown: Flint, MI
Education: BA in Government (with minors in US Latino Studies and Africana Studies), Cornell University, MBA in Marketing and Management, NYU Stern School of Business
NYU Position: Associate Dean of Students, Liberal Studies
Favorite Books: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paolo Freire. And anything by James Baldwin or Toni Morrison!
Favorite Leisure Activities: Reading on the train commute; it keeps me centered. And travel abroad, whenever I can manage the time!
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change; I'm changing the things I cannot accept.” ~Angela Davis.
Scott Williams
Hometown: Akron, OH
Education: B.A.: Anthropology and History (double major), Kent State University; M.A.: Anthropology, Northern Illinois University; Ph.D.: Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
NYU Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Tana Wojczuk
Hometown: Boulder, CO
Education: MFA nonfiction writing, Columbia University. BA Cum Laude, English and Theatre Double Major, Lewis and Clark College.
NYU Position: Lecturer
Favorite Books: The Master and Margarita, His Dark Materials, Shakespeare (all), Sandman Graphic Novels
Favorite Leisure Activities: reading, watching movies, walking, hiking, museums, theatre
Research Interests: 19th Century American Theatre, Shakespeare, American History
Jenny Xie
Hometown: North Brunswick, NJ
Education: B.A. in English, Princeton University; M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Poetry), New York University
NYU Position: Lecturer in Expository Writing Program
Yunan Yang
Hometown: Beijing, China
Education: Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin
NYU Position: Courant Instructor, Mathematics
Favorite Books: Jane Eyre
Favorite Leisure Activity: Hiking, Running, Yoga, Reading, Watching Movies, Classical Music
Research Interests: Applied Mathematics
Favorite Inspirational Quote: The Cure for Boredom Is Curiosity. There Is No Cure for Curiosity.
First-Generation College Student? Yes
Robert Young
Hometown: Hockessin, DE
Education: B.A. in Mathematics and Physics, Bard College at Simon's Rock; Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Chicago
NYU Position: Professor of Mathematics
Research Interests: Geometry
Sofya Yuditskaya
Hometown: Moscow
Education: BFA--The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, MPS--NYU/ITP, ABD PhD NYU/GSAS/Music
NYU Position: Adjunct, Computer Science
Favorite Books: Glitch Feminism
Favorite Leisure Activity: Building sculptures
Research Interests: Biofeedback, NIME, AI, EEG, Machine Learning, Noise Music, Pure Data
Favorite Inspirational Quote: The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future." ― Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory "But that you are this universe. And you are creating it at every moment. Because you see it starts now. It didn’t begin in the past. There was no past. If the universe began in the past, when that happened it was now. But it is still now and the universe is still beginning now and it’s trailing off like the wake of a ship from now and as the wake of the ship fades out, so does the past." --Alan Watts, Not What it Should Be
Laure Zanna
Hometown: Marseille, France
Education: B.A in Atmospheric Physics, Tel Aviv Univ.; M.Sc in Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute; Ph.D. in Climate Dynamics, Harvard University
NYU Position: Associate Professor in Mathematics and Atmosphere/Ocean Science
First-Generation College Student? Yes