2022 UNT Cohort of Washington D.C. Fellows

This third cohort of faculty members were nominated by the Deans and Associate Deans of Research within their respective college.

College of Business 

Mahdi Fathi, Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences -  Dr. Fathi's research His current research interests include Operations Research, Data Science, AI in Business, Cybersecurity and Information Systems, Energy Systems, Healthcare, Social Goods, Disrupting Human Trafficking and Illicit Markets.

Yuna Choe, Department of Marketing - Dr. Choe’s research explores factors that influence consumers’ financial and spending decisions and understanding psychological factors that explain consumer behavior.

Laurie Giddens, Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences - Dr. Giddens’ research investigates how individuals and organizations utilize information systems to improve the well-being of the workforce and society. Specifically, her research explores how information systems facilitate online inclusion and exclusion, anti-human trafficking efforts, sustainable consumption, and a sustainable workforce.

College of Education

Selcuk Acar, Department of Educational Psychology - Dr. Acar’s research focuses on creativity of individuals, groups, projects, communities, organizations, and products with an emphasis in assessment and evaluation issues. Dr. Acar is interested in the correlates, causes, and consequences of creative works in and outside of the school context.

Karisma Morton, Department of Teacher Education and Administration - Dr. Morton's research investigates the mechanisms through which gender and racial/ethnic inequities in STEM Education occur. Within this research agenda, she also explores the impact of anti-racist and justice-oriented mathematics teacher education on the future teaching of elementary preservice teachers.

College of Engineering

Hung Luyen, Department of Electrical Engineering - Dr. Luyen’s research interests include antenna and circuit design for wireless communication and biomedical applications.

Xiao Li, Department of Materials Science and Engineering - Dr. Li’s research interests lie in the nanoscale design of the soft materials together with advanced lithography methods to engineer 2D, 3D or hierarchical structures, as well as translating these novel structures and methods into potential applications, such as oil/water separation, soft robotic, functional coatings, and energy related devices.

College of Merchandising, Hospitality, and Tourism 

Birendra KC, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management - Dr. KC’s research focus is on ecotourism, agritourism, tourism entrepreneurship, UNESCO world heritage sites management, sustainable destination management, and biodiversity conservation.

College of Visual Arts and Design

Kathy Brown, Department of Art Education - Dr. Brown’s narrative inquiry, critical art-based research interests include social justice and futurity in art education, teacher voices/counternarratives, cultural visualities, equity and the arts in/of marginalized communities.

College of Information

Heejun Kim, Department of Information Science - Dr. Kim's research interests include health informatics, data analytics, text mining, spatial analysis, and information systems. In particular, his research emphasizes applying computational methods to health problems such as discovering unknown adverse drug reactions and recommending credible health information.

College of Health and Public Service

Lauren Fischer, Department of Public Administration -  Dr. Fischer’s research engages the topics of environmental sustainability, racial equity, infrastructure financing and management, zoning and tax incentives, urban transportation, land use regulations and institutional theory. 

Chisom Iwundu, Department of Public Administration - My research interest is focused on better understanding the social determinants of health that account for disparities in health among marginalized groups (e.g., individuals experiencing homelessness).

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Yang Zhou, Department of Economics - Yang Zhou, Department of Economics - Dr. Zhou's research seeks to advance knowledge in three areas: public economics, urban and regional economics, and applied machine learning in economics. In particular, his research focuses on how institutions influence economic and political activities of both public officials and private sectors.

Samantha Cosgrove, Department of Technical Communication - Dr. Cosgrove's research combines theories of user experience and risk communication to improve communication strategies between disaster management agencies and the public in digital spaces.

College of Music

Vivek Virani, Department of Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology - My research interests include Music and Spirituality; South Asian Music; Musical Performances of Mystic Poetry; Bhakti, Nirgun, and Sufi Music in South Asia; Analysis of Indian Classical Music; Analysis of Rhythm and Improvisation

College of Science

Giordano Tierra Chica, Department of Mathematics - My research is in the area of modeling, numerical analysis and scientific computing for multi-physics problems that are formulated using systems of coupled Partial Differential Equations. In particular, I am interested in applications in life and material sciences that are based on or involve the understanding of the rheology of complex fluids.

Hao Yan, Department of Chemistry - Research in the Yan lab is broadly focused on chemistry under extreme conditions. Driven by the fundamental quest of controlling atoms and molecules with mechanical force, our work taps into a wide range of interdisciplinary fields from activation of tough chemical bonds to synthesis of metastable nanomaterials and understanding the adaptation strategies of deep-sea life forms.

Yuanxi Wang, Department of Physics - Dr. Wang's group develops first-principles materials theory to model the physics of atomically thin materials like graphene, layered semiconductors, air-stable 2D metals, and layered topological materials.

Calvin Henard, Department of Biological Sciences - Dr. Henard’s research focuses on microbial metabolism and physiology and the development of microbe-based biotechnologies for greenhouse gas mitigation.