Columbian College will have increased the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty from 317 in 2009 to 358 by fall 2012—figures that are pushing the total number of regular full-time regular faculty to 450, compared to 411 in 2009. Much of this growth is attributable to an ambitious five-year plan to hire a significant number of full-time faculty members to ensure a robust and diverse learning experience. Of those new and projected hires, nearly half are women, nine are African American, and 22 hail from countries outside of the United States, such as India, Iceland, Australia, England, Russia, and Belgium. Each is fully engaged in their profession and dedicated to scholarly collaboration with one another, their students, and the college’s numerous external research partners.
Among the new hires are Tom Mallon, an award-winning novelist and recent inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Honor Society (see story); and Barry Chiswick, a renowned economist and winner of the IZA Prize in Labor Economics (see story). Other recent arrivals helping to advance GW’s vision to become a preeminent research university include the following individuals:
Svetlana Roudenko, assistant professor of Mathematics, just completed research on a specific type of equation that may help predict, for example, the formation of ocean “super waves” or the differentiation in air turbulence levels. Her work as a teacher and scholar was recently recognized by the National Science Foundation, which awarded Roudenko a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant of $450,000 over five years. Her award is the first for Columbian College’s Math Department. With the funding support, she will work on developing a theory to better explain how nonlinear evolution equations function. She will also focus on teaching students at many levels—from ninth graders up through graduate school—how to explore and enjoy mathematics. Roudenko holds a PhD in Mathematics from Michigan State University and comes to GW from Arizona State University.
Andrei Afanasev, Gus Weiss Professor of Theoretical Physics and Energy Studies, holds a PhD in Theoretical Nuclear and Particle Physics from the Kharkov National University of Ukraine. His interest in the physics of particle accelerators led to research in the field of energy, with a focus on the development of sub-critical accelerator driven reactors (ADRs)—a concept that was promoted recently by Physics Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia. These reactors are unique in that they use thorium—a radioactive element found in plentiful quantities within the Earth’s crust—as their fuel. The end products of the reaction are short-lived isotopes that do not require long-term storage and cannot be used in nuclear weapons. Several national and international laboratories, universities, and industries have expressed interest in projects developing ADRs. Afanasev comes to GW from Hampton University and the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia.
Alexander Pyron, Robert Griggs Assistant Professor of Biology, is one of GW’s youngest professors at 23. He recently helped develop a scientific model that could change the way researchers study the biodiversity of living creatures. The project involved creating the first snake phylogeny (family tree) to include all known families and subfamilies of the 3,500 snake species. The comprehensive reptilian blood line may help determine the rate and time of speciation and extinction within various groups of snakes; the evolution of various traits, like venom development, within certain groups of snakes; and how the major groups of snakes are related. Pyron holds a PhD in Biology from the City University of New York.
Carson Murray, assistant professor of Anthropology, recently received a $745,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct an extensive investigation of the interplay between maternal behavior and stress physiology in wild chimpanzees. The study, which is one of the first to examine the full impact of environmental diversity as it relates to maternal stress, may lead to new insights on anxiety-related disease in humans. Murray holds a PhD in Behavioral Ecology from the University of Minnesota and comes to GW from Northwestern University. She was also a post-doctoral fellow at the Lincoln Park Zoo and at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Mind and Biology.
Alexander Huang, Associate Professor of English and preeminent Shakespeare scholar, has already helped reshape the Dean’s Scholars in Shakespeare Program—a signature of the Columbian College undergraduate learning experience—as its new director. In addition to his work at GW, Huang is an editor of the Shakespearean International Yearbook, co-founder of Global Shakespeares—an open-access digital video archive based at MIT—and a recipient of the Modern Language Association's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize. His research interests include Renaissance studies, performance and film studies, modern Chinese drama, film and literature, translation, critical theory, the practice of digital humanities, and racial and national histories. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and comes to GW from Pennsylvania State University.