Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius (University of Washington, PhD) is joining the Department of Anthropology this fall as an assistant professor. A 2020 Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate, Professor Solinis-Caspariusis an archaeologist with research interests in architecture, the politics and ethics of archaeology and the sciences, conservation, and cultural heritage. His work has been supported by grantsfrom NASA, the National Science Foundation, National Geographic, UNESCO, and CONACYT (Mexican National Council ofScience and Technology), among others. Professor Solinis-Casparius’s research appears in publications such as the Journal of Social Archaeology and Latin American Antiquity. In addition, he has presented invited talks at universities in Germany, Mexico, and throughout the U.S.

Alexander Adibekian (ETH Zurich, Switzerland, PhD) is joining UIC this fall as a professor in the Department of Chemistry. Professor Adibekian comes to UIC from the University of Florida Scripps Biomedical Research (formerly, Scripps Florida)where he was an associate professor. His research has garnered grant support in excess of $2 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Science Foundation, and Swiss National Science Foundation. He is the author of numerous articles, which have appeared in peer-reviewed publications, such as Molecular Biology of the Cell, Journal of American Chemical Society, and Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Alison Ondrus (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD) joins the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor this fall. She comes to UIC from the California Institute of Technology where she held the position of research assistant professor in the Division of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering. Her research has been funded by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Margaret E. Early Medical Research Trust, and the National Institutes of Health. Professor Ondrus is the recipient of numerous academic honors and awards, including the Roche Excellence in Chemistry Award (for research accomplishments in the field of organic chemistry) and the NIH F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award. Her research has been published in Nature Chemical Biology, Synlett, and ACS Chemical Biology.

Do Own (Donna) Kim (University of Southern California, PhD) comes to UIC from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism of the University of Southern California. This fall, she will join the Department of Communication as an assistant professor. Professor Kim’s research explores the nature of digital communication; and her research has been published in edited volumes, peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and peer-reviewed journals, including New Media & Society, Continuum: Journal of Media & Communication Studies, International Journal of Communication, and Mass Media and Society. Professor Kim has presented at conferences in the U.S., England, the Czech Republic, and South Korea. She is the recipient of fellowships and grants from Annenberg USC, the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, and the Korean Studies Institute. Additional awards include the Graduate Assistant Lectureship Award, Best Interdisciplinary Data Science Team award, and Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Research and Creative Project Award.

Mariah Wellman (University of Utah, PhD) joins the Department of Communication as an assistant professor this fall. Professor Wellman is a recent doctoral graduate of the University of Utah. She is the recipient of the Utah Center for Excellence in ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications) Research Grant, Murray Graduate Student Research Grant, and Jay W. and Sharlene B. Glasmann Family Endowed Graduate Fellowships. Professor Wellman’s published work appears in peer-reviewed journals, including New Media & Society, Journal of Media Ethics, Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, and Social Media & Society. Her recent paper, “I’m just a friend who knows what they’re talking about”: How source credibility theory manifests within the wellness influencer industry on Instagram” was named Top Student Paper by the International Communication Association, Popular Media and Culture Division.

Akintomide Akinsanola (City University of Hong Kong, PhD) joins the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences this fall as an assistant professor. Professor Akinsanola also holds the position of Assistant Atmospheric Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. His areas of research encompass monsoon systems, regional and Earth system modelling, extreme climate/weather events, and climate change resilience. Notable honors include Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies Scholarships and Outstanding Academic Performance Award (City University of Hong Kong). Professor Akinsanola is the author of numerous articles, which appear in top-tier journals, including Atmospheric Research, Climate Dynamics, and Environmental Research Letters.

Esmeralda Arrizón Palomera (Cornell University, PhD) joins the Department of English this fall as an assistant professor. Professor Arrizón-Palomera comes to UIC from the University of Pennsylvania Wolf Humanities Center where she held the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship. Among her awards and honors are Cornell’s Gilford Essay Prize, which recognizes outstanding student writing, and the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Professor Arrizón-Palomera has presented her research at universities, symposia, and national conferences. In addition, her work appears in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, Latino Studies, and MELUS: Multi-ethnic Literature of the United States.

Roselyne Gérazime (Emory University, PhD) joins the Department of French and Francophone Studies this fall as an assistant professor. A 2020 Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of French and Francophone Studies, Professor Gérazime came to UIC from Brown University where she was the Ruth J. Simmons Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Her research focuses on the expression of spiritual beliefs in Caribbean and American literature. Professor Gérazime’s articles have appeared in the Journal of Haitian Studies and the journal Chimères.

Cindy Tekkobe (Arizona State University, PhD) joins the College this fall as an assistant professor, with a shared appointment in the Program in Gender and Women’s Studies and the Department of Communication. Prior to coming to UIC, Professor Tekkobe was an assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences, panels, and invited talks. Professor Tekkobe’s research has been published in refereed journals, including Journal of Information, Communication & Society, and Media Res, as well as book and encyclopedia chapters.

Manoucheka Celeste (University of Washington, PhD) joins the Gender and Women’s Studies program this fall as an associate professor. Prior to coming to UIC, Professor Celeste was associate professor of African American Studies and associate director and undergraduate coordinator for the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research at the University Florida. In addition to journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews, Professor Celeste is the author of Race, Gender, and Citizenship in the African Diaspora: Travelling Blackness, which received the National Communication Association Diamond Anniversary Book Award. She has been an invited presenter at conferences and universities throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean.

Lilia Fernández (University of California, San Diego, PhD) joins the Department of History this fall as a full professor. Professor Fernández comes to UIC from Rutgers University where she held the positions of Henry Rutgers Term Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies and the Department of History. Her publications include two books and numerous book chapters, journal articles, book reviews, and essays. A much sought-after scholar, Professor Fernández has presented at over 100 symposia, seminars, and conferences. Among her many honors are the Arts & Humanities Diversity Enhancement Award and Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award (The Ohio State University) and the Ford Foundation Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship. Professor Fernández currently serves as series editor of “Historical Studies in Urban America, editorial board member of the Journal of Urban History, and advisory board member of the Latino Studies Journal and the Latinos and the Law Initiative of the American Bar Foundation.

Barbara Sostaita (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD) joins the Program in Latin American Studies this fall as an assistant professor. She comes to UIC from Harvard University where she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mahindra Center for the Humanities. Professor Sostaita’s research focuses on migration, sanctuary, and religion. She has presented papers at conferences in the U.S., France, and Spain; and her articles appear in peer-reviewed journals, such as Southern Cultures and American Religion, as well as in popular media, i.e., The Nation, Bitch, and Southerly Magazine. Her most recent work, a book chapter in Handbook of Material Religion, is forthcoming from Routledge. In recognition of her scholarship, Professor Sostaita received the Emerging Scholars in Political Theology Fellowship, Religion Reporting Excellence Award, and the American Dissertation Fellowship.

Vishesh Jain (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD) joins the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science this fall as an assistant professor, having recently completed the Stein Fellowship at Stanford University. Professor Jain’s areas of research are probability, combinatorics, and theoretical computer science. He is the author of numerous articles, which have been published in top-tier journals, including the Journal of the London Mathematical Society, Advances in Combinatorics, and Discrete Mathematics. In addition, he has given research seminar talks at leading universities, including Stanford, Columbia, the University of Chicago, Yale, and Princeton, among others. Among his honors and awards are the Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship and Praecis Presidential Fellowship.

Nicole Looper (Northwestern University, PhD) joins the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science in fall as an assistant professor. Prior to her appointment at UIC, Professor Looper was the NSF Postdoctoral Fellow and Triedman Tamarkin Assistant Professor at Brown University. She has been an invited presenter at conferences and seminars in Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Professor Looper’s most recent articles appear in Inventiones Mathematicae, Mathematische Annalen, and Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society. In recognition of her scholarship, she received the Endowed Junior Chair, NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Cambridge University), and the Association for Women in Mathematics Dissertation Prize.

Osama Khalil (The Ohio State University, PhD) joins the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science in the fall as an assistant professor. He comes to UIC from the University of Utah where he held the position of Wylie Research Assistant Professor. Professor Khalil’s research interests are in the areas of homogeneous and Teichmüller dynamics. In recognition of his scholarship, he received the Outstanding Postdoc Award (University of Utah) and The Ohio State Graduate School Presidential Fellowship. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation and has been published in the Journal of the European Mathematical Society, Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems Series A. and Geometric and Functional Analysis.

Annette Martín (New York University, PhD) joins the Department of Philosophy this fall as an assistant professor. A 2020 Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate in the philosophy department, Professor Martín works in the areas of epistemology, social and political philosophy, and the philosophy of race and gender. She has presented her research at numerous professional conferences, as well as workshops and forums; and her most recent article appears in the prestigious The Philosophical Quarterly. Professor Martín currently serves as a referee for several top-tier journals, including Nous and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Among her honors and awards are the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and New York University President’s Service Award.

Juan Albarracín Dierolf (University of Notre Dame, PhD) joins the Department of Political Science this fall as an assistant professor. Prior to coming to UIC, he was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame Keough School of Global Affairs. Professor Dierolf’s scholarly work has appeared in journals, such as Regional & Federal Studies, Revita de Ciencia Política, and the Journal of Peace Research. In addition, he is the author of numerous book chapters, as well as papers presented at conferences and seminars in the U.S. and Brazil. His research has been supported by grants from the Colombian-German Institute for Peace and the Uruguayan Agency for Research and Innovation.

Loretta Hsueh (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, PhD) joins the Department of Psychology this fall as an assistant professor. Before joining UIC, Professor Hsueh was the T32 Diabetes Translational Research Postdoctoral Fellow at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. Her research focuses on identifying and addressing mechanisms leading to the disproportionate burden of chronic disease among immigrants and people of color, with a focus on type 2 diabetes. Professor Hsueh’s research is supported by grants from Kaiser Permanent Northern California Division of Research and the National Institutes of Health; and her articles appear in leading research journals, including the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Journal of Clinical Psychology, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Journal of Behavioral Medicine. In addition to presenting at numerous conferences and symposium, Professor Hsueh has been the invited speaker at seminars and panels at Indiana University School of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the American Psychological Association.

Dennis Sparta (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, PhD) joins the Department of Psychology this fall as an assistant professor. Prior to coming to UIC, he held the position of assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Professor Sparta’s research has been consistently funded by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; and his articles appear in leading journals, including the Journal of Neuroscience, Nature, and Neuropharmacology. Professor Sparta is the recipient of numerous awards from the Research Society on Alcoholism and has been an invited speaker at national and international conferences.

Michael Pasek (The Pennsylvania State University, PhD) joins the Department of Psychology this fall as an assistant professor. Prior to coming to UIC, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at the New School for Social Research, as well as concurrent research fellowships at Beyond Conflict and ARTIS International. His research focuses on intergroup relations, particularly the ways that religion—as both a group membership and system of beliefs—affects moral decision-making, social attitudes, and behaviors in intergroup contexts. Professor Pasek’s research is currently supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and has been published in the Nature Human Behaviour and the Journal of Experimental Psychology, as well as other peer-reviewed journals and the popular press. In recognition of his scholarship, Professor Pasek has received numerous awards from the Research Society on Alcoholism, was selected First-Round Finalist for the Frank Prize for Research in Public Interest Communications, and chosen Next Generation Honoree, the American Jewish Historical Society.

Sohad Murrar (University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD) joins the Department of Psychology this fall as an assistant professor. She comes to UIC from Governors State University where she held an assistant professorship. Professor Murrar researches intergroup relations and social interventions, with a focus on developing and testing social interventions that seek to reduce prejudice and create inclusive environments. Her research has been supported by grants from the World Bank Global Partnership for Social Accountability and the European Association of Social Psychology. She currently serves as an expert scholar for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and a research scientist working collaboratively with the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Initiative on Islam and Medicine. Professor Murrar’s articles have been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Women’s Health, Nature Human Behavior, and Current Directors in Psychological Science; and she has presented her research at national and international conferences.

Black Studies

Joseph Jewell (University of California at Los Angeles, PhD) joined the Department of Black Studies in January 2022 as department head and professor. Dr. Jewell comes to UIC from Texas A&M University where he held the position of associate professor in the Department of Sociology. He has also held administrative appointments as interim director of the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute at Texas A&M University and chair of the African American Studies department at Loyola Marymount University. His areas of specialization include race and ethnicity; intersections of race, class, and gender; and the sociology of African Americans.

He is the author of Race, Social Reform, and the Making of a Middle Class: The American Missionary Association in Black Atlanta, 1870–1900; and his research has been published in refereed journals, such as the Journal of Negro Education and Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, in book chapters, and in encyclopedias. Notably, his research on race and educational access has been cited in court cases that examined affirmative action programs at public universities, including, Rios v. U.C. Regents, Gratz v. Bollinger, and Grutter v. Bollinger.

Dr. Jewell is the recipient of fellowships from the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research (Texas A&M University) and was recently selected to receive the Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching. He has given invited talks and presented papers at conferences in the US, Canada, and Hungary.

Biological Sciences
Ignacio Escalante Meza

Earth and Environmental Sciences
David Hernández Uribe

Psychology
Mayra Guerrero