| Mentor | Discipline | Project Name/Description | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
College of Business |
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| Derick Esplin, Ph.D. | Accounting | Upgrading the accounting curriculum: Skills that accounting graduates need in order to have a successful career in accounting. | DerrickEsplin@utahtech.edu |
| Cindy Greenman | Accounting | Three current projects: AI and Fraud in the Hospitality Industry; Immigration enforcement activity and the effect on accounting data; Medical Identity Theft. | Cindy.Greenman@utahtech.edu |
| Helen Saar | Finance | Finance Seniors complete a equity research project in capstone course according to industry standards. equity research, security analysis, investments, asset pricing. | Helen.Saar@utahtech.edu |
College of Education |
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| Chizu Matsubara | Teacher Education | Transformation of Teacher Identity, Family-School Partnerships. | Chizu.Matsubara@utahtech.edu |
| Nancy Ross, Ph.D. | Arts and Sciences | Interested in topics related to feminism, race, Mormon studies, and the sociology of religion. She is currently working on Mormon studies projects related to garments, art history, and the history of the women’s ordination movement in the RLDS Church. | Nancy.Ross@utahtech.edu |
| Bethany Gull | Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences | Comparative experiences of religious exiting across religious traditions; Understanding LDS and science interplay; Longitudinal experiences of LDS exiters. | Bethany.Gull@utahtech.edu |
| Alex Cromwell | Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences | Four current projects: 1. Book project looking at various peace process cases and examining how effective they have been at building long-term peace, 2. Examining deradicalization programs in Pakistan, 3. Analyzing the efficacy of peace education in conflicts in Cyprus and Pakistan, 4. Assessing the long-term impacts of peace education on local communities in Pakistan. | Alex.Cromwell@utahtech.edu |
College of Humanities and Social Sciences |
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| Florence Bacabac, Ph.D. | English
Professional and Technical Writing Emphasis |
Digital rhetoric, writing for multimedia and the web, writing across the curriculum, civic engagement and service learning, second language writing, and women’s rhetoric. | Florence.Bacabac@utahtech.edu |
| Shauna Wight, Ph.D | English | Online affinity spaces and literacy learning, how literacy education affects students’ educational trajectories, teaching for transfer. | Shauna.Wight@utahtech.edu |
| Theda Wrede, Ph.D | English | Literary studies including multicultural, feminist, postcolonial, and environmental criticism in American and world literature. | Theda.Wrede@utahtech.edu |
| Amanda Scott, Ph.D | English | Victorian literature, gender studies, Native American literature/ tribal identity, Romantic poetry, Civic Engagement. | Amanda.Scott@utahtech.edu |
| Lacy Hope, Ph.D. | English | Assistant Professor in the English Department. Interested in Digital humanities, technical and professional writing, technology and writing, and the rhetoric’s of data and information. | Lacy.Hope@utahtech.edu |
| Joy McMurrin, Ph.D. | English | Writing in the professions. Technical documentation. Web 2.0. Interactive media. Design. Usability. | Joy.Mcmurrin@utahtech.edu |
| Alicia Booth | Communication | Doctor-Patient conversations, masculine and feminine norm portrayals in current digital media, stigma behind mental health and help seeking behaviors. | Alicia.Booth@utahtech.edu |
| Holly Linford | Communication | Exploring how the politically left and right talk about themselves and each other on social media, utilizing social identity theory and dramatism. | Holly.Linford@utahtech.edu |
| Ted Avtgis | Communication | Have projects in health literacy/stigma campaigns; Mental health communication book in development; Revision of books on argumentative and aggressive communication; Organizational communication; Medical communication. | Ted.Avtgis@utahtech.edu |
| James Stein | Communication | I research what I refer to as the dyad-network accommodation. In other words, the ways in which romantic couples communicate with and/or about their various social networks and how those interactions/episodes alter relationship perceptions, trajectories, and outcomes. | James.Stein@utahtech.edu |
| Shariq Sherwani | Communication | Project 1: Stressors, quality of life, and psychosocial outcomes: Managing communication uncertainty for unpaid caregivers of patients with dementia. Project 2: Communicating corporate social responsibility: Perceptions, perspectives, and priorities of stakeholder. Project 3: Utah Tech Storytelling Initiative. | Shariq.Sherwani@utahtech.edu |
| Erin Ortiz, Ph.D. | Organizational Communication | Organizational Communication and Service Leadership. | Erin.Ortiz@utahtech.edu |
| Shelley Rawlins | Communication | Two current projects: One with a former student about conservative protest, and a second about collective protest tensions in contemporary times. | Shelley.Rawlins@utahtech.edu |
| Nathan Snow | Digital Media/ Communication | Aesthetic analyses of 3D computer animation in Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, video games, film etc… and connecting them to metamodern/posthuman theories of embodied/cinesthetic spectatorship. | Nathan.Snow@utahtech.edu |
| Jiachun Hong | Digital Media/ Communication | Documentary production studies, creative labor and cultural industries, new media studies, generative AI and video production. | Jiachun.Hong@utahtech.edu |
| Josh Cafferty | Applied Sociology | Through the ISR I can help support students engaging in various forms of social research. Here is a list of current projects going: two related to water in Utah (survey and policy content analysis), 3 Community needs assessments for organizations like Intermountain Health, etc., dating apps, racial minority community belonging in Southern Utah, missionary service and disaffiliation, forms of family support interviews, global water trade network analysis. | Josh.Cafferty@utahtech.edu |
| Matt Smith-Lahrman, Ph.D. | Sociology | Qualitative sociology, ethnography, participant observation fieldwork. | Matt.Smith-Lahrman@utahtech.edu |
| John Wolfe, Ph.D. | Philosophy | Ancient Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, American Pragmatism, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy and Popular Culture. | John.Wolfe@utahtech.edu |
| Dannelle Larsen-Rife, Ph.D. | Psychology & Neurobiology | Developmental science, practice, and application of interpersonal neurobiology, especially as it applies to Integrative Health. Particularly interested in understanding how early experience contributes to mental and physical health across lifespan. | Dannelle.Larsen-Rife@utahtech.edu |
| Kristine Olson, Ph.D. | Psychology | Industrial-Organizational. Culture, diversity, work-family interface, gender, and organizational climate applied to the workplace. | Kristine.Olson@utahtech.edu |
| Lish Harris, Ph.D. | Criminal Justice | Criminological Theory; Race and Crime; Issues of Social Justice. | Lish.Harris@utahtech.edu |
| Jessica Abbott | ASCJ/CHASS | Interdisciplinary risk assessment/perceived risk. | Jessica.Abbott@utahtech.edu |
College of Science, Engineering, & Technology |
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| Syed Noaman Ali | SET – Computing | Applied Cybersecurity Research including Zero Trust Architecture, AI security Appliances vs Human Firewall, Machine Learning–based Web Application Firewalls for SQL Injection and XSS Prevention, Organizational Cybersecurity Strategies for Remote Work; Supervision of Undergraduate Research Projects and INSPIRE Academy Mentorship. | Syed.Ali@utahtech.edu |
| Russ Ross | Computing | University timetabling (course scheduling), constraint solver problems, visualization tools for algorithms/protocols/databases, instructional operating systems. | Russ.Ross@utahtech.edu |
| Christie Pondell | CSET-EES | Long-term water quality monitoring of the Santa Clara River; water quality and algal/fish biology in the Black Desert golf ponds; Microplastic contamination in soils, water, and organisms from southern Utah; biodiversity changes in the campus pollinator garden; impact of wildfire on local surface water quality. | Christie.Pondell@utahtech.edu |
| Natalie Tanski | CSET-EES | Virgin River evolution, local fault slip histories, geohazard mapping, provenance tracing with quartz, sediment transport and channel geometry changes of local rivers. | Natalie.Tanski@utahtech.edu |
| Zhenyu Jin, Ph.D. | Geography/GIS | GIS, Disease and Health Mapping. Research on the application GIS to monitor and map spread of disease, healthcare issues. | Zhenyu.Jin@utahtech.edu |
| Gabriela Chilom | CSET – Chemistry | My current projects include: quantifying interactions between soils and organic amendments (biochar) and their impact on water retention; investigating the carbon storage potential of desert soils including how composition influence long-term carbon sequestration; and developing analytical methods to detect and quantify contaminants in soils, including emerging pollutants such as microplastics and pharmaceutical residues. | Gabriela.Chilom@utahtech.edu |
| Rico Del Sesto, Ph.D. | Chemistry | Materials Science. Design and synthesis of new chemicals and materials with applications in medicine (antibacterial, antifungal), energy (biofuels, heat transfer fluids), environment (sampling, decontamination, forensics), and optical/magnetic responsive materials. | Rico.DelSesto@utahtech.edu |
| Wendy Schatzberg, Ph.D. | Chemistry | Chemistry Education & Nanomaterials Chemistry. In chemistry education, the projects involve understanding how students learn and use chemistry knowledge in the classroom and laboratory. In nanomaterials, the projects look at the design, synthesis, and analysis of nanomaterials in the laboratory, environment, medicinal, and energetics. | Wendy.Schatzberg@utahtech.edu |
| Geoff Smith, Ph.D. | Biology | Research on the Side-Blotched Lizards that has been published in different scientific journals. | Geoffrey.Smith@utahtech.edu |
| Curt Walker, Ph.D. | Biology | Study of the canyon tree frogs in Zion National Park. | Curt.Walker@utahtech.edu |
| Erin O’Brien | Biology | Native plant surveys, pollinator and seed disperser studies, crop evolutionary ecology, grapevine ecophysiology, viticulture, effects of ground covers in agricultural situations on soil, plants, and irrigation needs. | Erin.OBrien@utahtech.edu |
| Marius van der Merwe | Biology | (1) Monitoring mammal activity with the use of camera traps. This is a long-term project that is part of SnapShot USA – a nation-wide collaborative study. (2) Field experiments using artificial food patches and Giving-Up-Densities to measure foraging behaviors. | Marius.Van.Der.Merwe@utahtech.edu |
| Max McDermott | Biology | Area of research: Neuropharmacology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, GPCRs, Novel Pain Therapeutics. My lab uses molecular techniques (Cell signaling/Westerns/qPCR) to characterize drug efficacy, potency, and effects on cell signaling. | Max.McDermott@utahtech.edu |
| Hung-Yu Shih | Biology | Area of research: Neuro- and cardiovascular development; Neurodegenerative diseases (4H leukodystrophy); Gene variant validation. Animal model: zebrafish. Genetic tools: CRISPR/Cas9 or TALEN knockout approaches; morpholino knockdown; site-directed mutagenesis. Molecular tools: High-resolution (HRM) analysis, PCR, qPCR, RNA-seq, in situ hybridization, immunostaining, Western blot, and proteomics. Histological tool: Crostat section plus H&E staining. Others: Animal behavior and drug screening. | Hung-Yu.Shih@utahtech.edu |
| Sheng-Jia Lin | Biology | Area of research: Neurodevelopmental disorders, hearing loss and gene variant validation. Models: Zebrafish and cell lines. Tools: CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing; site-directed mutagenesis. Molecular tools: PCR, RT-PCR, qPCR, RNA sequencing, whole-mount in situ hybridization, immunostaining, and Western blot. Histological tools: Cryo-, paraffin, plastic sections. Others: Animal behaviors and drug screening. | Sheng-Jia.Lin@utahtech.edu |
| Martina Gaspari | Biology | My research framework supports student-driven investigations using cell and molecular biology techniques. Students independently define their research topic of interest and develop experimental strategies employing standard laboratory methods. | Martina.Gaspari@utahtech.edu |
| Megen Kepas | Biology | My research involves lab, field, and data science work to inform applied practices in herpetological conservation and management. | Megen.Kepas@utahtech.edu |
| Vinodh Chellamuthu, Ph.D. | Mathematics | Mathematical Modeling, Ecology, Biology, Data Analytics, Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis, Spread of Disease. | Vinodh.Chellamuthu@utahtech.edu |
| Buna Sambandham, Ph.D. | Mathematics | Fractional differential equations and numerical methods for ordinary and partial differential equations. | Buna.Sambandham@utahtech.edu |
| McKay Sullivan, Ph.D. | Mathematics | Game Theory, Cryptography, Mathematical Physics, Representation Theory & Conformal Field Theory. | Mckay.Sullivan@utahtech.edu |
| Sazib Hasan | Mathematics | Statistical modeling, Statistical learning. | Sazib.Hasan@utahtech.edu |
| Russell Reid, Ph.D. | Mechanical Engineering | Currently investigating the potential of liquid-based kinetic energy harvesting for biomedical applications. | Russell.Reid@utahtech.edu |
College of the Arts |
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| Sara Gallo | Dance | Dance creative research, somatic approach to choreography and performance. | Sara.Gallo@utahtech.edu |
| JB Shilcutt | Dance | Capoeira pedagogy, capoeira documentary creative research, dance pedagogy research, collaborative practices research, dance creative research. | JB.Shilcutt@utahtech.edu |
| McGarren Flack | Visual Art | Sustainability of art and materials correlating to the art pieces; social constructs and art. | McGarren.Flack@utahtech.edu |
| Bryant Smith | Music | 19th Century Latter-day Saint Brass Bands and their cultural connections to America. | Bryant.Smith@utahtech.edu |
| Ka-Wai Yu, D.M.A. | Music | Doctoral thesis, entitled “When concerto meets song cycle: A study of vocal influences in Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor, OP.129 with reference to his Dichterliebe, OP. 48”. | Ka-wai.Yu@utahtech.edu |
| Robert Matheson, D.M.A. | Music | Electro-acoustic music performance practice and composition. Double bass performance, contemporary music and commercial music. | Robert.Matheson@utahtech.edu |