Western New England University is proud to announce the arrival of a record number of high-profile faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. Among these new faculty members are renowned experts in the fields of engineering, computer science, business, law, and more, bringing a wealth of expertise and research to the University. The University's commitment to these fields is reflective of the growing demand for experts in these industries, both nationally and in the Springfield, MA area.
"We are thrilled to welcome these distinguished experts to our university," said Maria Toyoda, WNE senior vice president and provost. "Their arrival underscores our commitment to providing our students with the best possible education in these in-demand fields, and their contributions to research and innovation will have a lasting impact on our community and beyond."
Michelle Assad
Assistant Professor of Law
Michelle Assad joins Western New England University School of Law as an assistant professor of law, teaching Criminal Law, Criminal-Immigration Law, and Administrative Law in the 2023-2024 academic year. Prior to joining the faculty at WNE, Professor Assad taught a seminar on lawyering skills and supervised law students in the Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) at American University Washington College of Law (AU WCL). She was also the first staff attorney to lead, within IJC, Defending the AU Dream Initiative, which provides free legal immigration services to undocumented and non-U.S. citizen university students in the D.C. Metropolitan area. Professor Assad also taught a course on U.S. Criminal-Immigration Law, which is the subject of her upcoming scholarship.
Professor Assad has dedicated her legal career to advocating for non-citizens both in the immigration and criminal law practice. Before entering academia, Professor Assad served as a subject matter expert at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender where she managed requests for advice on the intersection of criminal and immigration law (known as "Padilla advice"). She also conducted in-house trainings for public defenders and updated and developed agency-wide practice advisories to ensure defense attorneys had the tools to competently represent foreign-born defendants in criminal proceedings. She developed an expertise in this intersection of the law as a staff attorney at the Brooklyn Defender Services' Immigration Unit where she also provided Padilla advice to public defenders in New York and represented clients before U.S. government immigration agencies. She earned her J.D. from AU WCL and B.A. from New York University.
Laila Atta
Assistant Professor of Law
Laila Atta joins the Western New England University School of Law as an assistant professor of Law. Professor Atta most recently served as an assistant attorney general in the Energy and Environment Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office where she pursued cases, both civil and criminal, on behalf of the Commonwealth for violations of Massachusetts environmental laws and regulations, including the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Act, and served as division internship coordinator and a member of the Energy and Environment Bureau's Racial Justice Committee. Professor Atta earned her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.
Murat Aydoğdu
Associate Professor of Business Analytics and Information Management
Murat Aydoğdu taught analytics and finance at Rhode Island College and Bryant University over the last two decades. Before academia, he was a financial economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Iowa as well as a Master's in Data Science from UC Berkeley, an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a B.S. in computer science from Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. His recent research focuses on Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications in the finance domain.
Professor Aydoğdu will be joining WNE as an associate professor in the Department of Business Analytics and Information Management, where he will teach business analytics courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Roger F. Blinn
Senior Professional Instructor in Mechanical Engineering
Roger Blinn is joining the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department as a senior professional educator. Roger brings 36 years of aerospace industry experience at Pratt & Whitney, where he held varied positions of progressively increasing responsibility working on jet, rocket, and detonative propulsion, including extensive design, manufacturing, and test experience. For the most recent 15+ years, Roger has been the chief engineer or design chief for multiple advanced engine programs, on projects for DARPA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and NASA. Professor Blinn is considered an expert in the area of planning and executing complex engine development programs, both small and large, from conceptual design through testing and certification.
Jaime Bohorquez-Ballen
Professional Educator of Physics
Jaime Bohorquez-Ballen has recently concluded a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics of the University of Guelph (ON, Canada), where he conducted computational experiments to study nuclear matter and applied machine learning techniques to optimize and speed up calculations in nuclear physics. Previously, he was a graduate assistant researcher in a project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Department of Mathematics of the University of Tennessee. He also worked at the Computational Materials group at Southern Illinois University. He was a physics lecturer at the Universidad de La Salle and Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Southern Illinois University. He has a Master's in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee and a Master's in Physics from Universidad de Los Andes (Bogota-Colombia) and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Dr. Bohorquez is joining the Department of Physical and Biological Sciences at WNE as a professional educator in physics in the 2023-24 academic year.
Arianna Bonzagni
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Arianna L. Bonzagni joins Western New England University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice with a focus in the Distance Learning Pathway.
Dr. Bonzagni earned a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Western New England University. She then completed a PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Residency through Western New England University and Big Y Foods, Inc.
Previously, she practiced as a staff Pharmacist at a community pharmacy and served as an adjunct professor in the Professional Pharmacy Practice Lab in the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences at Western New England University. Her research interests include mental health, non-traditional learning pathways, and opioid use disorder.
Sergey Butakov, CISA, CISSP
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Master of Science in Computer Science program
Sergey Butakov is an associate professor of Computer Science and director of the Master of Science in Computer Science program at WNE. Dr. Butakov served as professor, department chair, and chief information officer in various academic institutions in Canada, South Korea, Nigeria, and Russia. He earned his Doctorate in Computer Science from Altai State University and his Master's in Computer Science from Altay State Technical University. He has intensive research and industrial experience in information security and maintains two professional designations: Certified Information Systems Auditor and Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
Abigail Caselli
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Abigail Caselli joins the Western New England University Department of Psychology as an assistant professor of phychology. Professor Caselli previously served as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and an associate faculty member at Post University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Syracuse University and her Bachelor of Science from Eastern Connecticut State University. Her research program examines how the social context, relationship context, and the self-interact, with the overall goal of understanding how people can achieve optimal well-being.
Dr. Caselli is very passionate about teaching and working with students on their own research. Her favorite classes to teach are Research Methods, Experimental Psychology, Human Sexuality, and Close Relationships.
Lindsey Cole
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Lindsey Cole is an associate professor of criminal justice at Western New England University. She has previously served as a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University, assistant professor at Oklahoma City University, lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, and postdoctoral researcher at Drexel University. Her research interests include legal socialization, juvenile justice and delinquency, perceptions of the police, and juror decision making. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from University of New Hampshire, M.A. from Southern Connecticut State University, and B.A. from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Robert Daniello
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Robert Daniello joins Western New England University as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Interests include thermofluid devices, energy, and mechanical design. He has previously taught at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; served as a technology specialist at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks PC; and as an engineer at United Technologies Aerospace Systems. He received B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Professor Daniello is teaching Heat Transfer in the fall 2023 semester.
Andrew DelSanto
Assistant Professor of Construction Management
Andrew DelSanto is currently an assistant professor of construction management in the College of Engineering at Western New England University. His research involves applying machine learning algorithms for improved engineering design, including the design of better infrastructure to prepare for more frequent/severe floods and droughts influenced by climate change. He is in the process of finishing his Doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he also received an M.S. in Civil Engineering in 2021. He attended Roger Williams University until 2018, where he received a B.S. in both Engineering and Applied Mathematics. He is a former engineer for Clark Construction LLC and hydrologic researcher for the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, as well as a former adjunct faculty member in the WNE College of Engineering and First Year Seminar Instructor at UMass Amherst.
Professor DelSanto has previously taught Land Surveying, Computer Aided Design, and Introduction to Construction Law at WNE, and is teaching Soil Behavior and Site Development and Construction Material Quality Control in the fall of 2023.
Alicia A. Girgenti
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Alicia A. Girgenti joins Western New England as an associate professor of Criminal justice. She previously served as an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Merrimack College as well as the graduate program director from 2017-2021 and played an integral role in the development of the dual enrollment master's degree and police academy program. Her research interests include constitutional challenges to the death penalty, capital jury decision-making, intersectionality in criminal justice, and the role of higher education in police training and behavior. She earned her Ph.D. in Criminology and Justice Policy from Northeastern University and a B.A. in Psychology from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Professor Girgenti is teaching Introduction to Criminal Justice, Ethics in Criminal Justice, and First Year Seminar in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Alexander Hartwell
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Formerly a researcher at Syracuse University in the Combustion and Energy Research Laboratory (COMER), Alexander Hartwell joins Western New England University as an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on solid oxide fuel cells, combined heat and power systems, biomaterials, and advanced manufacturing of ceramics. Beyond research, he is dedicated to effective science communication in the classroom as well as with generalist audiences and has won several awards for this work including the Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work at Syracuse University. He completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in May 2023 from Syracuse University, his M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in December 2020 from Syracuse University, and dual B.S. degrees in Nanoscale Engineering and Applied Mathematics from the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Professor Hartwell is teaching Introduction to Engineering in the 2022-2023 academic year.
Kyung Hong
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Kyung Hong joins Western New England University's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences as an associate professor of pharmacology, teaching Principles of Pharmacology this academic year. He previously served as an assistant professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Professor Hong's research interests include pharmacogenomics of N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2), metabolic effects of dietary exposure to heterocyclic amines, and novel role of NAT2 in lipid and cholesterol homeostasis. For many years, he has taught general pharmacology, as well as autonomic and cardiovascular pharmacology, to professional school students and trained both undergraduate and graduate students. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and his B.S. at the University of California at Davis.
Jiali Huang
Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management
Jiali Huang earned a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University. Her research interests include human factors, neuroergonomics, human-machine interactions, and neuroimaging. Dr. Huang will be joining the department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at WNE as an assistant professor, teaching Human Factors in the 2023-24 academic year.
Blaine Huber
Assistant Professor of Sport Management
Blaine Huber is joining WNE as an assistant professor of sport management, teaching Sport Facility Planning and Management and Introduction to Business in the 2023-2024 academic year. Professor Huber is currently completing his Doctorate in Management with a concentration in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research interests include sport consumer behavior, specifically online fan communities, fan behavior, and sport analytics.
He earned his M.S. in Sport Leadership and Management from Miami University and earned his B.A. and B.S. in Journalism and Sport Management from Miami University.
Sanjeev Jha
Associate Professor of Business Analytics and Information Management
Sanjeev Jha joins the College of Business at WNE as an associate professor of Business Analytics and Information Management, teaching Database Management Systems and Information Technology Management and Applications in the 2023-24 academic year. Previously he served as an associate professor of Information and Decision Sciences at Valparaiso University, and was an assistant professor of Information and Decision Sciences at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. He finished his Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Chicago and he has worked in industry in operations and marketing for six years before pursuing a career in academia.
Yamini Jha
Professional Educator of Business Analytics and Information Management
Yamini Jha joins the College of Business at WNE as a professional educator of Business Analytics and Information Management, teaching Problem Solving with Business Tools in the 2023-24 academic year. Previously she was a lecturer of Information and Decision Sciences at Valparaiso University, Indiana. She finished her Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Yixiao Jiang
Assistant Professor of Finance
Yixiao "Ethan" Jiang joins WNE College of Business as an assistant professor of finance, teaching courses on financial technology, valuation, and financial markets and institutions. His research interests include financial econometrics (with a current focus on semiparametric methods), credit rating agencies, and international economics/finance. Dr. Jiang frequently presents his research in academic conferences, most recently in the 2023 Econometric Society Asian Meeting held in Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Dr. Jiang's research has appeared in leading journals including Journal of Financial Econometrics, Finance Research Letters, and Empirical Economics.
Born and raised in Beijing, China, Dr. Jiang came to the U.S. in 2009 and earned his Ph.D. and B.A. from Rutgers University. Prior to joining WNE, he has been an assistant professor at Christopher Newport University where he taught quantitative courses in economics and finance.
Dana Ko'omoa-Lange
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Dr. Ko'omoa-Lange joins the WNE College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, as an associate professor with tenure. She previously served as an associate professor with tenure at the University of Hawaii at Hilo's Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy where she taught and coordinated courses in the PharmD program and conducted research on pediatric cancer. She also organized and led the Health Careers Opportunity Program, the Louis A Stokes Alliances for Minority Populations (Keaholoa) Program to increase the participation of students from underrepresented and disadvantaged populations in STEM research, Ho'okahua Program to indigenize the curriculum at UH Hilo and improve student success, and Ke Ola Mau program to support Native Hawaiian students interested in pursuing a degree in a healthcare field. She was highly involved in the Diversity Equity and Inclusion committee at UH Hilo, and was one of the founding members of the UH Hilo AAC&U Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center. She completed post-graduate training at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, served as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, was a Keystone Symposia Fellow, University of Hawaii President's Emerging Leader Program participant, and completed an indigenous curriculum transformation with the Uluakea Program.
She earned her Ph.D. from Brown University, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, and her Bachelor of Science from San Diego State University with an emphasis in Cellular and Molecular Biology.
Na Liu
Assistant Professor of Forensic Science
Na Liu joined Western New England University in January 2023 as an assistant professor of forensic sciences in the Department of Physical and Biological Sciences. Prior to the current position, Dr. Liu worked as a forensic science examiner at Connecticut State Forensic Laboratory (also called Division of Scientific Services) and conducted postdoctoral research at University of Connecticut Health Center. Dr. Liu earned her Ph.D. from Kent State University, Master from Chinese Academy of Sciences and B.E. from Beijing University of Chemical Technology.
Shengmin Luo
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Shengmin Luo joins WNE as an assistant professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the 2023-24 academic year. He previously served as a research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Wisconsin–Madison, specializing in Geotechnical Engineering. He is broadly interested in unsaturated soil mechanics, nano/micro-mechanics of rock, and rock-fluid interaction. He received his Ph.D. from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2019 and his Bachelor degree from Wuhan University of Technology in 2014.
Timothy McMath
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Tim McMath joins the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences as a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice. Professor McMath earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from WPI before he graduated in 2015 from MCPHS – Worcester as a Doctor of Pharmacy. After pharmacy school, Professor McMath completed his PGY-1 residency training with Walgreens/MCPHS. Since residency, he has spent the previous seven years as a clinical pharmacist in the emergency department of UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester specializing in transitions of care. He is board certified in both pharmacotherapy (BCPS) and ambulatory care (BCACP) and has professional areas of interest in infectious disease and toxicology.
Georgianna Meléndez
Assistant Professor of Management
Georgianna Meléndez joins the WNE College of Business as an assistant professor of management and will be teaching Leadership and Teams as well as Organizational Diversity in the fall 2023 semester. Professor Meléndez was previously the assistant chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston where she lectured in the College of Management. She has served as the cochair for the Restorative Justice Commission for the past two years. Her research interests include organizational issues and agendas related to diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, human resource management, and meritocracy. She is interested in how organizational structures and practices impact organizational outcomes and workers experiences. She earned her Ph.D. in Business Administration with a focus on organizations and social change, her Master of Science at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies with a focus on public administration, and her B.A. from Bentley University.
Alexis Morin
Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy
Alexis Morin earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Westfield State University. Her passion for mental health and vulnerable populations led her to receiving her Master of Occupational Therapy from Bay Path University. Dr. Morin completed her post-professional doctorate at Chatham University where her research focused on the effectiveness of a stress reduction program for current and former foster youth pursuing post-secondary education. She is an active member of the Massachusetts Occupational Therapy Association (MAOT) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). She is currently serving as the academic representative on MAOT.
Dr. Morin has worked in various clinical settings, primarily in mental health and non-traditional/emerging practice areas. She has practiced in-home health (traditional and behavioral health divisions), residential youth programs, early intervention, school-based, senior centers, congregate housing, transitional support programs, psychosocial clubhouses, and assisted living facilities. Dr. Morin's research interests include promoting life skill development of foster youth and developing stress management resources for current and former foster youth to optimize their performance in meaningful occupations and activities. She also has strong interests in the following areas: emerging practice settings, the use of the Kawa Model as a professional development tool and its impact in clinical settings, trauma-informed care, caregiver support groups, and strategies to promote self-directed learning and professional development among students.
Dr. Morin's research on the efficacy of a stress management program for foster youth has been published. She has presented her research at MAOT and AOTA conferences. Dr. Morin's teaching areas include: Leadership in Global Health, Group Interventions & Therapeutic Use of Self, Occupational Performance: Mental Health, Assessment: Theory & Measures, Community-Based OT Practice, and Level I Fieldwork. She strives to educate students on the impact they can make on local and global levels when working with vulnerable populations and utilizing a health promotion and prevention lens. In her spare time, Dr. Morin enjoys spending time with her husband, family, and friends; cheering on her favorite sports teams; and facilitating laughter yoga sessions.
Cheng-Han Pan
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Cheng-Han Pan is currently a visiting professor of mathematics at Western New England University. In the past academic year, he was an assistant professor at Juniata College. He earned his Bachelor of Science from National Chengchi University in Taiwan, and his Master of Science and Doctorate in Mathematics from West Virginia University. His research interests include foundations of real analysis.
Kyle Parks
Assistant Professor of Biology
Kyle Parks is an assistant professor of biology in the Department of Physical and Biological Sciences at Western New England University. He will be teaching Basic Biology: Organisms and General Biology I & II lecture and labs in the 2023-2024 academic year. His primary research interests are evolution, symbiosis, phylogenetics, and biodiversity, mainly focusing on parasitoid wasps. Before joining WNE he earned his B.S. in Biology at UMass Amherst, M.S. in Entomology at Clemson University, Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and taught in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.
Sara Peck
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Sara Peck is currently an assistant professor of Psychology at Western New England University. Prior to joining the WNE faculty, she worked as a clinician at the New England Center for Children. Professor Peck earned her Ph.D. from Utah State University and her undergraduate degree from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Dr. Peck conducts basic and applied behavioral research. Her primary area of study is focused on developing and testing interventions to promote adaptive decision-making. Her other research interests include: behavioral economics, telehealth behavioral services, and skill acquisition programs for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Mahyar Pourghasemi
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Mahyar Pourghasemi received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and he has one and a half years of experience in teaching undergraduate courses at UNM-Los Alamos. He has been conducting research in the field of thermal science for seven years. His research interests lie primarily in the area of thermal-hydraulic performance of miniature heat exchangers as well as flow in porous media.
Medha Pujari
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Medha Pujari is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science/IT at WNE University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) from the University of Toledo, Ohio, and her Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in CSE from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India. She served as a research and teaching assistant while pursuing graduate studies. Her research interests are in the domain of network security, and her current research is focused on machine learning-based intrusion detection systems.
Dr. Pujari will be teaching a wide range of computer science courses, including a Data Structures course, in the 2023-24 academic year.
Mitra Sadeghipour
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
After a short postdoctoral training at the National Research Council of Canada, Mitra Sadeghipour joined a spin off pharmaceutical company to develop an anti-cancer drug. After four years of working with a dynamic biologist, she wanted to pursue her passion for teaching. After moving back to the U.S., she started teaching in higher education. Dr. Sadeghipour joins the Chemistry Department at WNE for the 2023-2024 academic year.
James Scripture
Professional Educator Department of Computer Science & Information Technology
Jim Scripture is currently a professional educator in the WNE Department of Computer Science & Information Technology. He was previously an assistant professor in the Cybersecurity Department at Bay Path University where he primarily taught and developed courses in Digital Forensics for Bay Path’s undergraduate and graduate programs.
Professor Scripture graduated from the University of Maine and Westfield State University with degrees in Accounting, Criminal Justice, and Computer Science. He will be teaching computer science and information technology courses at WNE.
Hanieh Shabanian
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Haneih Shabanian joins the Computer Science and Information Technology Department at WNE as a tenure-track assistant professor in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Previously a tenure-track assistant professor in computer science at Northern Kentucky University, Professor Shabanian earned her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from the University of Memphis with a prior undergraduate degree in Software Engineering.
She enjoys teaching computer science courses, including data structures and algorithms, image processing, and artificial intelligence. Her research interest and expertise are at the intersection of computer vision, machine learning, and image processing. During her past research in Computational Imaging Research Laboratory and Computational Ocularscience Laboratory, in addition to solving stereo matching problems and 3D reconstruction using recent computer vision and statistical learning techniques including probabilistic graphical models; she has been working on imaging and analysis of ocular structures including cornea and retina of the eye to obtain dense 3D point cloud, facilitating detection of Glaucoma eye disease.
Jamal Sheikh-Ahmad
Professor of Practice in Mechanical Engineering
Sheikh-Ahmad is currently a professor of practice in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Western New England University. Professor Sheikh-Ahmad obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from NC State University. After this he served as an associate professor of manufacturing engineering at Wichita State University, Kansas and a professor of mechanical engineering at Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates. His scholarly activities span over diverse topics of fundamental and applied research in manufacturing science and engineering, particularly in the areas of machining polymer composites, friction stir welding of hybrid metal-polymer structures and the design of additively manufactured metamaterials for energy absorption.
Professor Sheikh-Ahmad will be teaching courses in the Solid Mechanics track, including Mechanics of materials, Machine Element Design and Experimental Stress Analysis.
Madeline Ward
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Madeline Ward will serve Western New England University as an assistant professor of Philosophy in Fall 2023. She specializes in bioethics and feminist philosophy, and will be teaching Bioethics and Ethics this fall. Dr. Ward previously completed graduate work at Syracuse University before earning her Ph.D. in Philosophy at Georgetown University. Most recently, her work on weight-based oppression appeared in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.
