Dean's Faculty Fellows

Dean’s Faculty Fellows represent some of the most promising junior faculty in the College of Arts and Science. Through a highly competitive nomination process, fellows are selected for their scholarly accomplishments and the future potential to make an impact in their respective fields. Dean's Faculty Fellows hold the title for two years and receive support for their research, scholarship, and creative expression as they seek tenure.

CURRENT DEAN'S FACULTY FELLOWS

	Panka Bencsik C. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Medicine, Health & Society Assistant Professor of Medicine, Health & Society Health economics, crime economics, public economics, opioid crisis, mental health, gun violence, criminal justice system
	Sophie Bjork-James McEntire Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Anthropology Race and racism, evangelicalism, reproductive politics, white nationalism, hate crimes
	Ari Caramanica Frank Kelly Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Climate Studies Assistant Professor of Anthropology Archaeology, climate, irrigation in farming systems
	Matthew Congdon Greg S. Allen Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Philosophy Assistant Professor of Philosophy Ethics, social philosophy, aesthetics
	Lydia Conklin S. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Race, Racial Justice, and Social Justice Assistant Professor of English Fiction, graphic fiction, graphic memoir
	John Dearborn Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Political Science Assistant Professor of Political Science Presidency, Congress, American political development, American political thought, archival methods
	Samuel Dolbee D. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Studies of the Middle East Assistant Professor of History Environmental history, modern Middle East, Ottoman Empire, colonialism, history of animals, history of disease
	Rachel Donnelly Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Sociology Assistant Professor of Sociology Health and mortality, demography, race, gender, and sexual orientation
	Alexandre Frenette Cornelius Vanderbilt Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Sociology Assistant Professor of Sociology Arts and culture, work and occupations, social inequality
	Julie Gamble Haufrect Family Goldman Sachs Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies Urban mobility, gender mobility, Latinx urban environments, sustainable urban development
	Rebeca Gamez Djovic H. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Racial Justice Assistant Professor in Anthropology Relational and comparative race and ethnicity, migration, education inequality
	Didi Jackson Cornelius Vanderbilt Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of English Author and poet
	Antonia Kaczkurkin S. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Mental Health Assistant Professor of Psychology Neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to the etiology of internalizing disorders
	Bohyeong Kim Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Communication Studies Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Critical media and cultural studies with a particular emphasis on Korea and East Asia
	Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli Ruff Fant Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Physics Perturbative and non-perturbative quantum chromo dynamics, quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions, theoretical space-time structure of fundamental matter, machine learning to aid discovery physics in high energy
	Christopher Li C. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Economics Assistant Professor of Economics Political economy, behavioral economics, political polarization, policy experimentation
	Bianca Manago Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Sociology Assistant Professor of Sociology Inequalities in health, race, gender, and sexuality
	Adeana McNicholl Mellon Foundation Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Religious Studies Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Buddhism, the relationship between religion and the body and embodied identities
	Lin Meng Steven and Bunny Fayne Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences Global change ecology, urban ecology, phenology, remote sensing
	Sarah Quincy Britton-Perry Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Economic History Assistant Professor of Economics Macroeconomics, economic history, finance
	Mark Sanchez Britton Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in History Assistant Professor of Asian Studies Asian American studies, the Philippines, human rights, social movements, labor and migration, gambling
	Simone Stirner Max Kade Foundation Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Contemporary German Studies Assistant Professor of German Studies Poetry and poetics, memory studies, and German/Hebrew literature
	Marie Suver Cornelius Vanderbilt Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Neuroscience, behavior, sensory and motor systems, electrophysiology
	Alexandre Tiriac Hooley Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Neural circuits, specifically visual, somatosensory, proprioceptive, and motor circuits
	Allison Walker Steven and Bunny Fayne Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of Chemistry Chemical biology, computational chemistry, machine learning
	Katherine Wen C. Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Medicine, Health & Society Assistant Professor of Medicine, Health & Society Health economics, health services, policy analysis, vaccine policy
	Matthew Worsnick Berg Dean’s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of History of Art & Architecture Architectural history, design studies, curation, urbanism
	John Yang SC Family Dean's Faculty Fellow in Chemistry Assistant Professor of Chemistry Enzyme catalysis, protein engineering, physical organic chemistry
	James Zainaldin Mellon Foundation Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Classical Studies Assistant Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Studies Latin linguistics, Greek and Roman philosophy, Roman agriculture, Greco-Roman and Chinese comparative studies

Past Dean's Faculty Fellows

Allison Anoll, Assistant Professor of Political Science

How social context, connections, and norms affect political participation, especially among racial and ethnic minorities.

Megan Behringer, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Experimental evolution, environmental factors, genomic analysis and genetic variation

Brandon Byrd, Assistant Professor of History

History of the 19th and 20th century U.S. with specializations in African American History and the African Diaspora.

Emmanuele Costa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Early modern philosophy and metaphysics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, Renaissance philosophy

Marcelo Disconzi, Assistant Professor of Math

Geometric analysis, fluid dynamics, relativistic fluids, and mathematical physics.

Rebecca Epstein-Levi, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies

Moral and textual implications of treating sex as one species of social interaction

Christy Erving, S Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow for the Study of Race, Racial Justice, or Social Justice in Sociology, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Medical sociology, mental health, health disparities, population health, and the intersections of race, ethnicity, immigration, and gender.

Raheleh Filsoofi, Assistant Professor of Art

Synthesizing socio-political statements, ancient and contemporary media

Patrick Greiner, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Inequality emerging from social, political, and economic structures

Diana Heney, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Objectivity of ethical judgements, the nature of moral judgements, and ethical issues pertaining to mental illness.

Karan Jani, Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy

Black holes, general theory of relativity, gravitational wave detectors

Amanda Lea, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Evolutionary biology, genomics, and human health research

Michelle Marcus, Assistant Professor of Economics

Environment, health disparities, public policy

Lars Plate, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Networks of protein interactions that drive the function of healthy cells that provide insights into what causes disease.

Raisa Rexer, Assistant Professor of French

19th century French literature and the early history of photography.

Tasha Rijke-Epstein, Assistant Professor of History

Urban history, material culture, built forms, museums and public history, and politics of kinship and belonging.

Larry Rolen, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Number theory, particularly so-called harmonic Maass forms and modular-type functions.

Jessie Runnoe, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Quasar central engines, long-term variability, and unification; the host-AGN connection; low-frequency gravitational waves, and supermassive black hole binaries.

Akshya Saxena, Assistant Professor of English

20th and 21st century Anglophone world literature, film, and media, with a focus on South Asia.

Bradley Smith, Cornelius Vanderbilt Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Political Science, Assistant Professor of Political Science

Studies questions at the intersection of international conflict and international cooperation, specifically military cooperation in the international system.

Stephen Taylor, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Gravitational wave astrophysics, multi-messenger astronomy, statistical inference, black holes, neutron stars, and pulsar timing arrays.

Ann Tate, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Temporal and evolutionary dynamics of host-microbe, the immune system, and its function.

Steven Townsend, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Human milk science and the synthesis of carbohydrates.

Rebecca VanDiver, Assistant Professor of Art History

African American art

Guojun Wang, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies

Late imperial Chinese literature.

We Jung Yi, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies

Comparative Asian studies, translation theory, film and media studies, gender criticism, and histories of violence in the Pacific Rim

Erin York, Assistant Professor of Political Science

How governing autocratic institutions influence political outcomes; legislative institutions and opposition participation

Meng Zhang, Assistant Professor of History

Late imperial and modern China, economic and environmental transformation, transnational connections.