Faculty Experts
Need a subject expert? We have them. Cal State East Bay’s faculty are experts on everything from inter-racial relations and mental health to black holes and earthquake activity. Below, you can search for subject matter experts by topic or name. If you need assistance locating an expert or for immediate or on-site requests, contact News and Media Manager Kimberly Hawkins at kimberly.hawkins@csueastbay.edu and please mark the email as urgent.
If you are a Cal State East Bay faculty member and interested in being listed as a faculty expert on this page, please fill out this form and contact Kimberly Hawkins with any questions at kimberly.hawkins@csueastbay.edu.
James Ahiakpor, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Economics
Expertise:
- Monetary economics,
- Government fiscal and monetary policies
Matthew Atencio, Ph.D
Professor of Kinesiology
Expertise:
- Action or Lifestyle Sports,
- Youth Sports,
- Skateboarding,
- Physical Education,
- Outdoor Education,
- Qualitative Research,
- Educational Research
Duke Austin, Ph.D.
Department Chair of Sociology
Expertise:
- Race and ethnic relations,
- Gender,
- Sexuality,
- Immigration,
- Ethnographic methods
Becky Beal, Ed.D.
Professor of Kinesiology
Expertise:
- Social justice issues in sport and physical activity,
- The culture of skateboarding (researching for over 25 years),
- Former coach of soccer and track & field at youth, high school, and collegiate levels
Katherine M. Bell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of communication
Expertise:
- Celebrity and consumer culture,
- Journalism,
- Race, gender and sexuality in media.
Elizabeth Bergman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Political Science
Expertise:
- California politics; especially the state budget, water policy, education funding and policy,
- Voters (demographics), voting behavior (turnout) and public opinion/polls,
- Elections; administration and processes both statewide and nationally (Voter ID, long lines, voting by mail, poll worker recruitment),
- Urban politics; especially relating to sub-city governments (special districts, e.g. school districts),
- Practical politics, "how to" of campaigns and how candidates get elected,
- Lobbying and political reform, re: money and influence in politics and elections
Ellen Bernstein-Ellis
Director, Clinical Supervisor of the Aphasia Treatment Program
Expertise:
- Aphasia,
- Group Treatment of Aphasia,
- Life Participation Approach to Aphasia,
- Aphasia Book Clubs,
- Aphasia Choirs
Benjamin P. Bowser, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Expertise:
- Sociology -- urban studies, East and West Oakland, race relations, inequality,
- Public Health -- drug abuse prevention, HIV/AIDS prevention
Lonny J Avi Brooks, Ph.D.
Professor of Communication
Expertise:
- Strategic and Organizational Communication,
- Social media,
- Long term and futures thinking,
- Future of work,
- Serious games/online gaming,
- Diversity and multi-racial identity/LGBT social media issues, sustainability
Mary Cardaras, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Department Chair
Expertise:
- Media & Politics,
- Journalism,
- Documentary Film
Paul Carpenter, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Kinesiology, Board Member American Kinesiology Association
Expertise:
- Sport and Exercise Psychology,
- Motivational issues in youth sport,
- Accomplished Ultracyclist - Currently President UltraMarathon Cycling Association an International Organization for the sport of ultracycling
Chris Chamberlain, D.Mgt.
Department Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Hospitality, Recreation & Tourism
Expertise:
- Municipal Recreation Administration and Management,
- Org Development
Ayona Chatterjee, Ph.D.
Department Chair and Associate Professor of Statistics and Biostatistics
Expertise:
- Bayesian statistics,
- Pesticide risk assessment,
- Dietary data sets
Lynn Comerford, Ph.D.
Professor, Director, Sociologist in Human Development & Women's Studies
Expertise:
- Women’s Studies,
- Sociology
Ken Curr, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Expertise:
- Virology,
- Immunology (Emphasis on HIV-1),
- Molecular/Cell Biology,
- Genetics
Moayed Daniel Daneshyari
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Expertise:
- Artificial Intelligence,
- Machine Learning,
- Robotics,
- Swarm Intelligence,
- Optimization
Jack Davis
Psychologist and Professor of Educational Psychology
Expertise:
- Attention and learning disorders,
- ADHD,
- Dyslexia,
- Nonverbal learning disorders,
- Specific learning disabilities (SLD)
Craig Derksen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Expertise:
- Philosophy of Science,
- Popular Culture,
- Popular Science,
- Popular Art,
- Evidence and Belief,
- Thinking
Hongwei Du, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor of Management
Expertise:
- Information Technology and Information Systems Management,
- Telecommunication and Computer Networking,
- Data and Database Management
Alina Engelman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Expertise:
- Deaf studies,
- Disability health,
- Global health,
- HIV/AIDS,
- Emergency preparedness communications for vulnerable populations including people with disabilities and seniors
Susi Ferrarello
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Expertise:
- Phenomenology,
- Ethics,
- Bioethics,
- Philosophical Counseling
Susan Forsyth, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Expertise:
- Reproductive health,
- Tobacco Control,
- Tobacco imagery in video games
Mary F. Fortune, Ed.D.
Professor of Hospitality, Recreation & Tourism
Expertise:
- Leisure management,
- Special event planning, leadership development/team building,
- Health and wellness,
- Student development/student government,
- Technology and communication
Samantha Francois, Ph.D.
Lecturer
Expertise:
- Women's History,
- US History,
- History of the Family and Sexuality
David E. Fraser, MPA, Ed.D.
Lecturer of Public Affairs and Administration
Expertise:
- Leadership and management in public agencies,
- Leadership in higher education,
- Organization theory and change,
- Program development and evaluation,
- Qualitative research methods
Amy Furniss, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Physics
Expertise:
- Astroparticle Physics,
- Female in the STEM field
Kathy Futterman, Ed.D.
Lecturer
Expertise:
- Dyslexia,
- Special Education,
- Learning Disabilities,
- Reading Disorders
Danielle Gaudry
Associate Professor of Music, Director of Bands and Instrumental Music
Expertise:
- Music,
- Band,
- Orchestra,
- Instrumental music education
Kim Geron, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Expertise:
- American Politics (specifically California, state and local politics, race and ethnic politics)
Brian Gonsalves, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Expertise:
- Cognitive neuroscience,
- Human memory,
- False memory & memory distortion,
- Brain imaging,
- EEG
Mariama Gray, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership
Expertise:
- Disproportionate student discipline,
- Principal preparation,
- Critical geography/spatial analysis of unequal relations of powers
Lindsey Grubbs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Public Health
Expertise:
- Bioethics,
- Literature about illness,
- History of psychiatry
Zaher (Zach) Hallab, Ph.D.
Professor of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism
Expertise:
- Hospitality and Tourism,
- Marketing
Lisa Handwerker, Ph.D., MPH
Lecturer
Expertise:
- Medical Anthropology,
- Women's Health,
- Cross-cultural health,
- Modern China,
- Chinese birth planning and infertility,
- Reproductive Technologies,
- Anthropology of Food,
- Research Methods
Michael Hedrick, Ph.D.
Professor of Biological Sciences & Co-Director of the Semester Conversion Initiative
Expertise:
- Human & Animal Physiology,
- Faculty Governance within the CSU
Erik B. Helgren, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Expertise:
- Solar Technology Materials Science,
- Physics Education
Nolan Higdon
Lecturer of history
Expertise:
- Critical Media Literacy,
- Propaganda,
- Politics,
- News,
- Nationalism,
- History,
- English,
- Communication
John Paul Horn, MSW, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Expertise:
- Child welfare,
- Queer foster youth,
- Emerging adulthood,
- Transition aged foster youth,
- Foster care policy,
- Identity development,
- Foster youth in college
Keith Inman
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Expertise:
- DNA/Forensic Science Research,
- Judicial Influence
Caron Inouye, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
Expertise:
- Bird biology,
- Environmental toxicology,
- Animal physiology,
- STEM education
Linda Ivey
Professor of history
Expertise:
- Immigration history,
- Environmental history of the US,
- California history,
- Public history
Buddy James, D.M.A.
Department Chair of Music, Professor, Director of Vocal Studies, and Founding Director of School of Arts and Media
Expertise:
- Vocal music,
- Orchestral Music,
- Opera
Patricia K. Jennings, Ph.D.
Associate Dean
Expertise:
- Infertility and treatment,
- Race, class and access to infertility treatment,
- Research methods,
- Social inequality,
- Social mobility,
- Gender inequality
Grant Kien, Ph.D.
Professor of communication
Expertise:
- Communication,
- Technology and society,
- Critical cultural studies,
- Digital media and popular culture,
- Media and politics,
- Media memes
Derek Jackson Kimball, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Expertise:
- Precision measurements in physics,
- Searches for dark matter,
- Dark energy,
- New forces
Michele Korb, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Science educator
Expertise:
- Science teacher education
Eric Kupers
Professor and Interim Chair of Theatre and Dance
Expertise:
- Dance,
- Performance,
- Inclusive Performance,
- Disability and Dance,
- Autism,
- Social Justice Performance,
- Meditation,
- Buddhism,
- Movement Meditation
Sweety Law, Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Expertise:
- Innovation diffusion,
- Leadership,
- Cross-cultural communication,
- Organizational culture and change,
- Communication campaigns and behavior change,
- Social marketing
Danvy Le, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Expertise:
- Race and ethnic politics,
- Political participation,
- American Politics,
- Civic Action
Michael David Lee, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology, Geography & Environmental Studies
Expertise:
- Water,
- Food,
- Aquaculture,
- Development,
- Sustainability
Anthony Lima, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Economy
Expertise:
- Wine Industry Economics,
- Sports Economics,
- Tech Economics
Monique Manopoulos, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures
Expertise:
- Postcolonial Francophone Studies
Tony Marks-Block, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies
Expertise:
- Fire,
- Forest Health,
- California Land Management,
- Indigenous Livelihoods,
- Environmental Justice,
- Subsistence systems,
- Restoration ecology
Daniel Martin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Management
Expertise:
- Compassion,
- Social capital,
- Human Resources Management,
- Technology,
- Psychology
Julie McNamara, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Teacher Education
Expertise:
- Mathematics Education,
- Teacher Preparation,
- Teaching and Learning of Mathematics,
- Common Core Mathematics,
- Math Wars,
- Classroom Teaching
Aaron Miller
Lecturer of Kinesiology
Expertise:
- Sports,
- Education,
- Culture,
- Power,
- Athlete Activism,
- Racism,
- Sexism
Amara Miller, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Expertise:
- Social movements and complex organizations,
- Popular culture,
- Feminist Theory,
- Critical Theory,
- Social Inequalities,
- Body and Emotions,
- Post/Colonialism,
- Memory Studies,
- Sociology of Violence,
- Social Psychology,
- Digital & News Media,
- Religion & Identity,
- Historical & Field Methods
Kaumudi Misra
Associate Professor of Management
Expertise:
- Human Resources Strategy,
- Time Zone Differences,
- Global Team Productivity,
- Work-Life Balance,
- Telecommuting
Jean Moran, Ph.D.
Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Expertise:
- Water resources, especially groundwater, in California,
- Nitrate contamination of groundwater,
- Radionuclides released from nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities,
- Isotope hydrology and groundwater age dating,
- Hydrology and hydrogeology pedagogy
Christopher Moreman, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Chair
Expertise:
- Death,
- Dying, and Afterlife,
- Religious Experience,
- Religion and Popular Culture,
- Religion & Horror,
- Zombies,
- Paranormal
Arnab Mukherjea
Department Chair and Associate Professor of Public Health
Expertise:
- Public Health,
- Health Disparities,
- Social Determinants of Health,
- Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders,
- Community-Engaged Research,
- Interpretation of Health Research for Public Comprehension
James A. Murray, Ph.D.
Professor of Biological Sciences
Expertise:
- Neural basis of navigation,
- Sensory biology,
- Animal communication,
- How nervous systems work,
- Neuroscience education,
- Confocal microscopy,
- Marine invertebrates,
- Marine biology
Maria Nieto, Ph.D.
Professor of Biological Sciences
Expertise:
- Fiction Writing,
- Intersex Advocate,
- Same-Sex Marriage Debate
My Phung (Jenny) O, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Kinesiology/Director of Center for Student Research Scholars Program
Expertise:
- Sport and performance psychology,
- adult learning and performance,
- motor learning,
- undergraduate student research,
- high impact practices,
- group dynamics,
- leadership
Maria Ortuoste, Ph.D.
Department Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science
Expertise:
- Asia-Pacific regional security,
- South China Sea disputes,
- International security, law and organizations,
- Southeast Asian governments and regional organizations
Thomas C. Padron, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator & Associate Professor of Hospitality, Recreation & Tourism
Expertise:
- Food & Beverage,
- Restaurant Management,
- Event Planning and Management,
- Hospitality & Tourism,
- Professional Preparation – Cover Letters, Resumes, Reference Pages, Thank You Letters, Preparing for the Interview,
- Professionalism & Etiquette,
- Customer Service,
- Leadership
Seung Paek, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Administration
Expertise:
- Private security,
- Policing cybercrime
Peter K. Marsh
Professor of Music
Expertise:
- Music and cultures of Mongolia,
- Northern or Inner Asia, and Central Asia,
- Soviet and Post-Soviet history
Arran Phipps. Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Expertise:
- Dark matter,
- Low temperature electronics,
- Physics,
- Physics
Balaraman Rajan, Ph.D.
Professor of Management
Expertise:
- Healthcare,
- Operations,
- Service Operations,
- Manufacturing,
- Productivity
Pradeep Ramanathan, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Expertise:
- Voice disorders,
- Traumatic Brain Injury,
- Concussion,
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Lettie Ramirez, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Teacher Education, Director Hispanic Serving Institution Grant, STEP, Director STEM
Expertise:
- ESL,
- Parental involvement,
- Teacher Ed,
- Bilingual Ed
Asha Rao, Ph.D.
Professor of Management
Expertise:
- Women in leadership,
- Leadership,
- Diversity Management (focus on Disability, Religion, Culture, South Asian, LGBTQIA),
- Negotiations,
- HRM
Xeno Rasmusson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Human Development & Women's Studies
Expertise:
- Gerontology,
- Aging,
- Health & Aging,
- Healthy Aging,
- Successful Aging,
- Cognitive Aging,
- Dementia,
- Alzheimer's disease,
- Memory Training,
- Active Aging and whole person interventions,
- Music and aging,
- Dance and aging and Parkinsons' disease,
- Volunteerism and aging,
- Neuropsychology and Neuroscience,
- Drugs - drug action, drug policy, clinical drug trials, drug abuse/addiction, medical marijuana,
- Higher Education - engaged learning, research methods, community-based research, service learning, diversity, neuro-diversity and social justice
Gretchen Reevy, Ph.D.
Lecturer of Psychology
Expertise:
- Stress and coping,
- Non-tenure-track faculty in higher education (also called adjunct faculty, contingent faculty),
- Non-cognitive (for instance, personality) predictors of academic achievement,
- The human-animal bond,
- Sex comparisons in some psychological traits
Michelle Rippy
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Expertise:
- Policing,
- Investigation,
- Medicolegal death investigations,
- Forensic science
Christian Roessler
Associate Professor of Economics
Expertise:
- Economics,
- Political Economy,
- Game Theory
Steven Ross, Ph.D.
Lecturer of Psychology
Expertise:
- Psychotherapy with individuals, couples, and families focusing on depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and loss.
Farhad Sabetan, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Expertise:
- Economics,
- Human Rights,
- Minorities in the Middle East (especially the Bahá’ís).
Jocyl Sacramento, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies
Expertise:
- K-12 Ethnic Studies,
- Pinayism,
- Critical and decolonizing pedagogies,
- Filipinx American Studies,
- Ethnic Studies professional development,
- Critical Race Theory in Education,
- Comparative radicalization,
- Qualitative research methods,
- Ethnography
Enrique Salmon, Ph.D.
Professor of Ethnic Studies
Expertise:
- American Indians,
- Anthropology,
- Environmental Sustainability,
- Traditional Food Ways,
- Traditional Agriculture
Sanjay Marwah, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Administration
Expertise:
- Policing,
- Criminology,
- Cultural Political Economy Public Policy
Michael Schmeltz, DrPH
Assistant Professor
Expertise:
- Climate change and health,
- Extreme heat,
- Air quality,
- Environmental and climate justice,
- Epidemiology,
- Climate hazards and vulnerable populations,
- Geospatial analysis,
- Sustainability,
- Vector control,
- Occupational health & safety
Omri Shimron, D.M.A.
Associate Professor of Music and Director of Keyboard Studies
Expertise:
- Piano performance,
- Contemporary music,
- Classical music,
- Music theory,
- Musicianship
Jeff Simons, Ph.D.
Professor of Kinesiology
Expertise:
- Psycho-motor aspects of physical activity, learning, and performance
Mary Soto, Ed.D.
Associate Professor of Teacher Education
Expertise:
- Teacher Education,
- Emergent Bilingual Students
Richard A. Sprott, Ph.D.
Lecturer of Human Development
Expertise:
- Professional identity development,
- Impact of technology on self-concepts,
- Sexual identity development,
- LGBTQ,
- Alternative sexualities,
- Polyamory,
- Mental health
Michael Stanton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Public Health
Expertise:
- Obesity,
- Nutrition,
- Behavioral Medicine,
- Health,
- Psychology
Rachael Stryker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Expertise:
- International adoption,
- Migration,
- Anthropology of children and youth,
- Qualitative research methods,
- Critical perspectives on Child Development
James Tandon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Computer Engineering
Expertise:
- VLSI Circuit Design,
- FPGA architecture and timing,
- Stochastic data converters,
- Power-performance optimization,
- Embedded systems design,
- Drone control systems,
- Telerobotic control,
- Real time system design
Sarah Taylor, MSW, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Expertise:
- Disability,
- Advocacy,
- Transition-age youth,
- Community mental health,
- LGBTQ community,
- Participatory research
Gregory Theyel, Ph.D.
Professor of Management
Expertise:
- Biomedical (biotech, pharma, medical devices) industry,
- Manufacturing,
- Emerging industries,
- Sustainability
Jennifer Tran, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies
Expertise:
- Interracial relations,
- Refugees and immigrants,
- Community engagement,
- Gender & sexuality
Erica L. Wildy, Ph.D.
Professor of Biological Sciences
Expertise:
- Animal behavior,
- Ecology,
- Behavioral ecology,
- Herpetology (amphibians and reptiles),
- Natural history of animals,
- Vertebrate biology
Andrew Wong, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology
Expertise:
- Sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology,
- Language variation and change,
- Language and ideology,
- Language and the media,
- Language and sexuality,
- Hong Kong,
- Applied anthropology,
- Business anthropology (marketing and advertising, brand name development)
Chongqi Wu, Ph.D.
Professor of Management, Co-Director of MS Business Analytics
Expertise:
- Business analytics,
- Operations and supply chain management
