Welcome New Grand Challenge Initiative Postdoctoral Fellows
September 26, 2022
Join us in welcoming our new additions to our Schmid College and Grand Challenge Initiative faculty!
Miranda Aiken, Ph.D.
Dr. Aiken is a biogeochemist researching the release of toxic, naturally-occurring soil metals into our groundwater. Her work is highly-interdisciplinary and investigates metal release from individual soil aggregates, all the way up to entire groundwater basins. The goal of her work is to understand the mineral, chemical, and biological controls of metal release and how human activity may impact water quality in the long-term. Ask her about manganese (a personal favorite), chromium, or arsenic! Dr. Aiken holds a Ph.D. from University of California, Riverside.
Hector Camarillo Abad, Ph.D.
Dr. Camarillo Abad’s research focuses on new interactions aimed at improving human activities. The interaction occurs between users and intelligent systems through wearable devices. During his Ph.D. he developed haptic-based interactions for dance-related applications. His specific interests include human-computer interaction, wearables, ubiquitous and assistive technology, sensing devices, nonverbal communication through technology, motor skills, and sensor-based classification. He holds a Ph.D. in Intelligent Systems from Universidad de las Américas Puebla in Mexico.
Kamal Diki, Ph.D.
Dr. Diki obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematical Models and Methods in Engineering from Politecnico di Milano where he was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow of the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (INdAM). His research interest is in (hyper)-complex analysis and operator theory with potential applications in quantum mechanics and time-frequency analysis. Recently, Dr. Diki started exploring new research directions in theoretical machine learning (ML), with particular interest in neural networks (NN) and support vector machines (SVMs). His research in this area consists of investigating new algorithms for NN and developing further properties of some RBF kernels used in SVMs.
Desiree Forsythe, Ph.D.
Dr. Forsythe (she/her) has a background in both the biological sciences and education. She is a STEM education researcher and focuses on how to disrupt oppressions in the sciences through the use of critical, feminist, and queer theorizations. Dr. Forsythe has several lines of research including how those with privileged identities in STEM work at incorporating social justice into pedagogical and professional practice and how STEM students with marginalized identities experience and navigate STEM environments (such as classrooms, advising, office hours, etc.). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island.
