CLAS is pleased to honor our outstanding students, staff, and faculty with a range of annual awards.
CLAS Outstanding Student Awards
Junfei Liu, Department of Communication
As an international student from China, Junfei has excelled at CU Denver, maintaining a 4.00 GPA while majoring in Communication with minors in Economics and Mathematics. Her academic journey includes presenting research on human bias against AI-generated art at the AEJMC International Conference and publishing a study on disparities in medical accessibility during COVID-19. She also interned with Ogilvy China and Mercedes-Benz, focusing on strategic communication and consumer trends.
On campus, she served as a marketing assistant at the Auraria Library and the International Education Office, contributing to knowledge dissemination and international outreach. Her involvement in the Alpha Phi sorority enhanced my cultural understanding while fostering community engagement through initiatives like Starting Hearts fundraising.
Looking forward, she aspires to advance her studies in public policy and marketing, aiming to apply emerging technologies to address global challenges in the healthcare and consumer goods sectors.
Jami Helmig - Department of Integrative Biology
Jami Helmig is a first-generation college student, single parent, and advocate for equity in education. Overcoming significant challenges, including re-entering education after dropping out of high school and navigating life as a low-income parent, Jami has maintained a GPA above 3.9 while conducting research in CU Denver's physiology and CU
Anschutz pharmacology labs. Through the TRIO McNair and the Honors Scholar program, she developed skills in presenting scientific research and exploring molecular neuroscience, with a focus on synaptic mechanisms.
Jami actively supports mental health accessibility and community initiatives, including the Phoenix Center at Auraria and the Food Bank of the Rockies. She is passionate about outreach and mentoring underrepresented students, having served as a reviewer for CCD scholarships and participating in the Psi Chi psychology honor society.
Jami's future aspirations include earning a PhD, becoming a professor, and creating a nonprofit to provide scholarships and mentorship for students overcoming adversity. Her dedication to research and advocacy inspires others, including her daughter, to pursue their dreams.
Goran Ahmed Khorshid Shikak - Department of Integrative Biology
Goran’s master’s research has focused on the systematics of North American camel spiders and the evaluation of rehydration techniques for ethanol-preserved museum specimens. This research complements his interest in museum curation, taxonomy, and public outreach. Understanding the evolutionary relationships of these understudied arachnids is crucial, and his manuscripts on ethanol rehydration and camel spider systematics significantly contribute to arachnology and museum curation.
In addition to his research, Goran engages in science communication and outreach with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS), having helped create a science communication exhibit with the arachnology team and participated in events to educate the public about arachnids. As a teaching assistant at CU Denver, he has supported the education of undergraduate biology students, fostering an inclusive learning environment and mentoring students in laboratory research. Goran is a member of the American Arachnological Society and the International Society of Arachnology, from which he has received funding and recognition for his research.
Looking ahead, Goran plans to pursue PhD opportunities to continue his work with camel spiders and expand his research to Old World camel spiders from his family’s home, Kurdistan. His goal is to focus on the evolutionary history of arachnids in the Kurdish regions and mentor local high school and college students.
Megan Renee Duff - Department of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences
Megan’s PhD in Applied Mathematics at CU Denver focused on predicting certain traits or health outcomes for an individual given their genetic data, particularly for underrepresented groups that often have smaller datasets available for research. Her dissertation will result in two papers: one explaining common genetic prediction methods and another comparing her approach to existing techniques using diverse data.
Megan has actively supported the CU Denver community by mentoring teaching assistants, guiding students in high-performance computing and organizing workshops to foster student development within the mathematics and statistics department. As a graduate student representative, she advocated for equitable qualifying exam assessments, and as vice president of the Association for Women in Mathematics, established two mentoring programs to support students at all levels.
After graduation, Megan plans to apply her statistics expertise in the biotechnology industry to advance personalized medicine, drive public health initiatives, and promote equitable research that enhances our understanding of human health.
CLAS Outstanding Staff Awards - Spring 2024
Kayla Spencer, Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Kayla was born and raised in Thornton, Colorado, and has been with the University of Colorado Denver as an Administrative Assistant for the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences for a little over a year.
She studied to be a Social Studies Teacher, and in the Fall of 2021 earned her B.A. in History with a Secondary Social Studies Licensure from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She hopes to further her educational journey by attaining her master’s degree from CU Denver in the near future.
She has been using her gained knowledge in education to work with students, staff, and faculty alike, to further excellence and the overall institutional experience. Kayla is passionate about fostering opportunities and engagement within the CLAS Staff, to ensure equity and inclusivity in the workplace.
Off campus she enjoys spending time with her family, hiking, and snowboarding, as well as adventuring all over Colorado and the country with her boyfriend, Dan.
Aman Tewolde, CLAS Information Technology
Aman was born and raised in Aurora, Colorado and is a cyber nerd who followed in his father’s footsteps in attending CU Denver. He's been with CU since 2018 and obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science with a Minor in Photography, and currently finishing his Master of Science in Information Systems with a specialization in Cyber Security and Information Assurance. Aman has been with CLAS-IT for a little over a year.
During his bachelor's degree he worked as a student Technical Assistance in Engineering IT and ended his student career as an IT Services Developer and obtained multiple professional IT certifications. It was during this time in Engineering IT that he fell in love with Information Technology and wanted to pursue a career mixing his favorite things; technology and helping people.
Before coming to CLAS, Aman was a Systems Administrator/Security Engineer for the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) located in CU Boulder, where he collaborated with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to advance knowledge of earths frozen regions. Aman is now the Linux Systems Administrator for the new CLAS-IT team, and currently working to help rebuild the IT infrastructure while helping our folks with a smile.
On his free time, he likes to do alternative photography, travel with friends, read with his book club, play video games, tinker with technology/cyber security and learn new & interesting facts about a wide range of topics. He also likes taking senior photos for graduates both at CU and his old high school during graduation season.
Mika Puseman, CLAS Deans Office
Prior to coming to CU Denver, Mika worked for 5.5 years at CU Boulder.
She started out as a student assistant editing videos and uploading course materials for the Boulder on Coursera programs. After graduating in 2021 with a BA in English Literature, she worked at the Course Coordinator for the Master of Science in Data Science program for a year and a half, before coming to CU Denver.
She now works as the Course and Curriculum Coordinator for CLAS. Her favorite part of this job is getting to work alongside a wonderful team in CLAS, finding new ways to streamline course and curriculum processes.
In her free time, she enjoys hiking and other outdoor activities, as well as country line and swing dancing. She loves to white water raft and camp with her husband and family. She also plays the piano and organ, works as the accompanist for the Broomfield Children's Chorus, and as a substitute organist for a few different churches across the state.
Angela Schmitt, Department of Political Science
Angie holds a Bachelor's degree in music education from Grand Valley State University, a Master's degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder and is an MBA candidate at the University of Colorado Denver.
She has worked extensively in higher education in administration, project management, and as a graduate assistant instructor at CU Boulder. Having held multiple positions in public school education, she loves working individually and collaboratively to support students and faculty in educational settings.
Additionally, Angie is a professional pianist who performs and teaches across the Front Range in her free time. She credits working with students as the most meaningful part of her career, and the best part of her position at CU Denver.
Erick Chavez-Navarrete, CLAS Advising
Erick Chávez-Navarrete is an academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes advising students in the International College Beijing (ICB) program.
He enjoys working with students to help them connect the dots for their educational journey.
Outside of advising he serves as a member of the CLAS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and co-chair of the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association.
Erick enjoys watching movies, reading novels, and spending time with his husband and dogs. He has a special fondness for pandas and welcomes any panda photos or videos you wish to send him.
CLAS Outstanding Faculty Awards - Spring 2024
Emily Speakman, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Emily is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver.
Her research interests lie in the field of mathematical optimization, and her work considers both the theory and application of mixed-integer nonlinear programming. She is particularly interested in research questions in the application domain of urban planning, specifically the problem of optimally locating vital services within a community so that equity of access is prioritized.
Emily is also passionate about fostering a sense of inclusivity and belonging in higher education. She is the proud mentor of a number of talented students who she learns from on a daily basis!
Marino J. E. Resendiz, Chemistry
Prof. Marino Resendiz is in the department of chemistry and his research focuses on structure-function relationships of chemically modified RNA, for various applications.
He teaches organic chemistry and has implemented strategies to make this topic more relatable to students with various interests while enhancing their oral and writing skills. He has been intentional in implementing concepts of DEIA as a central aspect of teaching and research.
As a Mexican-American, he is devoted to increasing the interest in STEM fields in general, but particularly among students that belong to traditionally underrepresented groups in these fields. He has participated and organized in various activities aimed at breaking down supposed barriers associated with pursuing careers in STEM; and is using research in the laboratory, and teaching in the classroom, as the vehicles to promote science and higher education.
His goal is to enhance the experience of the student body at CU Denver and positively impact our communities broadly.
Gabriela DeRobles, Modern Languages
Dr. Gabriela DeRobles is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Modern Languages Department at the University of Colorado, Denver.
At CU, Denver, she designs and teaches courses for Heritage Speakers of Spanish, and she directs the Spanish for International Business Certificate Program. She is an applied linguist who specializes in Heritage and Second Language Acquisition.
As a first-generation college graduate and daughter of Mexican immigrants, her cultural roots and linguistic experiences shape and guide her pedagogical approach as well as her research endeavors.
"Throughout my years as an educator at CU Denver, I have been devoted to and passionate about prioritizing educational excellence for minoritized and underrepresented communities. My most important contribution to advancing diversity, inclusion, and equity at CU Denver has been providing heritage speakers of Spanish, or bilingual Latinx students, with a culturally and linguistically affirming Spanish language curriculum. For the past five years I have been designing and teaching Spanish courses that adhere to their historical, linguistic, educational, affective, and cultural dimensions. In these courses, I seek to centralize students’ lived experiences as US Latinx bilinguals, recognize those experiences as legitimate, and contextualize them within larger societal power structures by exploring topics related to the multifaceted Latinx experience in the US. My future plans as an educator at CU Denver are to continue bolstering diversity, inclusion, and equity in higher education through my courses, my teaching approach, my community outreach endeavors, and continued mentorship."
Marta Maron, Chemistry
"My primary research interests are on the development and implementation of undergraduate curriculum in technical writing.
Communication skills through written form for chemistry students are fundamentally important to their transformation from novice to expert chemists. However, many students who can successfully complete the undergraduate chemistry curriculum are not able to effectively construct and communicate scientific meaning in written form.
The main focus of my work has been on developing a science writing scaffold using a progressive approach to improve student writing skills. The integration of the practice of writing journal style documents, which follow the standards and guidelines of the American Chemical Society, with peer- and TA-review, and revision has been progressively applied to three laboratory courses: Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry Laboratory: Quantum Mechanics, and Instrumental Analysis.
The central goals of my work are to create a framework for students so that they can improve their abilities in science writing and our understanding of how students progress toward autonomy in their writing."
Daniel Klie, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
"I have been a full-time instructor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences since Fall 2018.
I am currently the course coordinator for both our precalculus and introductory statistics courses. In this role I disseminate course materials, provide weekly communication updates, and help coach the instructors of these courses to create a coherent offering across all sections. I serve as the co-director of Math and Stat Support which offers free drop-in tutoring services to CU Denver students.
My responsibilities in this capacity include hiring and scheduling student employees, providing my own tutoring services, and advertising our services to our student body.
As the current director of statistical programs, I head efforts to recruit and admit students into our different programs, act as academic advisor to all current students, perform annual assessment, and make decisions on tuition support and scholarships.
My future plans include transitioning into the role of CU Succeed Liaison which is a vital program for our department and college, and I will also pilot a large online section of our introductory statistic course to potentially help with scheduling and personnel logistics."
Troy Butler, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Troy Butler served as the Associate Chair of the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences from 2021-2023 where he oversaw most of the logistical issues involved in a return to in-person teaching.
In the last three years, Troy also served on several other departmental and campus committees, often in leadership roles.
Additionally, Troy served as the lead manager on a project funded by the Colorado Department of Higher Education to develop a zero-textbook cost degree that primarily utilized novel methods that integrated rich narrative text, live code, and multimedia with mathematics.
Troy has also been heavily involved in the professional community organizing minisymposia at national conferences, refereeing many papers (and most recently winning an "Outstanding Reviewer of the Year" award selected by the editors of the journal Inverse Problems for his in-depth, technical reviews in 2023), and serving on various research panels for both the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation.
Most recently, Troy was recruited by the National Science Foundation to serve as a rotating Program Director responsible for overseeing the direction of research funding in the field of Computational Mathematics. Troy began his tour of duty at the National Science Foundation in Fall 2023.
Victor Woo, Modern Languages
I-hao Victor Woo, Assistant Professor of Chinese at the Department of Modern Languages, excels in theoretical linguistics and Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) education.
His work bridges linguistic and cultural divides, profoundly impacting the university community through his innovative Chinese language and cultural courses.
Beyond teaching, his research in Chinese syntax enriches academic discourse and promotes intercultural communication.
Victor is charting a couple of courses for the future at CU Denver, focused on employing technology to advance the field of linguistic studies and broaden its accessibility.
Lisa Keränen, Communication
Lisa Keränen is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication.
She studies and teaches rhetorical theory and criticism with an emphasis on the rhetorics of medicine, health, and biosecurity/biopolitics and has received numerous awards for her research, teaching, and service.
She is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities on the Anschutz Medical Campus and is a University of Colorado President’s Teaching Scholar.
For her 2024 Faculty Affairs Fellowship, she co-developed (with Turan Kayalogou) the New Department Chair and Director: Community, Support, & Training (C-SAT) program for the campus. She is also Co-Chair of the CLAS Council of Chairs & Directors, Associate Chair of the CLAS Budget and Planning Committee, a member of the CLAS Academic Planning & Priorities Task Force, and most recently, she spearheaded the CLAS MixTape program series.
Adam Spiegler, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Adam Spiegler is an Associate Professor TPT at the University of Colorado Denver where he also serves as Director of the Undergraduate Program in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences as well as the undergraduate advisor for the department.
He is a co-author of five undergraduate mathematics textbooks published by John Wiley and Sons: from college algebra to multivariable calculus. More recently has authored two new OER textbooks, in Differential Equations and Statistical Methods, through funding from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Prior to working at CU Denver, he was the coordinator of the elementary mathematics program at Loyola University Chicago from 2007–2018. He loves working with students and teachers from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds at many different levels (from middle school up to mid-career). He has co-organized nationwide workshops to help prepare middle school teachers with curriculum changes relating to the implementation of Common Core Standards in Mathematics. He completed his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Arizona and studied mathematics and economics as an undergraduate at Binghamton University.
Steffen Borgwardt, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Steffen Borgwardt joined the University of Colorado Denver in 2016 and is a faculty member in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver.
He holds a habilitation on “Data Analysis through Polyhedral Theory” completed at TU Munich, is a lifetime Humboldt fellow, and received a joint EURO Excellence in Practice Award for his work on optimization in land consolidation.
His research lies on the intersection of linear programming, combinatorial optimization, and applied discrete mathematics. His current work combines fundamental research and working in applications, and ties into the fields of diameter studies and algorithm design for data analysis. The aim is to advance the state of the art in large-scale linear programming, which is a key tool for many data science applications.
His research projects have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Simons Foundation. In 2023, he organized an international workshop on a topic that he introduced to the research community.
Hani Mansour, Economics
Hani Mansour is a Professor of Economics who has made significant contributions to the field of labor economics and economic demography.
He joined CU Denver as an assistant professor in 2009 after earning his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Professor Mansour is a research fellow at both the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany and the CESifo research institute, as well as an associate editor at the Journal of Population Economics. His most recent research covers topics on the labor market effects of immigration enforcement, the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions, and on the gendered labor and demographic effects of globalization in developing countries. He has published in top peer-reviewed journals such as the Economic Journal, The Journal of Labor Economics, and the Journal of Human Resources.
Among several ongoing projects, he is currently working on analyzing the long-term effects of child allowances in Israel on fertility, labor market outcomes, and human capital accumulation. This work is funded by the U.S.-Israel binational Science foundation.
Lisa Kelley, Geography and Environmental Sciences
Lisa C. Kelley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences whose work combines theories and methods from political ecology, agrarian studies, and geospatial science to advance a critical physical geographical understanding of human-environment relations and change.
Lisa received her PhD in 2017 from UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management and holds a BA, magna cum laude, in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, where she was awarded the 2008 Leslie Kilham Johnson Prize for Research Excellence. Before joining the University of Colorado at Denver in Fall 2020, Lisa worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography & Environment at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa where she remains engaged as affiliate faculty.
Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Fulbright Program, and the Office of Naval Research, among other entities, and has been published in diverse interdisciplinary fora, including Annals of the Association of American Geographers, World Development, Geoforum, and Ecology and Society.
Lisa serves as the Environment-Society editor for Geography Compass and as a volunteer scientist and educator with Pandemic Research for the People and the Prison University Project. Current research explores ongoing transformations in land and labor relations at the intersection of agrarian and climate change in Hawaiʻi and Indonesia.
Daniel Klie, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
"I have been a full-time instructor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences since Fall 2018.
I am currently the course coordinator for both our precalculus and introductory statistics courses. In this role I disseminate course materials, provide weekly communication updates, and help coach the instructors of these courses to create a coherent offering across all sections. I serve as the co-director of Math and Stat Support which offers free drop-in tutoring services to CU Denver students.
My responsibilities in this capacity include hiring and scheduling student employees, providing my own tutoring services, and advertising our services to our student body.
As the current director of statistical programs, I head efforts to recruit and admit students into our different programs, act as academic advisor to all current students, perform annual assessment, and make decisions on tuition support and scholarships.
My future plans include transitioning into the role of CU Succeed Liaison which is a vital program for our department and college, and I will also pilot a large online section of our introductory statistic course to potentially help with scheduling and personnel logistics."
Harvey Bishop, Political Science
"I have taught in the UCD political science department since 1994. Between 2010 and Fall 2023, I taught upper and lower-division courses online and in person, representing more than 3,000 students.
Student engagement is foundational to my teaching approach. If students are not engaged, they cannot be empowered as learners or to think about or act on political issues. Personal relevance and engagement are also essential for long-term learning. I stress that understanding politics and power is relevant to students’ everyday lives.
My primary goal is to show students how (not what) to think about politics and how to make a difference on the issues that impact their lives.
I emphasize models of active citizenship in addition to evidence-based insight about political systems, institutions, and processes. I use learner-centered approaches and assignments. Given the current challenges to democracy and the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, I can think of no work as important."
Priscilla Burrow, Chemistry
"I've been at CU Denver for about 20 years. My background is in atmospheric chemistry, but teaching has always been my passion.
Primarily focused on large-enrollment introductory chemistry courses, as well as overseeing the general chemistry laboratory curriculum, I've been an advocate for fostering a sense of community and belonging among students. One of my proudest achievements lies in cultivating a robust community within the LA and TA programs, and nurturing strong connections with the numerous LAs and TAs I collaborate with annually. Witnessing their growth from tentative freshmen to accomplished graduates pursuing diverse professional paths has been immensely rewarding.
My future aspirations revolve around furthering research in metacognition and continuing the modification of introductory courses within our department to meet evolving student needs.
Moreover, I am dedicated to expanding the inclusivity and support for first-generation, non-traditional, and minority students, ensuring that they feel empowered and valued within our academic community."
Jung-Jae Lee, Chemistry
Dr. Jung-Jae Lee is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Nanomedicine at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver).
He earned his PhD in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 2009. Following postdoctoral training at Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility (NDIIF), M.I.T., and Harvard Medical School, he joined CU Denver in 2015.
Dr. Lee's research focuses on nanomedicine applications, including drug delivery, biomaterials, and molecular imaging for clinical use.
In addition to leading innovative research, he teaches Organic Chemistry I & II, two of the largest classes at CU Denver, and offers graduate-level courses in nanomedicine and bioconjugate chemistry.
Joshua French, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Joshua is an Associate Professor in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and the Director of Data Science at CU Denver.
He has been instrumental in creating the Data Science BS and Statistics MS degrees, as well as designing, revising, and teaching many of the courses needed to run these programs. His focus on promoting equity in learning has led him to create multiple courses and materials that rely exclusively on Open Educational Resources, including the development of a textbook on regression analysis.
Joshua is currently co-PI and co-director of the Pathways in Genomics Data Science (PATH-GDS) program, which the NIH awarded 1.28 million dollars to train MS students from diverse backgrounds in data science-related genomics research. He is also co-PI/PI of grants awarded by the Colorado Department of Higher Education for more than $177,000 to transform curriculum across multiple levels of mathematics and statistics courses.
Kathy Kelsey, Geography and Environmental Sciences
Dr. Kathy Kelsey is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Science.
Dr. Kelsey has two primary tenants to her teaching philosophy: to engage students in ways that introduce them to the investigative and collaborative processes of science, and to use practices based in evidence to ensure her courses and mentoring are effective and inclusive.
To realize these objectives, Dr. Kelsey brings her research focused on climate change impacts in the Arctic and mountain systems to her classroom. She also actively seeks opportunities to bring students to the field, including remote regions of Alaska, and field sites closer to home in the mountains of the Colorado Front Range.
Her future focus is on engaging students of all levels in the topics of Environmental Science and Climate Change in ways that empower them to become positive agents of change.
Candice Shelby, Philosophy
Prof. Candice Shelby earned her Ph.D. from Rice University in 1991. She taught at the University of Houston for several years before joining the faculty at the University of Colorado Denver in 1996.
Prof Shelby has been active in CLAS and University activities through a variety of research, teaching, and leadership projects. She has served as Department Chair and President of Faculty Assembly, as well as on committees at every level, across the university and the state.
She regularly presents her research, which has in recent years focused on philosophical issues associated with addiction and other psychological phenomena at conferences around the world, as well as through podcast interviews and public engagements.
Prof. Shelby has also, in addition to the usual teaching experiences, enjoyed over a decade of coaching CU Denver's Ethics Bowl team, which prepares arguments for regional competition each fall. The team has advanced to the national competition five times. This is a particularly fulfilling activity, because it results in opportunities for individual instruction for students, dramatically improved reading and writing skills, and lifetime friendships, as well as an enduring connection to CU Denver for the students who participate. Also, Prof. Shelby has amassed a huge collection of practicing attorneys along the way, and ones of whom we should be proud, as they serve marginalized populations across the state and the country.
Steven Vose, History and CLAS Interdisciplinary Studies
Steven M. Vose is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and holder of the Bhagwan Suparshvanatha Endowed Professorship in Jain Studies.
His research focuses on the formation of Jain religious communities and interactions with political powers from the early modern period to the present.
His first book, Reimagining Jainism in Islamic India: Jain Intellectual Culture in the Delhi Sultanate (Routledge, forthcoming), won the Edward C. Dimock, Jr. Book Prize in the Indian Humanities, awarded by the American Institute of Indian Studies.
Vose received his PhD in South Asia Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He previously held positions at Colorado College and Florida International University, where he held the first endowed professorship in Jain Studies in North America.
He is currently at work on two projects: a translation of a fifteenth-century collection of Jain stories on women's virtue in Old Gujarati, and a monograph on the effects of neoliberalism and globalization on transnational Jain communities.
CLAS Recipients of University of Colorado Denver Awards - Spring 2024
Abigail Chiu, Chemistry
As a first-generation graduate student, Abigail has shown a strong commitment to academic excellence in her studies, showcasing outstanding achievements and a deep engagement in her field of study, computational chemistry and metabolomics.
She is the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award and the Robert Damrauer Award from CU Denver for 2023-2024 and 2021-2022 academic year respectively. Recently, she has received honorable mention for the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program from the National Science Foundation.
For her future, Abigail has been admitted to a doctoral program (Ph.D.) in Integrative and Systems Biology where she will continue her study in the field of NMR spectroscopy for traditional herbal medicine (THM). Her project will be to create a comprehensive software platform for THM by NMR.
Gabrielle Jones, Anthropology
Gabrielle is an upcoming CU Denver graduate who is currently serving as the Anthropology Department's Lead Teaching Assistant. Additionally, they have taught four Introduction to Biological Anthropology courses, one Human Osteology course, and a Special Topics course. Their thesis research involved applying a geometric morphometric protocol to assess the taxonomic and ecological diversity of Cercopithecoid (Old World Monkeys) dental material found in the Pliocene fossil beds alongside our hominin relatives at Laetoli, northern Tanzania.
Gabrielle graduated from CU Denver with a BA in Anthropology in December 2020. As an undergraduate, they clocked in 200+ hours collectively in the Modern Human Anatomy Lab at CU Anschutz under Dr. Caley Orr and in the Morphometrics lab at CU Denver under Dr. Charles Musiba. In addition, they spent three weeks assisting in the survey and excavation of fossil and ichnofossil material at Laetoli alongside Dr. Charles Musiba during the 2023 field season.
Gabrielle will be attending the University of Oregon's doctoral program in the Anthropology Department and hopes to use their teaching skills to become an anthropology professor and scientific communicator on top of being a researcher.
Amy Dang Nguyen, Health and Behavior Sciences and Integrative Biology
Amy D. Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American student leader who graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Public Health and a Minor in Biology.
While she grew up from a place of adversity, she prides herself in being able to flourish in the heart of diversity and culture within the Southwest Denver community. She began her college career in the esteemed BA-BS/MD program partnered with CU Anschutz Medical Campus and has worked at Denver Health and other various marginalized, low-income clinics to support the underserved.
Her experiences led her to find a deeper passion in promoting health equity -- and is now thrilled to instead be pursuing her Master's of Public Health and Public Administration dual degree with CU Anschutz' Colorado School of Public Health this coming Fall.
Alexandria Nicole Joo, Ethnic Studies
Business Operations Coordinator, Department of Ethnic Studies
Charles Musiba, Anthropology
"My research focuses on human origins in Tanzania and South Africa with research theme covering the following areas: taphonomy and paleoecology of Laetoli, hominin behavior ecology at Olduvai Gorge, conservation of animal trackways at Laetoli, and the evolution of the genus Homo in Eastern and Southern Africa. I am interested in research questions that link human evolution with climate change, especially the reconstruction of ancient landscapes using multiple sources of data (from fossil faunal remains to stable isotopes, pollen remains, and animal prints) at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli paleoanthropological sites in northern Tanzania. The aim of my research work at Laetoli (which currently combines research and field-based teaching) is to explore the question of whether combined paleontological data can successfully be used to tease out ecological interpretations of past landscapes and their impact on human evolution at Laetoli.
The scope and focus of my current research is: (1) to continue with field excavation and recovery of fossil faunal remains (including hominin and other associated mammalian bones) from Localities 7, 8, and 10; (2) to conduct a systematic study that compares recently discovered Laetoli hominin specimen with well-established Australopithecus afarensis specimens from Laetoli and other East African sites from Ethiopia and Kenya in order to establish firmly their taxonomic status; (3) to establish a better geologic (stratigraphic) framework that can be used as a benchmark on Laetoli depositional environments and hominin variability using multiple sources of data; (4) to systematically document the animal trackways and establish snapshots of Laetoli past fauna communities based on animal prints; and (5) to apply multiple analytical methods to identify past ecological changes at Laetoli in the past 3.6 million years ago."
Angela Schmitt, Department of Political Science
Angie holds a Bachelor's degree in music education from Grand Valley State University, a Master's degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder and is an MBA candidate at the University of Colorado Denver.
She has worked extensively in higher education in administration, project management, and as a graduate assistant instructor at CU Boulder. Having held multiple positions in public school education, she loves working individually and collaboratively to support students and faculty in educational settings.
Additionally, Angie is a professional pianist who performs and teaches across the Front Range in her free time. She credits working with students as the most meaningful part of her career, and the best part of her position at CU Denver.
Faye Caronan, Ethnic Studies and CLAS Deans Office
Faye Caronan (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and the Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She is also proud to be the primary investigator on CU Denver's AANAPISI grant. Her research specialty is in Comparative Ethnic Studies and the study of U.S. Imperialism. Her book, Legitimizing Empire: Filipino American and U.S. Puerto Rican Cultural Critique, examines how Filipino American and U.S. Puerto Rican cultures challenge narratives of U.S. exceptionalism. Her current research examines the precarious nature of U.S. territorial citizenship. She has taught courses on Asian American history and contemporary experience, Ethnic Studies research methods, cultural diversity in the workplace and ethnic diversity in popular culture.
Lisa Keränen, Communication
Lisa Keränen is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication.
She studies and teaches rhetorical theory and criticism with an emphasis on the rhetorics of medicine, health, and biosecurity/biopolitics and has received numerous awards for her research, teaching, and service.
She is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities on the Anschutz Medical Campus and is a University of Colorado President’s Teaching Scholar.
For her 2024 Faculty Affairs Fellowship, she co-developed (with Turan Kayalogou) the New Department Chair and Director: Community, Support, & Training (C-SAT) program for the campus. She is also Co-Chair of the CLAS Council of Chairs & Directors, Associate Chair of the CLAS Budget and Planning Committee, a member of the CLAS Academic Planning & Priorities Task Force, and most recently, she spearheaded the CLAS MixTape program series.
Woonghee Lee, Chemistry
Professor Woonghee Lee is an assistant professor of CLAS Chemistry, he is a well-known expert in NMR-based structural biology. After moving from Wisconsin, he has published 19 strong peer-reviewed papers in his 4 years at CU Denver. He has secured major grants from the NSF and NRF of Korea for his work in NMR and AI. In recognition of his research contributions, he received the Research Impact Award from Pandemic Research and the Creative Activities Award 2021. He was also nominated for the Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year Award at the 2023 and 2024 RaCAS. This year, he was honored with the Early Career Award for Excellence in Research. His POKY software suite is highly popular worldwide, and he collaborates with CU Innovation to commercialize it. Many pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer AG, Moderna, and United States Pharmacopeia, utilize his software. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing tennis. A former captain of the Yonsei University tennis team (1999-2000), he currently competes locally in the NTRP 4.5 division. His passion lies in transferring his knowledge and research enthusiasm to the next generation, with the ultimate goal of aiding in the development of cures for critical diseases.
Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
As part of the broader mission of the University of Colorado (CU) system, the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at CU Denver is committed to serving the public interest in pursuit of excellence in teaching and research with an emphasis on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the mathematical and statistical sciences.
The department maintains undergraduate and graduate curriculum that facilitates the intellectual growth of a diverse body of students at all levels. Our curricula prepares undergraduate students to be integral members of the growing STEM workforce in Colorado, the U.S., and the world. The department is preparing its graduate students not only for research and teaching careers in academia but also for a wide-array of successful careers as computational and data scientists within industry and government.
The department is living up to the designation of CU Denver as a research university with both its research and the PhD program in Applied Mathematics. We are building a strong research reputation nationally and internationally with many faculty receiving competitive external research funding that support a significant proportion of graduate students.
CLAS Staff and Faculty Retirees - Spring 2024
Celeste Archer, History
Celeste Archer has been a secondary and post-secondary educator for over 30 years during which time she has taught at urban schools and universities in Houston, Denver and at historic Little Rock Central High School. While teaching in Denver, she wrote curriculum for classes that continue to be taught by teachers in the Denver Public School system - Honors World Religions and American Contemporary Issues.
She founded and was volunteer director of Women for Education, expanding an early childhood education center with an initial funding drive of $3 million. During Senator John Hickenlooper's first term as mayor of Denver, he appointed Celeste to the Early Childhood Education Commission.
While in Little Rock, Celeste taught at Historic Little Rock Central High School. She was appointed as Teacher-Ranger-Teacher by The National Park Service Foundation, serving at The Little Rock Central National Historic Site. In addition, Celeste was named as a Presidential Timeline National Archives Scholar for 2012 from The Clinton Foundation.
Upon returning to Denver in early 2013, Celeste founded the Colorado Student Leaders Institute, an affiliate of the National Conference of Governor's Schools, of which Celeste now serves as President. With over a fifty-year history, Governor's Schools offer exceptional high school students a summer academic immersion program which replicates and prepares the student for college and post-secondary work. COSLI is for Colorado high school students who are working to become quality leaders and who promote and inspire a strong United States of America. The Institute seeks to reinforce the importance of civic engagement, entrepreneurship, responsibility, accountability, ethics and integrity in the rising generation of American leaders. Accepted students complete a service-learning practicum, create a small business and earn three hours of college credit.
Celeste also served as Director for Colorado’s National History Day program at CU Denver. Working with up to 27,000 students and teachers, Celeste was given an opportunity to be a part of classrooms across the state. She and the NHDC program were named 2019 Defenders of Democracy by The Denver League of Women Voters. She has moved to College Station, Texas, where her husband is part of a graduate program at The Bush School.
Joan Bihun, Psychology
"My PhD is in developmental psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI with a minor in physiological psych (before the days of “neuropsychology”). After finishing my PhD, I held a post-doctorate position at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where I studied the genetics of emotional development (fun twin studies) before returning to Denver. At CU Denver, I taught a variety of courses: Introduction to Psychology I & II, the Human Development I and II sequence, Introduction to Statistics, and whatever else I can contribute! I look forward to volunteering for causes that feed my developmental interests, including nurturing reading among young children and spending time caring for those at the end of life with hospice care."
Joe Bilello, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, CU Succeed
"During my tenure at CU Denver, I was a Math Department Instructor and the CU Succeed Math Liaison. As far as accomplishments are concerned, I hope that I made a difference for our students. After teaching for 33 years, my future plans include being a husband and father, hopefully with my toes in the sand as much as possible."
Stephen Billups, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Stephen Billups has been a full-time faculty member in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences since 1995. Prior to coming to CU Denver, Stephen was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and a MA in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin Madison, as well as an MS in Computer Science and Applications from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Over the course of his career, Stephen published 22 papers in the mathematical sciences, which have received over 1800 citations; successfully supervised two PhD students; and was a PI or Co-PI on over $600K of externally funded projects. Stephen served as Director of the Mathematics Clinic Program, Director of the Center for Computational Biology, Graduate Program Director, and Associate Chair of the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.
Sondra Bland, Psychology
"I began my career at the University of Colorado in 2001 as a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Steven Maier at CU Boulder after receiving my PhD at UT Austin. In 2009 I accepted a tenure-track position in the Psychology Department at the University of Colorado Denver and received tenure in 2016. My current research interests include stress/drug interactions as well as social and developmental influences on motivated behaviors, including both reward and fear. I have received several NIH R15 grants as well as an NIH R25 training grant. My classroom teaching has included both undergraduate and graduate Behavioral Neuroscience courses. As a first-generation college graduate and the only one of 6 children to attain an undergraduate degree (though relatively older than average) the accomplishment that I am the proudest of as a professor is mentoring students in my laboratory, in the classroom, and though my 10 years as PI and director of the BRAiN (Building Research Achievement in Neuroscience) program funded by the NIH. I learned from a very important mentor during my undergraduate studies that one individual can make a transformative difference in someone's life, and my greatest hope is that I have done that for at least one student."
H. Eugene Brooks, Integrative Biology
DDS, M.B.A.
Senior Instructor in the Department of Integrative Biology
Jacki Craig, Integrative Biology
"Before coming to CU Denver Integrative Biology I had the privilege of entertaining members of our military touring with a Country and Western band in 3 separate Department of Defense Tours, 1983, 1986 and 1989. We played bases in the Asian Theater, Germany, and Alaska. After that, I worked for the Colorado Board of Law Examiners and the National Association of Conservation Districts.
After retiring, I plan to finish some remodeling projects in my home, sleep, and maybe pick my guitar back up and look for some solo gigs around Denver & Lakewood."
Jeffrey Franklin, English
Jeffrey Franklin is a poet, scholar, editor, and teacher. His poetry collections are Where We Lay Down (2021) and For the Lost Boys (2006). His poems have appeared in many literary journals and in Best American Poetry. He received the Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. For 25 years he has served as the poetry editor of the North Carolina Literary Review.
Professor Franklin’s two most recent scholarly books are: Spirit Matters: Occult Beliefs, Alternative Religious, and the Crisis of Faith in Victorian Britain (2018, Cornell UP) and The Lotus and the Lion: Buddhism and the British Empire (2008, Cornell). His favorite of his published essays might be “Existential Nihilism and the Nineteenth-Century Nirvana Debate: Jean-Paul Sartre Meets Nagarjuna” in Religion and Literature.
Jeff is having a blast teaching in spring 2024. Better late than never, he may have finally learned how. He will miss teaching, though not as much as he will enjoy spending more and more time with his adult children and taking care of his four grandchildren. He and his life-long girlfriend, the bodhisattva named Judy Lucas, are riding off into the sunset together, hoping it will last a long time.
Rachel Elizabeth Harding, Ethnic Studies
Rachel Elizabeth Harding is a poet, historian and scholar of religions of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Harding studies religion, creativity and social justice in the experience of communities of African descent in the US and Brazil. Dr. Harding is author of two books: A Refuge in Thunder, a history of the Afro-Brazilian religion, Candomblé; and Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism and Mothering, co-written with her mother, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, on the role of compassion and mysticism in African American social justice organizing. Dr. Harding is an ebômi (ritual elder) in the Terreiro do Cobre Candomblé community in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Harding’s honors include Cave Canem Fellowships, the Sterling Brown Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Williams College, an honorary doctorate from the Starr-King School for the Ministry and the Civil Rights Award from the Colorado Black Roundtable. In retirement, she will continue to travel and write, while also spending lots of time with family and dear friends.
Karen Houck, CLAS Dean’s Office
"I came to UCD in 1982, working first as an instructor, then a senior instructor. I taught introductory and advanced courses in geology and paleontology to thousands of students, and received a teaching award from CLAS. During this time I also used my faculty tuition waiver to take graduate-level courses on the Boulder Campus, and eventually earned my PhD.
Subsequently I transitioned to a research position at UCD, working with marine invertebrate fossils, fossil footprints, sedimentary rocks, geologic hazards, and Colorado geology. I brought nearly $500,000 of external funding into the college. Collaborations with other researchers produced over $500,000 of additional funding. I financially supported and provided research opportunities for 21 UCD students. I authored or coauthored approximately 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, one of which was a Top 100 article in Scientific Reports. I also coauthored 13 peer-reviewed geologic maps. With the help of student employees, I surveyed the geology, paleontology, and geologic hazards of 21 Colorado state parks and prepared 63 multilayered geodatabases for them. I also disseminated my research results through numerous field trips, lectures, and exhibits for professionals and the general public. For 10 years I helped run the UCD Dinosaur Tracks Museum, maintaining the museum’s databases and giving tours to thousands of people. It was designated a Point of Geological Interest by the Colorado Geological Survey.
In the future I plan to continue investigating Colorado’s amazing geology and paleontology with the goal of improving the ability of professionals, students, and the general public to understand and appreciate it."
Michael Jacobson, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
"After spending twenty-three years on the faculty at the University of Louisville (in Kentucky), I came to CU Denver in the 2003-2004 academic year as Professor & Chair in the Department of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences.
I served as Chair for nine years and have supervised six doctoral students. I completed a two-year rotation as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, in the Division of Undergraduate Education and returned to CU in 2014.
I have acquired external funds for several projects; one to explore the enhanced preparation of mathematics GTAs and the impact on (undergraduate) student success and another, a multi-institution NSF project to replicate our doctoral training program at two partner universities, with the goal to better understand the impact on the graduate students as well as the undergraduate students they teach.
I am also a co-PI on an S-STEM project (Scholarships in STEM), providing scholarships for academically talented UCD students with financial need, which has provided access to over $1M in scholarships. The research includes studying the impact on success for these students, who are relieved of this financial burden."
Weldon Alexander Lodwick, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
"I arrived in the math/stat department as the second wave of research professors, as part of the crew that obtained the PhD in applied mathematics."
A. Diann Logan, Communication
"My Chair estimates that I have heard 45,000 student speeches during my time here. I certainly learned a lot from my students. My BA and MA degrees are both from this august institution and I learned a lot during my student days here, too. My quilt that hangs in the Communication Department is titled Aspire to Inspire and that's always been my teaching philosophy. I've authored several books and will carry on, putting words on paper, always with the desire to connect with others."
Jan Mandel, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Jan Mandel studied Informatics, Mathematical Methods in Economics, and Numerical and Approximate methods at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, then Czechoslovakia. His theses and first publications were in discrete optimization and in computational methods for aggregation in macroeconomics modeling. The latter led him to conceptually related fast methods for numerical solution of partial differential equations, called multigrid methods, which were just starting.
Jan Mandel has been faculty member at CU Denver since 1986. He made early theoretical and methodology advances in multigrid methods as well as related methods on parallel computers, known as domain decomposition methods, with applications in physical modeling, particularly in aerospace engineering. His best known method, coined Balancing Domain Decomposition, was later used by a group in Japan to analyze the failure of Fukushima nuclear reactors, on then the fastest parallel supercomputer in the world. When he felt that the topic was getting played out, he turned to probability and statistics-based methods for modeling of uncertainty and for assimilating data, in particular, satellite and sensor data, with applications in wildfire and weather modeling. He became the main developer of the wildfire model in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which has been used in operational wildfire and smoke forecasting. The wildfire model is under continued active development by two groups under the names WRF-SFIRE and WRF-Fire, while he is mostly focusing on related data science and machine learning methods. He was always interested in computers and is currently the system administrator a High-Performance Computing cluster with over 150 users, for the benefit of CU Denver students and faculty.
Jan Mandel’s work has been funded continuously for over 30 years by agencies such as the NSF and NASA as well as the industry. He has graduated 10 PhDs at CU Denver and 4 PhDs at international institutions. He has published over 100 refereed journal papers. His work has received over 12,500 citations with h-index 56 on Google Scholar, and over 5,000 citations with h-index 30 on Web of Science Core Collection. In 2021, he received the world ranking of 879 national 419 on the list of Top Mathematics Scientists by research.com. He was also ranked 1685th in the world and 708th nationally in Engineering and Technology.
In retirement, Jan Mandel plans to continue his research based on external funding available, and to keep involved in providing advanced computing resources to the CU Denver research community.
Charles Musiba, Anthropology
"My research focuses on human origins in Tanzania and South Africa with research theme covering the following areas: taphonomy and paleoecology of Laetoli, hominin behavior ecology at Olduvai Gorge, conservation of animal trackways at Laetoli, and the evolution of the genus Homo in Eastern and Southern Africa. I am interested in research questions that link human evolution with climate change, especially the reconstruction of ancient landscapes using multiple sources of data (from fossil faunal remains to stable isotopes, pollen remains, and animal prints) at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli paleoanthropological sites in northern Tanzania. The aim of my research work at Laetoli (which currently combines research and field-based teaching) is to explore the question of whether combined paleontological data can successfully be used to tease out ecological interpretations of past landscapes and their impact on human evolution at Laetoli.
The scope and focus of my current research is: (1) to continue with field excavation and recovery of fossil faunal remains (including hominin and other associated mammalian bones) from Localities 7, 8, and 10; (2) to conduct a systematic study that compares recently discovered Laetoli hominin specimen with well-established Australopithecus afarensis specimens from Laetoli and other East African sites from Ethiopia and Kenya in order to establish firmly their taxonomic status; (3) to establish a better geologic (stratigraphic) framework that can be used as a benchmark on Laetoli depositional environments and hominin variability using multiple sources of data; (4) to systematically document the animal trackways and establish snapshots of Laetoli past fauna communities based on animal prints; and (5) to apply multiple analytical methods to identify past ecological changes at Laetoli in the past 3.6 million years ago."
Lisa Ransdell, Sociology
"May ‘24 marks the end of a 37-year career in high ed for me, whoa! While I originally envisioned a teaching career, I was seduced by administration (the budgets, the autonomy!), and solved the dilemma by doing both! Among my administrative posts have been Dean of 1st Year Students at Denison U (OH), Director of Academic Advising (MSU-Denver), and Asst Provost of Student Life (DU). In 2001 I was promoted to Assoc Professor non-TT at Metro State following a review of my teaching. I have only taught at CU-Denver since 2014, combining the role with that of independent college consultant for several years. I deeply appreciate my CU-Denver SOCY colleagues, and appreciate all the support from the department. On to the next reality!"
Tammy Stone, Anthropology
Tammy retired as a full Professor at the end of December 2024. While at CU Denver she served as the graduate program director, chair of the department on numerous occasions, and as an Associate, and Interim, Dean of the College.
She was honored with three CLAS Excellence in Teaching award, one CLAS Excellence in Research Award and the CLAS Outstanding Faculty Award. Her research centers understand identity and alliance formations in Middle Range Societies, specializing in the American Southwest, with secondary research interest in Higher Education Administration.
She has published seven books, 33 peer reviewed articles and book chapters, nine book reviews and countless conference presentations and technical reports, overseeing 43 graduate thesis and portfolio committees, while also serving on the thesis committees of an additional 29 and 14 undergraduate honor's thesis.
Though no longer teaching, she continues to pursue research projects in retirement, while enjoying time with friends and family.
Lori Willard, Modern Languages
"I've loved my 26 years of teaching all things French at CU Denver. Now I'm going into the Peace Corps (June 2024-August 2026) to do secondary education teacher training in Mongolia."
Cynthia Wong, English
Dr. Cynthia F. Wong taught modern and contemporary world literature. Her research focused on space, time, and geography in narrative fiction.
She published on Asian-American women authors with emphasis on ethnic and gender diversity in American literature. Her many academic papers, presentations, and books on Japanese-British, Nobel-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro spanned thirty years, and her exchanges with Ishiguro are archived at UT-Austin.
She presented her literary research in four continents, including two keynote talks on Ishiguro. She received two excellence awards from CLAS: Teaching and Research. She particularly values the many students who took her classes and her colleagues in English.