My research interests are in category theory, algebraic topology, and homotopy theory. I am specifically interested in using homotopical or “derived” algebra, in the form of operads, spectra, and infinity categories, to understand and classify structures that naturally arise in geometry and topology. Some geometric structures that I have specifically studied in previous work or am currently interested in include: cohomological invariants of topological spaces, the stable homotopy groups of spheres, the relationships between cobordism rings as the structure group is varied, A-infinity categories.
David AuCoin
As a graduate student and postdoctoral researcher, I spent eight years studying herpes viral replication and egress. Since then, I have devoted the last 17 years developing antibody-based diagnostics and therapeutics for infectious diseases. Specifically, one of my areas of focus is targeting secreted microbial antigens for diagnosis. Secreted antigens make ideal targets for direct detection and diagnosis of acute microbial infections. My laboratory has developed novel strategies that have allowed for the identification of secreted/shed antigens or “biomarkers”. Following identification of candidate biomarkers, large panels of high affinity monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are generated and selection of optimal pairs for capture and detection is performed. The panels of mAbs are fully evaluated by determining subclass/subtype, affinity, and binding characteristics. Some of the current projects in my laboratory include development prototype diagnostics for melioidosis, Lyme disease, leptospirosis, Rift Valley fever, tularemia, viral hepatitis, and Ebola virus disease. Each of these projects involves identification of biomarkers secreted or expressed by each microbe and development of mAb libraries targeting each biomarker. Total funding to my laboratory over the previous 10 years has totaled roughly $12M, mainly from the National Institute of Health and the Department of Defense. Throughout the course of my research career, I have had the privilege to advice 56 trainees, ranging from undergraduates though post-doctoral fellows.
Cindy Lancaster
Cynthia Lancaster is an associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research focuses on traumatic stress and anxiety-related disorders. Three areas of specific focus include:
1) identifying factors that increase and decrease risk for PTSD,
2) identifying mechanisms and augmentation strategies for exposure-based therapies for PTSD and other anxiety disorders, and
3) identifying the impact of social factors in the development and treatment of anxiety and stress-related disorders.
She completed her undergraduate degree at Trinity University, served as a research assistant at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (STRONG STAR Consortium), completed her doctoral degree at the University of Texas as Austin in 2017, and completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship at the Charleston Consortium.
Brad Sion
Brad Sion is an Assistant Research Professor of Geomorphology at the Desert Research Institute. He has a BS in Geology and Environmental Geoscience from the College of Charleston, and an MS and PhD in Hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology with a focus on geomorphology and Quaternary geology. Brad began his research career in central New Mexico studying soils and landscape evolution. His research has expanded to areas in southern Nevada, central and southern California, and parts of the midwestern US, and focuses on soil geomorphology and applied soils research. He currently participates in a wide range of research projects that specifically rely on the use of soil datasets to infer landscape characteristics and processes. Examples include vehicle trafficability, surficial geologic mapping, effects of Quaternary climate change on landscape stability, and timing and rates of geomorphic processes.
Anne Leonard
We study plant-pollinator interactions from nutritional and cognitive perspectives. We are interested in understanding how bees evaluate, learn about, and remember flowers. Likewise, we are interested in how the nutritional value of the nectar and pollen plants offer bees structures interactions with pollinators and co-flowering members of plant communities. An interest in understanding how human activities can perturb these interactions drives a parallel line of research, on how sublethal exposure to pesticides can affect bee behavior, sensory systems, and health. We address these questions using a combination of lab-based and field studies, often on bumblebees, at Sierra Nevada and Great Basin field sites.
Barrett Welch
My research focuses on understanding how chemical exposures from our environment can influence the immune system, particularly during pregnancy. I gained interest in this field through experiences working with a cohort in Bangladesh, in which my research showed that heavy metal exposure during pregnancy may impair children’s ability to mount effective vaccine responses. My current research assesses how maternal inflammation may mediate the influence of exposure to chemicals found in everyday consumer products. The goal of my ongoing work is to use innovative technologies and biostatistics to provide evidence about the maternal immune system responds to such chemical exposures, as well as how immunity influences pregnancy outcomes.
Adam Hand
Education/Licensure/Certification
• Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, 1998
• M.S., Civil Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, 1995
• B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, 1993
• Registered Professional Engineer: Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon
• Six Sigma Black Belt Certified, CS International Inc.
• Certified Professional Winemaker, University of California, Davis
Appointments
• University of Nevada, Reno, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Professor (07/22–present).
• University of Nevada, Reno, Civil & Env. Engineering, Associate Professor (07/16–06/22).
• Granite Construction Inc. (GCI), Vice President, Quality Management (2010–2016).
• Granite Construction Inc., Director of Quality Management, (2009–2010).
• Granite Construction Inc., Engineering Services Manager (2006–2009).
• Granite Construction Inc., Alternative Procurement Pavement Designer (2003–2006).
• Granite Construction Inc., Quality Systems Engineer (2000–2003).
• Purdue University, Civil Engineering, Assistant Professor (1998–2000).
• Western Regional Superpave Center (WRSC), University of Nevada, Reno, Research Faculty (1994–1998).
Qualifications
Dr. Hand has over 30 years of construction industry and academic experience in pavement materials, design, construction and sustainability, including horizontal and vertical construction, construction materials, construction management, quality management and forensics on alternative procurement transportation facilities (roads and highways, airfields, rail, tunnel, and mining) across the U.S. Teaching, research and consulting experience includes sustainable pavements and materials, development innovative asphalt pavement technologies, forensic analyses and expert witness. In the VP Quality Management role at GCI he had corporate responsibility for QM 13 AASHTO ReSource accredited labs in the U.S. with annual budgets up to $15M and multiple heavy civil APM projects. He also led the development and ISO certification of the first integrated ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001 management system of a construction company in the U.S. Dr. Hand was intricately involved in the materials, mix design, construction, QM, and analysis of the FHWA-sponsored WesTrack full-scale accelerated pavement project and is current a member of the AAPTP Feasibility of Cold Central Plant Recycling (CCPR) Asphalt Mixtures for Airports research team with planned test sections at the William J. Hughes Technical Center.
Dr. Hand has served as a PI or Co-PI on multiple NCHRP, FHWA, FAA, State DOTs, and other projects. He is an active technical community member having delivering over 200 invited presentations and over 150 publications. He is an editorial board member of the ASTM Advances in Civil Engineering Materials Journal. He is also the Past President of AAPT, a member of ASCE, ASTM, ASQ, AAPT, DPS ETG, FHWA TFG, NAPA, NSPE, and TRB. He chairs the Nevada State Public Works Board (Gubernatorial appointment), TRB Asphalt Pavement Construction and Rehabilitation Committee, and NAPA Net Zero Taskforce, and serves on 2 TRB and 2 NAPA committees. Dr. Hand was one of the four founding board of directors of the Greenroads Foundation.
Hao Xu
Dr. Hao Xu’s recent research areas include roadside LiDAR sensing networks, algorithms for processing high-density city cloud points, edge- and cloud-based data processing, connected vehicle communication, all-traffic trajectory generation from roadside LiDAR data, and GIS-based traffic information extraction from LiDAR trajectory data. His research group is a worldwide leader in roadside LiDAR sensing and applications in traffic. Dr. Xu and his collaborators are applyitng the roadside LiDAR technologies and all-traffic trajectory data for connected-autonomous vehicle applications, real-time traffic signal control systems, and performance evaluation of multimodal traffic safety and mobility. He has published 100 research papers and his research team has received more than $6 million in funding and multiple research and paper awards.
Dr. Xu led the implementation of the worldwide first LiDAR-equipped smart and connected intersection in Reno, Nevada, in 2017. Since then, he has been performing innovative research in roadside LiDAR hardware, algorithms, software implementation, data applications, real-time signal systems taking LiDAR data input, and LiDAR data service to CAVs. His research team implemented the worldwide first LiDAR-controlled pedestrian crossing signal, which is the first real-time traffic signal system controlled by cloud point sensing data. Based on Dr. Xu’s research and projects, UNR and Velodyne published a white paper that demonstrates the ability of LiDAR sensors to make transportation infrastructure more efficient, sustainable, and safe. Dr. Xu’s team collected multi-year roadside LiDAR data from various traffic scenarios and now maintains a large roadside LiDAR database as an invaluable data asset for smart traffic research.
Dr. Xu also led several projects on data-driven safety analysis, including street light data collection and safety analysis; safety benefit-cost analysis of roundabouts; before-and-after complete streets data collection; correlation analysis of Nevada crash data and ITS sensor data; automatic horizontal curve identification and estimation; assessment of the influence of driver, vehicle, roadway, and environmental factors on pedestrian and turning-traffic crashes at intersections; and development of a comprehensive crash database for Nevada that can be used with AASHTOWare Safety Analyst.
Dr. Xu’s research has attracted collaboration interest from multiple companies such as Velodyne LiDAR, Intel, Dell, Qualcomm, and Switch. His research and projects have been noted by multiple media publications, such as BBC, USA Today, Yahoo News, Business Wire, AASHTO Journal, and Nevada Today. Multiple traffic agencies have adopted the portable roadside LiDAR platform to collect extensive traffic information that is not available via traditional traffic sensors.
Robert Renden
We study the mechanisms that permit rapid and sustained synaptic transmission in the mouse brain, predominantly using the calyx of Held as a model synapse. This giant glutamatergic synapse in the auditory brainstem has a number of experimental advantages that permit us to trace the fundamental mechanisms that underlie chemical neurotransmission. We apply a variety of genetic and viral transduction techniques to disrupt presynaptic function at the calyx through transgenic mouse models, and expression in neuronal populations using adeno-associated virus (AAV). We use whole cell electrophysiology to record activity from the presynaptic or postsynaptic compartments (and sometimes both!) We complement these recordings with the use of use organic and genetically-encoded probes for functional imaging of essential messengers (Ca2+ ATP, and others).
David Mitchell
Dr. David Mitchell received a Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, USA, in 1995 and has contributed to the peer-reviewed literature in the atmospheric science sub-disciplines of cloud physics, radiation, remote sensing and climate dynamics. He and his students developed a theory describing the evolution of the North American monsoon that is now widely accepted, and he developed a treatment of ice cloud radiative properties that is currently used in the NCAR climate models. He and Dr. Anne Garnier developed and published (in 2016) the first satellite remote sensing retrieval for ice particle concentrations and later discovered the percentage of cirrus clouds strongly affected by homogeneous ice nucleation (globally in terms of latitude and season). He published the first paper on the climate intervention method known as “cirrus cloud thinning” (CCT) that can be verified using the above satellite remote sensing method (should it ever be deployed). He has given 40 invited talks at universities and research institutes in the USA, the U.K., Germany, Mexico, Norway, France, and Sweden.