I am a first generation college student. I began at Modesto Junior College and earned my B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at University of California, San Diego. I then earned my Ph.D. in Human Genetics at Columbia University in the City of New York. Specifically, I studied the genetic causes of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder. As teaching faculty I do not have a lab at UNR, and no longer conduct research.
Steve Frese
Dr. Frese’s research is centered on the human gut microbiome and its inhabitants. Our work at the University of Nevada, Reno examines how diet, food science, and biotechnology can be leveraged to meaningfully improve human health and nutrition.
Mustafa Hadj-Nacer
Dr. Mustafa Hadj-Nacer is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). Dr. Hadj-Nacer’s research is focused on applying and developing experimentally benchmarked computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for several applications ranging from Nuclear Packaging to Enhanced Heat Transfer and Cooling systems.
Dr. Hadj-Nacer received a Ph.D. from Aix-Marseille University, France. His research included gas-surface interaction in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and the measurement of the mass flow rate through micro-tubes of different cross-section shapes and materials. He also developed analytical and numerical approaches to calculate the mass flow rate in the slip, transitional and free molecular flow regimes.
Diana Moss
My research agenda has transitioned from understanding how children make sense of mathematics in classroom settings to investigating pre-service teachers’ learning in mathematics methods courses and mathematics content courses. This transition occurred because I wanted to do research that would make a difference in my own teaching practice. At my first milestone and dissertation, I learned to study children’s learning of mathematics, specifically algebra, in a classroom setting. My second milestone was my third-year review and reappointment at Appalachian State University where I transitioned to learning to study pre-service teachers’ learning of mathematics. My third milestone occurred when I became an assistant professor at Utah State University and reframed my research to study pre-service teachers’ learning of mathematics and methods. My fourth milestone occurred when I became a teaching assistant professor at University of Nevada, Reno in the midst of the pandemic and focused on teaching mathematics content courses in an online synchronous setting and face-to-face setting. I have actively pursued practitioner research with the intention of “providing insights into teaching in an effort to make change” (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2014, p. 9). Since 2018, I have been involved in research projects to help me engage in reflective practice and bring about positive change in my teaching. The projects are separate in nature, but all strive to connect my teaching philosophy, the course learning goals, teaching activity, and evidence of student learning. The purpose of each project is to analyze and transform teaching to create new learning experiences that focus on conceptual understanding based on meaningful reflections on teaching.
Daniel Trugman
Dr. Trugman’s research focuses on developing and applying new techniques to analyze large datasets of seismic waveforms in order to better understand earthquake rupture processes and their relation to seismic hazards. His research team at the University is broadly interested in leveraging concepts from big data and scientific machine learning alongside high-fidelity physical modeling in order to advance earthquake science.
Topics of particular interest include to Dr. Trugman’s research team include:
– Nevada seismicity, tectonics, and earthquake sequences
– Earthquake source properties (magnitude, stress drop, and radiated energy estimates)
– Earthquake nucleation and rupture dynamics
– Stress transfer and earthquake triggering
– Earthquake early warning systems
– Ground motion prediction and hazard analysis
– Forensic seismology and nuclear monitoring
Felipe Barrios Masias
My research program focuses on finding solutions to constraints in horticultural production of arid and semi-arid regions in the world. I take an integrative approach to sustainable production and prioritize needs of farmers and other stakeholders to find ways that our production systems are efficient in the use of resources and become more profitable. I am interested in plant functional traits and identifying genotype/cultivar trait associations that favor crop performance under particular environments and management practices (i.e., GxExM interaction). My goal is to conduct participatory research with an emphasis on applicable outcomes that improve the chances for success of horticultural production in arid regions such as Nevada.
Elnaz Seylabi
I am an assistant professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Nevada Reno. Before joining UNR in 2019, I was a postdoctoral scholar at the Mechanical and Civil Engineering Department at the California Institute of Technology (2017-2019). I received a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (with a major in Structural Mechanics and a minor in Applied Mathematics) from the University of California Los Angeles, an M.Sc. in Earthquake Engineering, and a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology. My research focuses on risk-informed engineering of geostructural systems, near-surface characterization, and computational methods for efficient performance-based engineering and uncertainty quantification.
Ana de Bettencourt-Dias
Ana de Bettencourt-Dias received her ‘licenciatura’ (M.S. equivalent) in Technological Chemistry from the University of Lisbon in 1993, and her ‘Dr. rer. nat.’ (Ph.D. equivalent) in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Cologne in 1997 with Prof. Thomas Kruck. In her graduate work, she isolated new titanium complexes as single source precursors for the chemical vapor deposition of TiN thin layers. She joined the group of Prof. Alan Balch at UC Davis in 1998 as a Gulbenkian postdoctoral fellow, where she studied the electrochemistry and structure of fullerenes and endohedral fullerenes.
In 2001 she joined the faculty at Syracuse University and started her work on luminescent lanthanide ion complexes. She moved to the University of Nevada, Reno as associate professor in 2007 and was promoted to professor in 2013. Her research centers on light-emitting compounds and coordination chemistry of the f block of the periodic table. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts, several book chapters and invited editorials and edited two books in lanthanide photophysics. Her work has been funded by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Petroleum Research Fund, the Department of Agriculture, the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technologic Development, and the Research Foundation of the State of São Paulo.
She served on the editorial advisory board for Inorganic Chemistry from 2013 to 2015, has been on the editorial advisory board for Comments on Inorganic Chemistry since 2016, is a managing member of the editorial board of the Journal of Rare Earths since 2014 and an associate editor for Inorganics since 2022. She has given over 200 oral presentations and was plenary or keynote speaker at several international conferences. She was program chair of the 2011 and conference chair of the 2014 Rare Earth Research Conference, organized the lanthanides and actinides symposia at the national meetings of the American Chemical Society, was the 2019 Chair of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and is co-program chair for the Division since 2022. She served as the Associate Vice President for Research at the University from 2015 to 2019. She returned to being a full-time faculty in July 2019, and is now the Susan Magee & Gary Clemons Professor of Chemistry. She received the 2006 Science & Technology Award of the Technology Alliance of Central New York, is a 2021 Fellow of the American Chemical Society and a 2022 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has also been named a Foundation Professor and received the 2023 Outstanding Researcher Award from the University.
Li Li
Dr. Li’s research is focused on developing and applying computational models to assess how human-made chemical substances reside, travel, and change in the human socioeconomic system, the environment, and food webs, and how they enter our bodies and cause potential environmental and health concerns. These chemicals include notorious examples like flame retardants, plasticizers, pesticides, personal care products, and disinfectants, which are frequently detected in homes, food items, and tap water across the U.S. and other countries.
Andrey Sarantsev
I did my PhD at the University of Washington, Seattle, in the area of Stochastic Processes. After that, I worked at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a Visiting Assistant Professor. From 2018, I worked as a permanent faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Mathematics & Statistics.