Faculty Profiles
Prof. Anna Edlund Mixes Religion, Art, and Science while Traveling to India and Sweden
A few months ago, Anna Edlund opened her email account to not one but two pleasant surprises. First, her audience with the Dalai Lama was scheduled for June. Second, she had been awarded a Fulbright grant. Edlund is among four biology professors spending two weeks in India teaching Western science and biology to the Dalai [...]
Professor Rachel Goshgarian Shows Students the Vibrant Diversity of the Middle East
If you don’t know where the Hagia Sophia is, that the English word “alcohol” comes from Arabic, or the fact that Saladin (a “hero” of the counter-crusade) was an ethnic Kurd, then you probably haven’t taken a class with Rachel Goshgarian. Newly hired as an assistant professor of history, Goshgarian, who has a Ph.D. in [...]
Professor of German Ed McDonald Lives to Learn
At the end of each semester, Ed McDonald usually poses the same question to his students: “Who learned the most in this course?” He finds it amusing how students tend to look at him somewhat bewildered until they hear him exclaim, “That’s me!” McDonald has received satisfaction over the years from researching the ever-changing course [...]
Chinese Professor Li Yang Opens World of Possibility for Students
Li Yang believes in setting a high bar for her students. And apparently her teaching style pays off. Students in her introductory Chinese course begin class not knowing a single word and end the semester narrating self-portrait videos in the language. As Yang emphasizes to her students, Chinese isn’t impossible to learn. Yang, assistant professor [...]
Professor Jeff Liebner Uses Statistics to Expose Truth in the World
As a second-grader, Jeff Liebner wanted to teach first grade. When he was in third grade, he was ready to teach second. So it’s no surprise that the assistant professor of mathematics found his passion in teaching as an adult. “I had this idea that I had just been exposed to something great, and I [...]
Professor D.C. Jackson Appears on PBS’ American Experience April 3
D.C. Jackson, professor of history, will appear as an on-camera expert on the PBS American Experience program “Grand Coulee Dam.” The segment is scheduled to air nationwide 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 3. Watch the preview Jackson, an expert on the history of water resources, was interviewed in New York City by a crew from Insignia Films [...]
Biology Professor Bob Kurt Works to Unlock the Mysteries of the Immune System
Some say ignorance is bliss. But for Bob Kurt, associate professor of biology, what is not known is a doorway to discovery, especially when unlocking the mysteries of the immune system and its effects on cancerous tumors. Since 2000, Kurt has secured more than $1 million in grants to chart new directions in understanding cancer, [...]
Prof. Chris Phillips Explores Reading Habits of 19th Century Eastonians, One of the First Studies of Its Kind in the Country
Until a year ago, the emerging research field of the history of reading was largely circumstantial, based on diaries or sales figures. A public database launched last March and later reported by Anne Trubek in the New York Times article “What Muncie Read” set the stage for authoritative records of American reading. The Muncie, Ind., database, [...]
A Global Professor: Joshua Smith’s Teaching and Research Have Taken Him all Over the World
Spin a globe and place your finger on it. Wherever it lands, it may not be far from where Joshua Smith, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is working. An adviser to the Lafayette student chapter Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and its work in Honduras, a fluid-flow researcher with brain tissue modeling collaborations in Colombia and [...]
Professor Art Kney Helps Students Take Ideas from the Drawing Board to Reality
When a first-year student came to him with an idea to bring composting to campus in 2007, professor Art Kney was skeptical. The College didn’t recycle at the time, much less mulch with cafeteria scraps. But still he listened and encouraged Michael Adelman ’10 to do research and come back with a plan. A week later he returned, and [...]
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