Zhan Chen
Zhan is a Michael D. Morris Collegiate Professor of Chemistry, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Biophysics, and Applied Physics in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and did his postdoctoral research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The research in his group at the University of Michigan is focused on the molecular level characterizations of complicated surfaces and interfaces, such as polymer surfaces, polymer interfaces, and interfacial proteins using advanced analytical techniques. Such research provides in-depth understanding of molecular mechanisms of biocompatibility, biofouling, and polymer adhesion. Zhan received his National Science Foundation Career Award in 2004, and his Beckman Young Investigator Award in 2003. He was named as a Dow Corning Assistant/Associate Professor between 2003 and 2006. He is a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a senior editor of Langmuir, a flagship journal on interfacial science published by American Chemical Society. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, hiking, and traveling.
Mark Conger
Mark Conger Mark is a Lecturer and program developer of the Douglass Houghton Scholars Program. He received his B.A. degree from Williams College and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. In between his M.A. and Ph.D., he spent several years working as a professional computer programmer, and did lots of programming for fun as well. His research interests are in enumerative combinatorics and probability, but he considers himself a mathematical generalist. His recent work has focused on the mathematics of card shuffling and dealing. He is the recipient of the 2019 Golden Apple Award, the only teaching award at the University of Michigan given by students. He has been teaching in MMSS since 2002.
Jen Cummings
Jen is a Lecturer in the Biopsychology area of University of Michigan's Psychology Department, and teaches classes ranging from Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience to Hormones and Behavior and Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior. After earning her Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2006, she began working as a research scientist at UM's Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute examining the role of hormones on reward-related circuitry in the brain, and the effects of motherhood on drug addiction. In 2013, Jen joined the Psychology Department to focus on teaching full-time, and has since developed a number of courses spanning all levels of undergraduate education at UM. While she finds there is much to enjoy about teaching, Jen is particularly passionate about making neuroscience understandable and accessible for students of all ages. When not molding young minds, Jen enjoys running, knitting, reading, and fly fishing.
Alessandro Danelon
Alessandro is an assistant professor in mathematics at the University of Michigan. After completing his international undergraduate studies with curricula at the University of Milan, at the Mathematical Institute in Leiden, and at the University of Duisburg-Essen, in 2023 he earned his Ph.D. in applied algebraic geometry from the University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The focus of his research is to develop infinite-dimensional methods to deal with highly symmetric systems of polynomial equations. This research area has applications in theoretical computer science, chemistry and neural networks, to name but a few. Prior to his mathematical career, Alessandro graduated in 2013 in clarinet performance at the Conservatory of Music G. Verdi in Milan, and has kept playing and studying music besides his academical career. From 2017 to 2023 he has been first clarinet for CREA Orkest and Het Orkest Amsterdam and he has been playing in many chamber music ensembles in the amateur music scene in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Stephen DeBacker
Stephen is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Mathematics. He did his undergraduate work at Santa Clara University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan, he had appointments at Harvard and the University of Chicago. He is interested in using geometry and analysis to answer certain questions which arise in number theory. He spends nearly every mathematical free moment with his family; but in his spare time, he thinks up ways to make Loren Spice laugh so hard that Loren cries.
Karishma Sekhon Edgar
Sean Fancher
Sean Fancher is a postdoctoral researcher in the biophysics department here at University of Michigan. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from Purdue University in 2019 after researching the ways in which individual cells can use cues from their environment and other cells to obtain more accurate information about their surroundings. He then went on to work in the physics department at the University of Pennsylvania and studied how fluid flow through a network of vessels is affected by the compliance of the vessel material. Now, he researches perturbations in chemical reaction networks and their optimal structures in the lab of Prof. Jordan Horowitz.
Ari Gafni
Gafni is a retired Professor from the Department of Biophysics at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Following postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University he returned to the Weizmann Institute as a faculty member. His research focused on the mechanisms that feature in the folding of a newly synthesized polypeptide chain into the precisely formed and biologically active protein molecule. Gafni joined the University of Michigan in 1983 and developed long-lasting research into the role that incorrectly folded proteins play in several devastating human diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and type-2 diabetes. In these studies, Gafni used a variety of cutting-edge biophysical tools, including single molecule microscopy, a technique that allows one to address mechanistic details of the origin and evolution of molecular toxicity at a level of detail that is impossible to achieve by conventional experimental approaches. Beyond science, Gafni enjoys travel, reading and raising exotic plants.
Isabel Hermsmeyer
Isabel Kane Hermsmeyer is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree in Anthropology and master's in biology at UC San Diego. She has taught introductory courses concentrating in biological anthropology on the topics of osteology, comparative anatomy, and human skeletal health. She splits her time between the skeletal biology lab in Anthropology, and the MacDougald adipose (fat) lab at the Medical School. Her research focuses on how diet impacts body composition in humans and nonhuman primates, particularly how energetics influence adipose tissue distribution and bone health. When not in either of her labs, she is enjoying live music, watching horror movies or eating delicious food with friends.
Dragan Huterer
Dragan Huterer is a theoretical cosmologist and professor in the Department of Physics. His research is focused on trying to understand the nature and properties of "dark energy", a mysterious component that makes up about 70% of energy in the universe and makes its expansion accelerate, and whose understanding presents major unsolved problem in astrophysics and cosmology. Huterer grew up in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia) and received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, was awarded UM’s Henry Russel Award for “exceptional scholarship and conspicuous ability as a teacher," and currently serves as the Associate Chair for the Physics Graduate Program.
Michael Jones
Michael A. Jones earned his B.S. degree from Santa Clara University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from Northwestern University. After a 3-year position at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a 1-year visiting position at Loyola University in Chicago, he taught for 10 years at Montclair State University in New Jersey. In August 2008, he became an Associate Editor for Mathematical Reviews, a division of the American Mathematical Society based in Ann Arbor. His research interests include the development and application of mathematics to analyze the social sciences, including economics, political science, psychology, and law. His 5-year term as editor for Mathematical Association of America’s Mathematics Magazine ended in 2019.
Anne McNeil
Anne McNeil is a Carol A. Fierke Professor of Chemistry, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and the Program in the Environment. Her research is aimed at addressing some of the world's biggest challenges through chemical recycling or upcycling of waste plastics, developing methods to capture microplastics, measuring microplastics in the environment, and designing redox active molecules for energy storage applications. She has won several awards for excellence in both teaching and research. She is also the proud mom of two kids.
Lon Mitchell
Lon holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Kansas, while his musical training includes a Bachelors of Music in Music Theory and Composition from Central Michigan University and graduate study in carillon performance at KU. He is currently on the faculty at the University of South Florida and a Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. Previous appointments include positions at the University of Malta as a Fulbright Scholar, the American Mathematical Society, and as faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Toronto.
Kathleen Nolta
Kathleen received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, and she earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. While she trained as a classical biochemist, she has taught a wide variety of courses across the fields of biology and chemistry. Over the past two decades, she has been helping University of Michigan students appreciate the art of organic chemistry and the enormity of biochemistry.
Mary Orczykowski
Mary Orczykowski is a faculty member in Anatomical Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School. She completed her undergraduate degrees in Biology and German at Oakland University in 2011 and her Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine in 2017. At the University of Michigan, she has dedicated her time to guiding students (undergraduate, graduate, medical, and dental) in understanding and appreciating the inner workings of the human body. She has a special interest in training undergraduate teaching assistants to teach peers in the anatomy lab. She also enjoys creating colorful 3D models and illustrations to help demonstrate concepts and relationships in new ways. Outside of anatomy, she spends time in her Ann Arbor home with her family (husband, 2 cats, and hedgehog), exploring the natural world, building enclosures for rescued animals at the Creature Conservancy, training in aerial silks and sling, making friends with squirrels, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts.
Georg Raithel
Georg is a Professor in the Department of Physics. Georg received his Ph.D. at the University of Munich. In his research, he employs laser-cooled rubidium atoms to study matter waves in optical lattices and in other atom trapping devices, and to investigate interaction processes involving cold, very highly excited atoms (Rydberg atoms) and cold plasmas. In his spare time and vacations, Georg enjoys bicycling, skiing, camping and sailing with his family.
Doug Shaw
Vanessa Sih
Molly Simmonite
Molly Simmonite is a Research Investigator, working in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Michigan. Originally from the UK, Molly received her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham. In her research, Molly uses a variety of imaging methods to explore how brains change over the course of healthy aging, and how the brains of people with psychosis differ from individuals without psychosis. Molly is also a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, where she teaches undergraduate courses including research methods in cognitive neuroscience and an upper-level seminar on neurobiology and neurotransmission.
Martin Strauss
Martin is a Professor in the Departments of Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He received his A.B. degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, both in mathematics. He previously held positions at Iowa State University and AT&T Labs-Research. His research interests include fundamental algorithms, especially randomized and approximation algorithms; algorithms for massive data sets; signal processing and computational harmonic analysis; computer security and cryptography; complexity theory. He has developed an activity for the Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum. For the past few years, he has been leading the math club at a local elementary school, whose activities include competing in the Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools. In his spare time, he enjoys trail running.
Ramón Torres-Isea
Ramón is an Adjunct Lecturer in Physics and Director of the Advanced Physics Laboratories at the University of Michigan. He is co-recipient (with Prof. Carl Akerlof, Univ. of Michigan) of the American Physical Society 2015 Jonathan Reichert and Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award for Excellence in Advanced Laboratory Instruction. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Physics from Eastern Michigan University in 1980 and 1983, and quickly developed a career as an industrial physicist. Since his return to academia at the University of Iowa in 1995, he has been dedicated to the improvement of teaching laboratories, concentrating exclusively in laboratories at the Intermediate and Advanced levels during the past 24 years. He has taught at the technical, undergraduate, and graduate levels for thirty years. He also initiated and directed for many years the University of Michigan Physics Olympiad.