SMU Faculty Experts

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Name Title Primary area of expertise Specialties
Eric Larson Director of the Institute for Computational Biosciences and Professor of Computer Science AI Machine learning in health and education; interdisciplinary applications of machine learning and signal/image processing in security, health, education, human-machine teaming, and ubiquitous computing; privacy and security.
Robert Hunt Professor of Christian Mission and Interreligious Relations AI Theological implications of artificial intelligence; interreligious relations; global theological education; world religions; Islam and interreligious dialogue.
Corey Clark Associate Professor of Computer Science in the Lyle School of Engineering and Deputy Director for Research at SMU Guildhall AI Artificial intelligence and machine learning; gaming, systems biology and distributed computing to solve large-scale scientific and educational problems; human-in-the-loop machine learning and game-based education.
Willie Baronet Stan Richards Professor in Creative Advertising Advertising Creativity and creative problem solving; leadership; and the "WE ARE ALL HOMELESS" art project exploring homelessness, empathy and social responsibility.
Alice Kendrick Professor Advertising Advertising research; advertising and public diplomacy; advertising content; advertising education and promotional product effectiveness.
Carrie La Ferle Professor of Ethics & Culture in Advertising Advertising How culture (national, racial/ethnic, religious, and generational) influences effective communication; advertising ethics; social responsibility and cultural intelligence in advertising.
Michael Adler Associate Professor Anthropology Indigenous archaeology; Puebloan communities in the American Southwest; ancestry and cultural identity and archaeology's role in understanding Indigenous pasts.
Eric Bing Director of the Institute for Leadership Impact Anthropology Global health; health, education, and social systems; leadership development; social entrepreneurship; innovation; and team and collaborative science.
Matthew Boulanger Director of the Archaeological Research Collection Anthropology Archaeological research collections; pseudoscience in archaeology and archaeology of eastern North America.
Kacy Hollenback Associate Professor Anthropology Long-term impacts of disasters; collaborative and Indigenous archaeologies; culture contact; ceramic analysis and archaeology of the American Great Plains.
David Meltzer Professor Anthropology Origins and adaptations of the first Americans; Ice Age archaeology; ancient genomics and human population history (ancient DNA); and human responses to climate change.
Neely Myers Interim Faculty Director of the SMU Youth Mental Health Research and Innovation Initiative
 Anthropology Youth mental health; social determinants of mental health; mental health care; the role of culture in the experience and treatment of mental illness; health equity and artificial intelligence.
Nia Parson Associate Professor Anthropology Trauma; interpersonal and collective violence; gender; mental and physical health and integrative health practices.
Christopher Roos Professor Anthropology Wildfires and fire history; Indigenous fire stewardship (cultural burning); human-environment interactions and Southwest United States archaeology.
Amanda W. Dotseth Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair in the Meadows School of the Arts Art Spanish art; medieval art and architecture; art history and collecting history.
Elizabeth Bacon Eager Assistant Professor Art Transatlantic eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art; material culture; and the intersections of art, science and technology.
Roberto Conduru Endowed Distinguished Professor of Art History Art Modern and contemporary Brazilian art and architecture; Afro-Brazilian art; Constructivist art and architecture; global art history; and Latin American and trans-Atlantic art.
Amy Freund Associate Professor and Kleinheinz Family Endowed Chair in Art History Art Eighteenth-century European art; politics and visual culture; portraiture and the history of selfhood; visual representations of animals; gender and representation and the history and decoration of mechanical objects.
Randall Griffin University Distinguished Professor Art American art and photography from the Civil War through the 1950s.
Adam Herring Emily Rich Summers Endowed Professor in Art History Department Chair Art Art of the pre-Columbian Americas; visual theory and semiotics; anthropological and materialist critiques of visual experience and the history of art history.
Jen Benoit-Bryan Executive Director SMU DataArts and Professor of Arts Management Art Arts ecosystems; cultural workforce sustainability and well-being; equitable access to the arts; arts research methodologies and community impacts of the arts.
Elfi Kraka Professor Chemistry Artificial intelligence for computer-assisted drug design; high-performance computing; quantum chemical method development; and vibrational spectroscopy.
Brian Zoltowski Associate Professor Chemistry Circadian clocks; biophysical chemistry; biochemistry; blue-light photoreceptors; and protein structure and function.
Maria Dixon Hall Associate Professor and Chief Diversity Officer Communications Organizational communication; organizational culture; identity and power in corporate, nonprofit, and religious organizations and cultural intelligence.
Mitch Thornton Executive Director of Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security; Cecil H. Green Chair of Engineering Cybersecurity Cybersecurity; computer systems security; embedded systems; computer architecture; quantum informatics (quantum computing) and digital systems design and analysis.
John Potter Clinical Associate Professor Dispute Resolution Dispute resolution; conflict management; mediation and healthcare conflict.
Heather DeShon Department Chair and Professor Earth Sciences and Hazards Earthquake physics; induced seismicity; subduction zones and intraplate faults; volcano seismology and seismogenic zone processes.
Alexander Chase Assistant Professor Earth Sciences and Hazards Human and environmental microbiomes; chemical interactions among organisms and how microbial communities vary across environments.
Zhong Lu Professor and Shuler-Foscue Chair Earth Sciences and Hazards Satellite radar remote sensing (InSAR); volcanoes; landslides; land subsidence; coastal deformation; and earthquake-related ground deformation.
Maria Beatrice Magnani Professor and Director of Graduate Studies Earth Sciences and Hazards Earthquake seismology; near-surface seismology; reflection seismology and tectonics.
Maria Richards Geothermal Lab Coordinator Earth Sciences and Hazards Geothermal energy; geothermal exploration; geothermal resource mapping; geothermal data systems and geothermal energy development.
Cullum Clark Director Bush Institute - SMU Economic Growth Initiative and Adjunct Professor of Economics Economics and Business Macroeconomic policy; economic geography and urban economics; and modern economic history.
Michael Davis Clinical Professor; Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom Management, Strategy and Entrepreneurship Economics and Business Government and business; economic theory; the Texas and U.S. economies; financial markets; unemployment and economic stimulus.
Tom Fomby Professor Economics and Business Applied econometrics; predictive analytics; economic and business forecasting; and macroeconomic analysis.
Daniel Millimet Department Chair and Dedman Trustee Professor Economics and Business Understanding the causal effects of labor, education, environmental, and trade policies on economic outcomes.
Stephanie Al Otaiba Patsy and Ray Caldwell Centennial Chair in Teaching & Learning Education School-based literacy interventions; response to intervention; learning disabilities; diverse learners; and teacher training.
Corey Brady Associate Dean for Research and Outreach Education Mathematical and computational modeling; computational thinking; learning sciences; collective learning and STEAM education.
Peter Carton Director of Sport Management Education Sport management; sport marketing and sponsorship; sport organizational design; sport business and sport law.
Mark Chancey Professor of Religious Studies Education Religion in public schools; the Gospels; archaeology and the Bible; and early Judaism.
Karla del Rosal Clinical Assistant Professor Education English learners; teacher education; second language acquisition; culturally responsive teaching and classroom assessment.
Leanne Ketterlin Geller Professor Education Mathematics education; formative assessment; mathematics learning difficulties; K–8 STEM education; and educational measurement and assessment.
Francesca Go Clinical Associate Professor Education Reading instruction; autism; cognitive disabilities; student behavior; and educational assessment and measurement.
Michael Harris Leon Simmons Endowed Dean of the Simmons School Education Higher education leadership; higher education governance; organizational culture in colleges and universities and higher education strategy.
Watt Lesley Black, Jr. Clinical Professor in Education Policy and Law Education Legal and policy issues in K–12 and higher education; First Amendment rights of students and educators; Fourteenth Amendment equal protection; and affirmative action and diversity in public education.
Lin Lipsmeyer Professor Education How people learn; cognition; innovative educational technologies; artificial intelligence in education and STEAM learning.
Scott Norris Associate Professor of Mathematics Education Mathematical modeling and pattern formation.
Candace Walkington Annette and Harold Simmons Centennial Chair Education Mathematics education; personalized mathematics instruction based on students' interests and career goals; educational technology and artificial intelligence in education.
Johnitha Watkins Johnson Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning Education Equity in education; urban education; culturally responsive teaching and community partnerships in education.
Willis A. Jones Associate Professor Education Intercollegiate athletics; college student retention; college rankings; HBCUs; faculty governance; community colleges and adult learners.
Magdalena Pando Associate Professor Education Teacher preparation and professional development; culturally and linguistically responsive teaching; bilingual education; English learners and STEM education.
Bruce Bullock Director, Maguire Energy Institute Energy Industry Management, marketing, and policy issues in the energy industry, including oil, gas, wind and geothermal energy.
Joe Camp Professor and Interim Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Engineering Drone communications, wireless systems.
Sila Çetinkaya Chair and Professor of OREM and Cecil H. Green Professor of Engineering Engineering Supply chain systems, manufacturing, providing quantitative evidence to assess healthcare operations.
John Easton Associate Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering Engineering Water quality modeling and monitoring, air quality monitoring and solid and hazardous waste management.
MinJun Kim Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering Engineering Nanobiotechnology, such as nanopore technology and nano/micro robotics.
Nicos Makris Addy Family Centennial Professor in Civil Engineering Engineering Structural and earthquake engineering.
Barbara Minsker Bobby B. Lyle Endowed Professor of Leadership & Global Entrepreneurship and Senior Fellow in Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity Engineering Infrastructure equity and urban sustainability.
Andrew Quicksall Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Engineering Water contamination in the natural environment by probing both solution and solid chemistry of natural materials.
Saeed Salehi Herman Brown Chair in Mechanical Engineering and Interim Executive Director of Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity Engineering Fossil fuels and geothermal energy systems, greenhouse gas containment and mitigation and petroleum and natural gas engineering systems.
Kathleen Smits Solomon Professor for Global Development in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Fellow in the Cox Business School Maguire Energy Institute Engineering How water and energy interact with the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions, soil contamination, land/atmosphere interactions and mercury emissions from gold mining.
Donghai Wang Brown Foundation Chair in Mechanical Engineering Engineering Nanostructured functional materials and energy storage technologies like Li-ion batteries and also beyond Li-ion batteries.
Jia Zhang Robert H. Dedman, Jr. Chairperson of the Department of Computer Science Engineering Machine learning, data science and cloud computing.
Doric Earle Co-Director SMU Impact Lab, Professor of Practice  Entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship; community and economic development; social innovation; nonprofit leadership and community engagement.
James Hart Director of Social Innovation, Creative, and Arts Entrepreneurship; Co-Director SMU Impact Lab  Entrepreneurship Arts entrepreneurship; creative entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship education; creative leadership and social innovation.
Rita Kirk William F May Endowed Director of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility Ethics Ethics in corporate communications and public affairs.
Tom Mayo Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor of Law Ethics Medical ethics, health care law, bioethics, medical-legal humanities, constitutional law, family law, administrative law and legislation.
Mark Chancey Professor Evolution Recognized authority on the constitutional, political and academic issues raised by Bible courses in public schools.
Pia Vogel Professor Evolution Biological sciences, evolutionary science and scientific inquiry.
Jenny B. Davis Professor Fashion and Sustainable Fashion Practices Fashion trends, business of fashion, plus streetwear fashion and culture.
Maryann R. Cairns Associate Professor Fashion and Sustainable Fashion Practices Using creative research design and cultural understanding to safeguard environmental resources and human health, focus on apparel and textile industry.
Bryan Stone Leighton K. Farrell Endowed Dean Professor of Theology Film Religion and film; with a more recent focus on Christianity’s role in shaping horror cinema.
Rick Worland Professor Film Film history, documentary and silent cinema, as well as popular genres including Westerns, horror/science fiction, film noir, European cinema and the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Sean Griffin Professor Film History of the American musicals, gay and lesbian films, and the interactions between the Walt Disney Company and gay communities.
Mark Kerins Professor Film Film production, faculty advisor to the Summer Film Production program.
David Sedman Associate Professor Film Video production, broadcast and film history, electronic media policy.
Eric Bing Professor of Global Health Healthcare Worldwide health issues and initiatives, obstacles to adequate health care, health care in Third World countries.
Nathan Cortez Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation Adelfa Botello Callejo Endowed Professor of Law in Leadership and Latino Studies Healthcare Health law, administrative law, and FDA law, as well as emerging markets in health care and biotechnology.
Tom Mayo Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor of Law Healthcare Medical ethics, health care law, bioethics, medical-legal humanities, constitutional law, family law, administrative law and legislation.
Melissa Barden Dowling Department Chair and Associate Professor Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director of Classical Studies History Ancient Rome and Greece, and related topics.
Jeffrey Engel Director of the Center for Presidential History and Professor History U.S. presidency and American diplomatic history.
Andrew Graybill Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies and Professor History North American West with particular interest in expansion, borders, race, violence, and the environment.
Alexis McCrossen Professor History Temporal studies (emerging area in historical research), a new way of looking at the past through the study of measurement, importance and recognition of time.
Rick Halperin Director of the Human Rights Program and Professor Human Rights Human rights, genocide, and historical and current abuse of human rights in various countries. Past chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA.
Natalie Nanasi Associate Professor and Director of the Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Center for Victims of Crimes Against Women Human Rights Survivors of intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and sexual abuse in a broad range of legal matters.
Beth Wheaton-Páramo Research Assistant Professor Human Rights Using economics to better understand and analyze human rights issues, leading the SMU human trafficking research team.
Jim Hollifield Director of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs Immigration Global migration, immigration assimilation in Dallas-Fort Worth.
George A. Martinez Professor Immigration Immigration law, federal courts, legal history, and jurisprudence.
Harold J. Recinos Professor Immigration Popular religion; race, ethnicity, and religion; Hispanic/Latino/theology; Latin American immigrants/refugees in the United States, liberation theologies, congregational studies.
Matthew Wilson Associate Professor Immigration Politics and voting behavior of religious voters, public opinion, elections, religion and politics, and political psychology.
Jake Batsell William J. O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism and Associate Professor Journalism Business journalism, media entrepreneurship, digital journalism, and the shifting economics of the news industry.
Jenny B. Davis Professor Journalism Fashion trends, business of fashion, plus streetwear fashion and culture.
Karen Thomas Professor Journalism Spent more than 25 years in the trenches of daily journalism.
Jayne Suhler Professor Journalism Fashion media and journalism ethics.
Dale Carpenter Professor, Judge William Hawley Atwell Chair of Constitutional Law and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Legal Matters Constitutional law, First Amendment, LGBTQ Rights, Civil Rights.
Carliss Chatman Associate Professor Legal Matters Corporate law, ethics, and civil procedure, the interplay of business entities, government and natural persons.
Anthony Colangelo Professor Legal Matters Conflict of laws, civil procedure, U.S. foreign relations law, and private and public international law and theory.
Nathan Cortez Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation Legal Matters Health law, administrative law, and FDA law, as well as emerging markets in health care and biotechnology.
Julie Forrester Rogers Professor Legal Matters Property, real estate transactions, and land use, as well as real estate finance, predatory lending, and bankruptcy law.
Jeffrey Kahn Professor Legal Matters U.S. Constitutional Law, Russian Law, National Security Law, International Human Rights Law, European Convention on Human Rights, Administrative Law.
Natalie Nanasi Associate Professor Legal Matters Survivors of intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and sexual abuse in a broad range of legal matters.
Meghan Ryan Professor and Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Legal Matters Intersection of criminal law and procedure, torts, law and science, impact of evolving science, technology, and cultural values on criminal convictions and punishments, as well as on civil liability and remedies.
Christina Sautter Professor Legal Matters Corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, transactional law, and exploring the new generations of investors’ power to transform corporate governance.
Marc Steinberg Professor, Rupert and Lillian Radford Chair in Law Legal Matters Securities law, corporate law and business ethics.
Jessica Dixon Weaver Professor, Associate Dean for Research Legal Matters Family law regulation (also known as child welfare law), the intersection of race, gender, and family law.
Mario De La Garza Counseling Director and Clinical Assistant Professor Mental Health At-risk adolescents; facilitated classroom lessons that focused on bullying prevention, resisting pressures, decision-making, diversity, suicide prevention, relationship violence prevention, and other topics of importance for young people.
Chrystyna Kouros Associate Professor Mental Health Effects of marital conflict on spouses’ and children’s depression/mental health, how to constructively handle marital/relationship conflict, effects of parental depression on children.
Neely Myers Professor Mental Health Social determinants of mental health; youth mental health and illness; and, the role of culture in the experience; understanding and treatment of mental health and illness around the world.
Brandy Schumann Clinical Associate Professor Mental Health Full-time counseling program faculty member serving as Internship Director, recognized worldwide for research and training contributions to the Play Therapy field.
Misty Solt Clinical Professor Mental Health Anxiety, attachment and has worked in the areas of school crisis counseling, general crisis counseling and assessment, in-home counseling, agency counseling, and private practice.
LaKaavia Taylor Clinical Associate Professor Mental Health Multicultural counseling and trauma-informed practices.
Louis Jacobs Emeritus Professor and President of Institute for the Study of Earth and Man (ISEM) Paleontology Dinosaurs, mosasaurs, and other prehistoric creatures. Vertebrate paleontologist who utilizes the fossil record to answer significant questions about Earth and life history.
Fred Olness Professor Physics Elementary particle physics, the origin of the universe, quantum mechanics, "Physics Circus" public demonstrations, and CERN-related experiments.
Ryszard Stroynowski Professor Physics Experimental High Energy Particle physics and the structure of matter. Specializes in the Higgs particle.
Cal Jillson Professor Politics and Political Discourse State and national politics, development of American institutions and ideas, and how they continue to shape national debates. The Dallas Morning News and the San Antonio Express-News have profiled him as one of Texas’ top political experts.
Rita Kirk Professor Politics and Political Discourse Ethics in corporate communications and public affairs. Debate, argumentation, communication, public speaking, and rhetoric.
Joe Kobylka Professor Politics and Political Discourse Constitutional law and politics, Supreme Court, judicial decision making, and American Political Thought.
Ben Voth Associate Professor Politics and Political Discourse Genocide, political debate, humor and politics, and general public controversies.
Matthew Wilson Professor Politics and Political Discourse Politics and voting behaviors of religious voters, public opinion, elections, representation, political psychology.
Nathan Hudson Associate Professor Psychology How people's personalities change across time, people's desires and attempts to change their personality traits, and how individuals function in romantic relationships.
Ernest Jouriles Professor, Dale McKissick Endowed Professor of Psychology, and Director of Clinical Training Psychology Interpersonal violence, preventing violence, helping survivors of violence, adolescent and young adult relationships. Exploring how technology, such as virtual reality, can enhance understanding of how people behave in challenging interpersonal situations, including those that pose a risk of relationship violence.
Sarah Kucker Assistant Professor Psychology Word learning, cognitive development, and the influence of digital media on infant and toddler’s language development.
Renee McDonald Professor Psychology Understanding how children’s exposure to family conflict and violence contributes to child psychological maladjustment, and developing interventions for children exposed to violence.
Mark Chancey Professor Religion and Theology The Gospels, the Historical Jesus, early Judaism, archaeology and the Bible, and the political and social history of Palestine during the Roman period.
Jack Levison W. J. A. Power Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew Religion and Theology Pneumatology, interpretation of the Adam and Eve tradition; Second Temple Judaism; gender, Judaism, and Christianity
Alexandra Pavlakis Associate Professor Teaching and Learning Impact of policies and school/community actions on the schooling experiences of homeless, highly mobile, and low-income families.
Magdalena Pando Associate Professor Teaching and Learning Teacher preparation and professional development fostering culturally and linguistically inclusive teaching methods in early childhood and K-12 education. Model-based inquiry methods in STEM education.
Gary Brubaker Director of SMU Guildhall Video Games and Gaming Industry Game studies, programming.
Corey Clark Deputy Director of Research at SMU Guildhall and Assistant Professor Video Games and Gaming Industry Finding solutions to large-scale problems by combining gaming, systems biology, distributed computing, and artificial intelligence.
Joowon MacDowell Associate Professor Video Games and Gaming Industry Virtual Reality, digital health, gamification, user experience, game production.
Steve Stringer Director of Game Lab at SMU Guildhall and Professor Video Games and Gaming Industry Game development, state of the video game industry, team efficacy, video game design, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality design.