Senior Lecturer, Theatre Arts and Performance Studies
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, recently honored as one of Rhode Islands Women of Distinction, is a long time teaching artist-activist in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Her work encompasses directing and developing new work for the stage and film and in schools that address important social justice issues. She has been on the faculty of Brown Universitys Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies since 1987, and a core faculty member of the Eugene ONeill Theatre Centers National Theatre Institute since the early 1980s.
Professor of Political Economy, Department of Political Science
Faculty Fellow, Watson Institute for International Studies
Mark Blyth is a political economist whose research focuses upon how uncertainty and randomness impact complex systems, particularly economic systems, and why people continue to believe misguided economic ideas despite evidence to the contrary. He is the Eastman Professor of Political Economy, a
Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, and a faculty fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Dr. Blyth is the author of several books including Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea and The Future of the Euro (with Matthias Matthijs). He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University and previously taught at the Johns Hopkins University.
Associate Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
Dr. Joseph Braun is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. His research focuses on the effects of environmental pollutants on children’s health and the risk factors for pediatric diseases.
M.D./Ph.D. candidate, Alpert Medical School
Bill Brucker is in the clinical years of the M.D./Ph.D. program at Brown University. He completed his undergraduate education at Brown as well, playing football and graduating with honors in Chemistry in 2004. Brucker is the Founder & Executive Director of the Providence Alliance of Clinical Educators, a nonprofit organization that produces innovative lessons to help engage students in basic science learning. He has taught students of many levels over the years, including as an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Rhode Island College.
Professor & Founding Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Director, Center for Population Health and Clinical Epidemiology
Stephen Buka is an epidemiologist and developmental psychologist whose work focuses on the causes, development, and prevention of major psychiatric and cognitive disorders. He is the Chair of Browns Department of Epidemiology and the Director of its Center for Population Health & Clinical Epidemiology. He received his Sc.D. from Harvard Universitys School of Public Health. Stephen was the faculty co-chair of TRI-Labs pilot program on early childhood development.
Ph.D. Candidate, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry
Timothy Erick is a Ph.D. candidate in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry at Brown University. He is currently performing thesis research on the development and function of the natural killer cell populations of the murine salivary gland and lacrimal gland.
Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology & Gender Studies, Department of Molecular & Cell Biology & Biochemistry
Dr. Fausto-Sterling is currently focused on applying dynamic systems theory to the study of gender differentiation in early childhood. Her ambition is to restructure dichotomous conversations — inside the academy, in public discourse, and ultimately in the framing of social policy — in order to enable an understanding of the inseparability of “nature” and “nurture”.
Director of Engaged Scholarship, Swearer Center for Public Service
Allen Hance is the Director of Engaged Scholarship at the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University, where he works with students, faculty, and community partners to develop pathways for community-engaged learning and research. Dr. Hance is the director of TRI-Lab. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston College.
Director of Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship, Swearer Center for Public Service
Alan Harlam is the Director of Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship at Browns Swearer Center for Public Service, which provides resources, networking, and funding to support student initiatives on and off campus. Harlam co-founded and directs the Social Innovation Initiative (SII), which expands Browns curricular and extra-curricular resources for student exploration and experience of social entrepreneurship. He also leads the Social Innovation Fellowship, a three-semester program that supports students through the process of launching or growing a social venture with funding, mentoring, and skills development. Harlam is also an adjunct lecturer in public policy who teaches an introductory course in social entrepreneurship and an action learning course for social entrepreneurs. His work on social entrepreneurship is informed by 20 years as a consultant, turnaround investor and manager, and community leader.
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
Odest Chadwicke Jenkins, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. His research addresses problems in robot learning and human-robot interaction, primarily focused on robot learning from demonstration, as well as topics in computer vision, machine learning, and computer animation. He has received several prestigious research awards and National Geographic featured him as an emerging explorer. Dr. Jenkins received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California and an M.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Center for Environmental Studies
M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. Her areas of research and writing focus on urban agriculture and local food economies, and she serves on multiple committees for the Rhode Island Food Policy Council.
Undergraduate student, Science and Society
Samuel is a sophomore at Brown University pursuing a B.A. in Science and Society and a B.A. in Computer Science. He is interested primarily in the wide-ranging effects of modern technology on day-to-day life. He most recently worked as a Senior Research Assistant in Computer Science for Browns Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative (HCRI), studying the potential benefits and disadvantages of using anthropomorphic design in robotics.
Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and of Pediatrics, Warren Alpert Medical School
Barry M. Lester is a Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and a Professor of Pediatrics at Brown Universitys Warren Alpert Medical School. He is also Director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk at the Medical School and Women & Infants Hospital.
Director, Center for the Study of Children at Risk, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Barry M. Lester, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Pediatrics and Director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk at the Brown Alpert Medical School and Women & Infants Hospital.
Professor, Computer Science
Michael L. Littmans research in machine learning examines algorithms for decision-making under uncertainty. He has earned multiple awards for teaching, and his research on meta-learning for computer crossword-solving, complexity analysis of planning under uncertainty, and algorithms for efficient reinforcement learning has been recognized with three best-paper awards. Littman has served on the editorial boards for the Journal of Machine Learning Research and the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. In 2013, he was general chair of the International Conference on Machine Learning and program chair of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference.
Chair, Department of Anthropology
Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies, Watson Institute for International Studies
Catherine Lutz is Chair of Brown Universitys Anthropology Department and is jointly appointed in the schools Watson Institute for International Studies. She is the author of numerous books on the US military and its impact beyond the battlefield, the car and its place in US culture, and other topics in cultural anthropology. Dr. Lutz is Co-Director of the Costs of War, a multidisciplinary initiative to analyze the human, economic, social and political costs of the recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. She also co-founded the Network of Concerned Anthropologists and previously served as president of the American Ethnological Society.
Professor of Psychology, Dept. of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences
Bertram F. Malle was born and educated in Graz, Austria, before coming to the United States in 1990. He received his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1995 and joined the University of Oregon Psychology Department. Since 2008 he has been a Professor at the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. He received the Society of Experimental Social Psychology Outstanding Dissertation award in 1995, won a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in 1997, and served as president of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology. Malle’s research has been funded by the NSF, U.S. Army, Templeton Foundation, and Office of Naval Research.
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
Dr. Neil Mehrotra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Brown University. His academic research focuses on the effects of the Great Recession on U.S. labor markets and the role of monetary and fiscal policy in counteracting the Great Recession.
Associate Director the Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research
Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice
David J Meyers, PhD, MPH, is a health services researcher and health economist whose research broadly focuses on how payment and delivery reform affect the outcomes of historically marginalized patient populations.
Undergraduate student, Environmental Science
Alexandra is a current fourth-year student at Brown University pursuing an B.S. in Environmental Science with additional coursework in theater and business. She recently worked as a Senior Research Assistant in Computer Science for Browns Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative (HCRI), studying future applications of robotics in the areas of health care, agriculture, manufacturing, defense, education, and space. Brown selected the HCRI among competing proposals as a Signature Academic Initiative.