College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Dear CASE alumni, faculty, staff and students,

April was a milestone month for CASE, filled with major accomplishments and exciting developments. We finalized the college’s first strategic plan in a decade, released the 2024 CASE Annual Report, launched our new Instagram page, had a successful Giving Day campaign, welcomed members of the Dean’s Leadership Council to campus for a productive visit, and awarded Dr. Klaus Woelk the CASE Dean’s Medal.

We also completed the hiring of eight new faculty members who will join us this fall and announced the appointment of Dr. Kathryn (KC) Dolan as the incoming chair of English and technical communication.

Additionally, three CASE faculty members have been named to newly established endowed professorships—a significant recognition of their outstanding contributions:

You’ll find below a selection of other recent accomplishments by our exceptional faculty and students. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of them, and I thank our dedicated staff, faculty, department chairs, nominators and reviewers whose tireless work behind the scenes has made so many of these achievements possible.

Warm regards, 

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Ph.D.
Vice Provost and Dean
College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Congratulations to the following CASE doctoral students who successfully defended their dissertations in the month of April:

Six members of the Army ROTC competed against universities from across the Nation at the Ranger Buddy Challenge at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on March 28-29. The two-person teams completed Army Warrior Skills including land navigation, medical treatment, weapons assembly, hand grenades, and a 14-mile foot march. S&T's upperclassmen team of Roberto Arzabala and William Muldoon finished in the top 15 out of over 135 teams. Additional competitors were our first year team of Jacob Hodor and Carter Mennemeyer, and our co-ed team of Aakriti Thapa and Matt Jones. All cadets represented the Stonehenge Battalion and Missouri S&T with pride and distinction.

Education students, Savannah Tully and Greycen Erisman, ran a free soccer clinic for area K-12 students following the tornado of March 14. The S&T students dedicated their free time to manage all aspects of the clinic and also volunteered in the community to assist residences with clean up.

Congratulations to the Math Competition Club team (pictured above) for earning first place in a statewide math competition known as the Missouri Collegiate Mathematics Competition (MCMC). The team consisted of Nathan Agius, Colin Pulis, and Braden Stillmaker; the team's coach is Dr. C. J. Lungstrum, assistant teaching professor of mathematics and statistics. The MCMC is held at a different location each year; this year, the competition was held at Saint Louis University and had 23 competing teams. This is the third year in a row that the S&T math team has earned first place. 

Joshua Santy, undergraduate student majoring in a physics and OURE Fellow, is a co-author of a paper titled "Stability, binding, and charge localization in amorphous tin monoxide: a-SnO and a-Sn-Ta-O with variable composition" recently published in the Journal of Applied Physics. Earlier in March, Santy presented the work at APS Global meeting in Los Angeles. Santy is advised by Dr. Julia Medvedeva, professor of physics.

Graduate student Cole Rischbieter (pictured above) and his advisor Dr. Shun Saito, assistant professor of physics, had a productive trip to Cape Town, South Africa in March. This travel is supported by the University of Missouri South African Education Program in which Saito and Dr. Maartens at University of Western Cape have a collaborative project “Decoding the Nonlinear Universe.” Rischbieter and Saito each presented talks at a workshop and worked on advancing the collaborative project.

The Society of Physics Students visited Fermilab. The trip was a great way to see in person both the technology used in modern physics research as well as the culture of a National Lab. Through the tour, the students were able to learn more about the engineering that goes into a particle accelerator and the history of Fermilab and its achievements.

Several physics undergraduate and graduate students (pictured above) attended the March meeting of the American Physical Society in Los Angeles and presented their research. Jeremiah Bender showed a poster titled “Stripe order and impurities in a three-dimensional frustrated magnet”, and Johnathan House gave a talk on “Fractional Brownian motion with mean-density interaction.” Joshua Santy gave a talk titled “Amorphous Metal Transparent Conducting Oxide p-type Semiconductors.” Harshit Agarwal had a poster titled “Development of an LC Self-Oscillator for Magnetic Measurements at Cryogenic Temperatures”, and graduate student Tuhin Das (not pictured) presented a poster titled "Generalized Sellmeier Models with Radiation Reaction for the Dielectric Function of Single Crystals and Retardation Effects in Atom-Surface Interactions."

Psychological science undergraduates recently presented at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association Conference in Chicago. Celia Freed presented her poster on leveraging behavior based rubrics to address systemic biases in faculty evaluations (under direction of Dr. Clair Kueny), Julien Hanson presented his poster on popular music and movies as autobiographical memory cues (under direction of Dr. Amy Belfi), and Sarah Shyres (pictured above) presented a poster and gave an oral presentation both on replicating research related to social influence and moral luck (under the direction of Dr. Devin Burns).

The Kummer Center for STEM Education will host its annual Elementary Day on Wednesday, May 7. The center is still looking for more workshops (hands-on is best) and wants attendees to see what CASE has to offer. If you can host a workshop, fill out this form.

Dr. Joshua Coonrod, assistant teaching professor of English and technical communication, was born in Rolla. He holds bachelor's degrees in English and journalism from the University of Missouri; a master’s degree in English with a focus on film from the University of Florida; and a Ph.D. in communication and culture from Indiana University. Read more.

Dr. Manashi Nath, professor of chemistry, and her team from the chemistry department, hosted a hands-on workshop titled "Energy for a Brighter Tomorrow" as part of the Kaleidoscope Discovery Center’s Teen Science Café program. The event took place in March, and introduced students to alternative energy sources and the path to a sustainable energy future. Nath led an engaging session highlighting the role of curiosity in scientific discovery, followed by a lab activity where students produced hydrogen and oxygen through water electrolysis using household materials. 

The Grad Track Pathway program offers an excellent opportunity for high-achieving undergraduate students to fast-track their education by pursuing an accelerated route to a master’s or Ph.D. degree — saving both time and money along the way. Designed for students eager to advance quickly, this program allows eligible undergraduates to earn graduate-level credits while completing their bachelor’s degree. These credits apply to both the undergraduate and graduate programs, creating a seamless transition to graduate study in the same or a closely related field.

With early provisional admission to the graduate program, students can begin taking graduate courses during their undergraduate years, reducing the total number of credits required to complete both degrees.

CASE currently offers Grad Track Pathway options in the following disciplines:

Whether you’re aiming for a master’s or a Ph.D., the Grad Track Pathway gives you a head start on your graduate education—right from your undergraduate years.

Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, CASE vice provost and dean, has been selected as the Amir Khosrow Afshar Visiting Fellow for the 2025-26 academic year at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr. victoria braegger, assistant professor of English and technical communication, presented a paper titled, "'Designed for Them': Women and Marginalized Experiences with Video Game Controllers" at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies annual conference. 

Dr. Jessica Cundiff, associate professor of psychological science, was selected as S&T’s 2025 Woman of the Year during a reception at Hasselmann Alumni House in April. 

Dr. Dave Duvernell, chair and professor of biological sciences, received a $15,959 grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation for a project titled, “eDNA Metabarcoding to Support Fish SOCC and Community Projects.”

Dr. Shannon Fogg, chair and professor of history and political science, was selected to participate in the Omaha Regional Institute on Global Approaches to the Holocaust hosted by the University of Nebraska-Omaha Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy and the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University.

Mathew Goldberg, associate teaching professor of English and technical communication, published a collection of short stories in his new book, Night Watch, winner of the 2025 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction.

Dr. Irina Ivliyeva, chair and Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of arts, languages, and philosophy, served as the organizer and moderator of the closing panel, “Effective Teaching Strategies to Support Student Learning: Award-Winning Faculty Perspectives,” at the 4th Innovation in Teaching and Learning Conference held at Missouri S&T on March 13, 2025. Using the National Survey of Student Engagement framework, teaching award winners from S&T and the UM System shared strategies for addressing academic challenges, showcased effective teaching across disciplines and formats, and highlighted high-impact practices that foster student learning. Presentations are available here.

Dr. Ulrich Jentschura, professor of physics, published nine refereed articles in international journals in 2024, including one selected as an Editorial Suggestion in Physical Review D (Particle Physics). He delivered three invited talks at international conferences, with another scheduled at MIT in 2025 to further strengthen academic ties. A new collaboration with the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has already produced a joint publication and holds promise for advancing high-precision atomic theory and exploring potential signatures of new physics through laser spectroscopy of quantum systems.

Dr. Gary Long, professor emeritus of chemistry, was named a 2024 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Simeon Mistakidis, assistant professor of physics, along with postdoc George Bougas and Dr. Garyfallia Katsimiga, assistant teaching professor of physics, published an article in Physical Review Letters titled “Generic Transverse Stability of Kink Structures in Atomic and Optical Nonlinear Media with Competing Attractive and Repulsive Interactions.” The study reveals, for the first time, the remarkable stability of topological kink (domain-wall) configurations in nonlinear systems relevant to quantum optics and cold atom simulators. 

Mistakidis also co-authored an article titled “Interaction Imbalanced Spin-Orbit Coupled Quantum Droplets” in Physics Letters A, in collaboration with colleagues from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Mistakidis was also named an Outstanding Reviewer by Physica Scripta (IOP Publishing). He has been invited to organize two focused sessions, “Dispersive Hydrodynamics: Theory and Applications,” at the AMS Spring Central Meeting (March 29–30, 2025, University of Kansas). 

Dr. Kathy Northcut, professor of English and technical communication, successfully completed a multi-week assignment to North South University (NSU) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she led grant-writing workshops in February and March. Northcut's Fulbright Specialist award, combined with resources from the Office of Research at NSU, provided the resources for her to take up residency at North South University for almost six weeks. While there, she presented tailored research proposal workshops to all four of the schools at the University. She also served as a consultant for faculty, staff, and students. In addition, she presented a talk for students about her current research into workplace design, hosted by the Office of External Affairs. Northcut is available to anyone who wishes to know more about collaboration opportunities with North South University, Fulbright opportunities, grant-writing, or working in Dhaka, by emailing her at northcut@mst.edu.  

Photo caption below: Northcut gives participants time to complete a task during a grant-writing workshop at North South University.

Dr. Vahe Permzadian, assistant professor of psychological science, presented a talk titled “The Effect of Assessment Format on Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis” at Missouri S&T’s Innovation in Teaching and Learning Conference on March 13.

Dr. Thomas Schuman, professor of chemistry, and Dr. Baojun Bai, professor of petroleum engineering, were issued a new patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a project titled “Re-Crosslinkable Particle For Conformance Control and Temporary Plugging.” (US Patent 12,247,156).

Dr. Kathleen Sheppard, professor of history and political science, gave a paper on April 25th at the American Research Center in Egypt's Annual Meeting, in San Francisco. It was titled "The Guest List: Archival Sources and What They Can’t Tell Us." As the National Chapter Council Vice President, she organized the Graduate Student Prize fundraiser, a workshop where attendees carved their own stone cylinder seals.

Dr. Agnes Vojta, teaching professor of physics, was selected as the featured poet for this year's edition of the Cave Region Review, published by North Arkansas College. The current issue contains thirteen of her poems and a biographical essay.

Dr. Dave Westenberg, Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professor of biological sciences, was invited to give a presentation at the Gottinger Mikrobiologie-Symposium on April 11, 2025. The presentation on Engineering with Biology took place at the Georg-August University in Gottingen, German. The symposium celebrated the 90th birthday of Professor Gerhard Gottschalk with whom Dave served as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow for two years.

The following faculty members received seed grants for arts, humanities, social and behavioral sciences:

The following faculty members received the Kummer Missouri S&T Ignition Grant Initiative (IGI) grants in this cycle:

Disclaimer: CASE does not endorse the viewpoints presented in the essays featured in this section of the newsletter. We share these essays purely as "food for thought" and encourage our informed audience to independently evaluate and form their own opinions on the topics discussed.

College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri S&T Rolla, MO 65409
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