Luther Adams – Free Man of Color

Associate Professor, Ethnic, Gender, and Labor Studies

Research area: Black history and culture

Luther Adams – Free Man of Color is both a student and teacher of Black history and culture, his work brings the interdisciplinary study of urban, southern, labor and religious history together to understand Black culture and life. He mentors and graduates students, shares his work and expertise publicly at conferences, schools, churches, theaters, prisons & libraries, and with local & national media. He is an Associate Professor of Ethnic, Gender, and Labor Studies at the University of Washington in Tacoma.

Adam’s research is on police brutality, African American migration and religion, urban history, and Black culture. His work began with Black history in Kentucky and expanded to encompass Black history and life broadly across space and time. He thinks, speaks, and writes about Black history and culture. He is the author of Way Up North in Louisville: African American Migration in the Urban South, 1930-1970. He is writing NO JUSTICE NO PEACE, a history of African Americans’ struggles with and against police brutality.

Avanti Adhia

Assistant Professor, Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing

Research area: Interpersonal violence prevention

Dr. Avanti Adhia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology. The goal of her research is to prevent interpersonal violence by (1) understanding its causes and consequences and (2) evaluating the role of laws, policies and interventions in reducing violence. Dr. Adhia uses multiple, interdisciplinary methods to examine the social and structural determinants of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. She partners with communities to conduct research that promotes well-being and population health.

Hala Annabi

Associate Professor, Information School

Research area: Employment for neurodivergent individuals

Dr. Hala Annabi is an Associate Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on creating and maintaining inclusive learning organizations. Dr. Annabi investigates diversity and inclusion interventions in the technology industry aimed at retaining and advancing women, as well as recruiting, retaining, and advancing individuals with autism. Dr. Annabi earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Management Information Systems and an MBA from Le Moyne College. She earned a Ph.D. in Information Science and Technology from The Information School at Syracuse University in 2005.

Jonathan Bakker

Professor, Environmental and Forest Sciences

Research area: Restoration and management of terrestrial ecosystems

Jon Bakker is an ecologist who asks both basic and applied questions about the restoration and management of terrestrial ecosystems. His work touches on a variety of biomes—prairies, savannahs, forests—and starts with the premise that humans have the opportunity play an integral, positive role in these ecosystems. To that end, he looks at the ways that different factors, such as climate change or disturbance, influence how plant species coexist with each other in different communities. He also works to develop quantitative tools that can be adapted to the specific needs of particular projects on a case-by-case basis.

Joan Casey

Associate Professor, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences

Research area: Climate-related environmental challenges and social determinants of health

Joan A. Casey received her doctoral degree from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2014. Dr. Casey is an environmental epidemiologist who focuses on environmental health, environmental justice, and sustainability. Her research uses large secondary health datasets, such as electronic health records, to study the relationship between emerging environmental exposures and population health across the lifecourse. She also considers vulnerable populations, joint social and environmental exposures, and health disparities, particularly in an era of climate change. Dr. Casey investigates a range of exposures including wildfires, power outages, ambient temperature, the built environment, fossil fuel infrastructure, and concentrated animal feeding operations.

From 2014-2016, Dr. Casey was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar, and from 2019-2022, she was the co-chair of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology North American chapter. She also serves as an editorial board review member for Environmental Health Perspectives. Dr. Casey also holds a BS in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University and an MA in Applied Physiology from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Isabelle Cohen

Assistant Professor, Evans School of Public Policy and Governance

Research area: Institutional capacity constraints in developing countries and novel program implementation

Isabelle Cohen joined the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance in 2021. Her work focuses on institutional capacity constraints in developing countries, including taxation under low enforcement capacity, digital identification, and gender norms (particularly child marriage). Much of her research uses large-scale randomized control trials, with ongoing projects in countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Uganda. She is an affiliate at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at UW and the Center for Effective Global Action at UC Berkeley, as well as an invited researcher at J-PAL Africa’s Digital Identification and Finance initiative.

Isabelle holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.P.P. from the College of William & Mary, and a B.A. in International Relations from the College of William & Mary. Prior to beginning her doctorate, Isabelle worked as a Research Manager at the Centre for Microfinance at IFMR Lead in Tamil Nadu, India.

Ipsita Dey

Assistant Professor, Comparative History of Ideas

Research area: Indo-Fijian history and culture

Ipsita Dey is an Assistant Professor in the Comparative History of Ideas Department at the University of Washington, and an affiliate of both the South Asia Center and the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Studies from Princeton University. Her work sits at the intersection of environmental anthropology, religion, diaspora, and post/plantation studies, with fieldwork grounded in the Pacific Islands.

Her current book project follows Indo-Fijian farmers in Fiji’s Sigatoka Valley, where histories of indenture, ecological transformation, and political marginalization continue to shape everyday life. Through labor, ritual, and inherited memory, these communities negotiate complex claims to land and belonging. More broadly, her research asks how people live in—and with—landscapes shaped by both violence and care. She writes on oceanic epistemologies, sacred ecologies, and the affective textures of environmental precarity. Her work has appeared in American Ethnologist Online, Environment and Society, and other public scholarship venues.

At UW, she teaches courses on plantation legacies, more-than-human relations, environmental justice, and embodiment and memory. Across her teaching, writing, and mentorship, she remains committed to interdisciplinary learning, grounded fieldwork, and public-facing scholarship.

Sami Dogan

Associate Professor, Restorative Dentistry

Research area: Tooth repair and remineralization

Dr. Sami Dogan is a dentist, prosthodontist, and Associate Professor of restorative dentistry at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. He cares for patients in the faculty practice and teaches future dentists in both classroom and clinic, with a focus on helping people keep their natural teeth healthy, comfortable, and functional throughout life.

His clinical and research work centers on “biomimetic” tooth repair: nature-inspired, peptide-guided approaches that help rebuild weakened enamel and dentin, reduce tooth sensitivity, prevent cavities, and support whitening without damaging tooth structure. Working with engineers, industry partners, and UW innovation programs, he helps develop and test new remineralizing technologies, including peptide-based treatments designed for everyday oral care.

Dr. Dogan is committed to making dental research accessible and useful to the public through teaching, continuing education, and community outreach with underserved communities. Through webinars, professional courses, and collaborations with community clinics and residency programs, he works to translate complex dental science into clear, practical guidance that supports better oral health and more equitable access to preventive care.

Ed Habtour

Assistant Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics

Research area: Socially and environmentally responsible robots, aircraft, and space systems

Ed Habtour is an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Ed is the founder of the Illimited Lab at the University of Washington. The Illimited LAB focuses on revealing, understanding, and emulating the multi-functions of the specialized geometries in structural patterns found in nature, responsible for their remarkable sensing, maneuvering, adapting, and control. This knowledge is advancing the fundamentals of nonlinear dynamics and multifunctional structures to design energy and material efficient designs rivaling biology, such as sensing without sensors and damping without dampers. Before joining UW, Ed held technical positions in Swales Aerospace, Northrup Grumman, US Army Research Lab, and Sandia National Labs. Ed serves as a guest editor and associate editor and sits on multiple national committees. He received several awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER, US Air Force Faculty Fellowship, Distinguished Educator Award, and US Army Commander’s Medal.

Max Halvorson

Research Scientist, Social Development Research Group

Research area: Behavioral health in NHPI and Asian American youth

Max Halvorson is a Research Scientist with the Social Development Research Group in the University of Washington’s School of Social Work. Dr. Halvorson is a multiracial Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) Licensed Clinical Psychologist whose research identifies risk and protective factors for later substance use and mental health problems among youth and young adults and informs preventive interventions.

Dr. Halvorson’s work centers identity as a key determinant of mental health. Dr. Halvorson recently led a state-funded project examining opportunity gaps experienced by Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth in Washington’s public schools. This community-engaged project centered youth, educator, and community voice in developing recommendations to enhance youth belonging, educator representation, and a variety of pathways to success. The findings of this report will drive policy and have been shared with state legislators, education leaders, and mental health leaders.

Dr. Halvorson’s work has been funded by NIAAA, NIDA, NIMH, and NIA and has examined various risky behaviors including alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use, as well as suicidal behavior. He currently serves as an investigator on a nationwide collaboration to harmonize data from 29 prevention trials of 16 distinct interventions to determine the overall impact of prevention programs on suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Shih-Chieh Hsu

Professor, Physics

Research area: Real-time artificial intelligence and particle physics

Professor Hsu received his Ph.D. degree (2003-2008) from the University of California San Diego after he earned a bachelor degree (1995-1999) and a master degree (2000) in National Taiwan University, all in Physics. He worked as a Chamberlain Fellow (2008–2012) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and joined the faculty at the University of Washington in Fall 2012.

As a Chamberlain Fellow, Hsu led the development and commissioning of ATLAS Pixel DAQ software in particular the Read Out Drive Digital Signal Processing, pioneered in the Inner Detector tracking alignment and played significant role on muon performance studies in both proton-proton and heavy ion collision. He led the first measurement of ZZ production and search of ZZ resonance at high mass. Hsu served as the Standard Model Electroweak co-convener and diboson contacts in the LHC Electroweak Working Group since 2011.

Professor Hsu continues the investigations of electroweak symmetry breaking by measuring the properties of 126 GeV particle discovered in July 2012 at LHC and the search of physics beyond the Standard Model by studying vector boson scattering at TeV energy scale with boosted jet substructure techniques.

Lakshman Krishna Moorthy

Assistant Teaching Professor, Business

Research area: Corporate governance after fraud settlements

Krishna Moorthy’s research interests are in the areas of fraud in government contracts, securities class action litigation, auditor litigation, penalties imposed on auditors, bankruptcy, executive turnover and executive compensation. He has taught at Michigan State University Rutgers University, Syracuse University, Tulane University and University of Minnesota, where he received his doctorate in Financial Accounting (Carlson School of Business). Krishna Moorthy received the 15th Glen McLaughlin prize for research in accounting ethics bestowed by the John T. Steed School of Accounting at the University of Oklahoma.

David Marcinek

Professor, Radiology and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

Adjunct Professor, Bioengineering

Research area: Mitochondrial dysfunction in aging heart and skeletal muscle

David Marcinek received his Ph.D. from Stanford University studying muscle metabolism and evolutionary biology. He has spent the last 25 years at the UW studying how mitochondria contribute to aging and disease. During his postdoc at the UW he worked with Kevin Conley to develop in vivo spectroscopy approaches for studying mitochondrial function in vivo in human and laboratory animals. Since then, work in Dr. Marcinek’s lab has focused on integrating genetic, pharmacological, and biochemical approaches to dissect mitochondrial biochemistry and physiology at multiple levels of biological organization from isolated organelles to organismal physiology. His goal is to bridge the gap between basic biology studies and translational work in humans to improve healthy aging and function in older adults. These efforts include conducting clinical trials to test new mitochondrial targeting strategies to reverse age-related deficits and improve muscle function and quality of life in patients. In addition to his research program, Dr. Marcinek is also co-director of the UW Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology Aging and the Biological Mechanisms of Healthy Aging Training Grant.

Stipica Mudrazija

Assistant Professor, Health Services and Population Health

Research area: Older adult health and implications of population aging for public finance

Stipica Mudrazija is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington and a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute. He studies issues related to population aging, intergenerational support, and the health and well-being of older adults in the United States and internationally, and he is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, other federal agencies, and major foundations and philanthropic organizations. It has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes and featured in media outlets including CNBC, the Daily Mail, The Economist, Forbes, Reuters, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Before joining the University of Washington, Mudrazija was a principal research associate at the Urban Institute and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the University of Southern California. He also worked as a junior analyst in the research department of the Croatian National Bank; and a trainee in the social protection unit of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion.

Mandy Owens

Assistant Professor, Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute; Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Research area: Substance use and the criminal legal system

Mandy Owens, PhD is an assistant professor at the Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute under the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her work focuses on the intersection of substance use and the criminal legal system. Dr. Owens leads the Community-Law Enforcement Aligning in Response to Substance use (CLEARS) Project, which has been legislatively funded since 2022 and worked in 9 WA State Counties. She also has developed evidence-based trainings on substance use and interacting with people who use drugs for firefighters, law enforcement officers, and co-responders in partnership with BHCORE at the University of Washington. Dr. Owens is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of substance use disorders and sees patients at the University of Washington Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic.

John Palmore

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Research area: Aerospace propulsion

Dr. John Palmore Jr leads the Combustion, Atomization, Multiphase, & Particulate Physics Research & Education (CAMP-PhyRE) group at the University of Washington. CAMP-PhyRE studies a wide range of problems in the energy and the environment sectors. The unifying thread of the research is a focus on multiphase flows, i.e., fluid flows of bubbles, droplets, and particles in a carrier fluid. CAMP-PhyRE deploys a wide range of strategies to study multiphase flows including mathematical analysis, an in-house high fidelity numerical solver, commercial computational fluid dynamics packages, and open-source machine learning tools. CAMP-PhyRE currently has open projects in spray & droplet combustion for aviation engines, environmental dust & ice particle ingestion in aviation engines, and hydroacoustic methods for invasive fish species deterrence.

Chantel Prat

Professor, Psychology

Research area: Individual differences in neuroscience

Chantel Prat’s interdisciplinary research investigates how variable aspects of brain design combine with different experiences to shape the unique way each person learns, understands the world, and operates in it. Her current research at the Cognition and Cortical Dynamics Laboratory employs the combination of functional neuroimaging (fMRI), Electroencephalography, (EEG), and behavioral paradigms to investigates the nature of individual differences in symbolic skill learning such as reading, second language acquisition, and computer programming. She is also working on applications of this research for personalized education technologies and techniques. Dr. Prat is the recipient of a Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Health, speaks internationally at events like the World Science Festival, and has appeared in a number of media outlets including PBS, Scientific American, Rolling Stone, Popular Mechanics, and Travel + Leisure.

Sean Rundell

Associate Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine

Research area: Musculoskeletal conditions

Sean Rundell is a physical therapist, epidemiologist, and Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. Dr. Rundell conducts epidemiologic and health services research on musculoskeletal conditions, with a focus on low back pain and chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions in older adults. His overall research goal is to enhance our understanding of spine conditions and back-related disability in older adults to improve the delivery and quality of health care for this population. Dr. Rundell’s research activities have been funded by foundations, the National Institutes of Health, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. He is a part of the University of Washington (UW) Clinical Learning, Evidence and Research (CLEAR) Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders and has been involved in national guidelines for low back pain.

Amber Sabbatini

Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine

Research area: Health care financing and delivery reforms

Dr. Sabbatini is a physician, health policy researcher, and systems scientist whose work focuses on how payment and delivery reforms—particularly in Medicare and Medicaid—impact hospital care, access, and quality for underserved populations. As an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, she leads a portfolio of federally and foundation-funded studies that leverage large-scale claims and administrative data to evaluate how policies shape healthcare use, spending, and outcomes.

Dr. Sabbatini is a recognized institutional expert in Medicaid policy and access research. She has served as Principal Investigator on two NIH-funded studies from the National Institute of Mental Health examining how state Medicaid policies influence access to care and resource use.

Her current work explores how community health centers deliver value to Medicaid programs through behavioral health integration and how state policies enable or constrain the delivery of behavioral health services in these safety-net settings. She is also actively involved as a co-investigator or mentor on multiple other Medicaid-focused studies, examining topics such as the adequacy of Medicaid specialist networks for asthma, access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder, and the generosity of state home and community-based services for dual-eligible individuals.

Kate Simonen

Professor, Architecture

Research area: Environmental impact of building materials and construction

Kathrina (Kate) Simonen is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington, founder and board chair of the nonprofit Carbon Leadership Forum and leader of the Life Cycle Lab. Licensed as an architect and structural engineer, she connects significant professional experience in high performance building design and technical expertise in environmental life cycle assessment working to accelerate the transformation of the building sector to radically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions attributed to materials (also known as embodied carbon) used in buildings and infrastructure.

She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, an honorary fellow of the UK’s Institution of Structural Engineers and was named Engineering News Record Top 25 Newsmaker in 2020 for her impact rallying industry to reduce embodied carbon. Taking an entrepreneurial approach to academic work, she helped launch two impactful nonprofits, CLF and Building Transparency; spurred the formation of two embodied carbon commitment programs, SE2050 and MEP 2040; and develops and sustains networks of individuals and organizations working together to harmonize and optimize embodied carbon actions.