Faculty Experts

At UB, you'll find world-class research faculty to collaborate and learn with. Explore our faculty who are advancing the research landscape as experts in their fields.

The College faculty members listed on this page are identified by University Communications as indiviudals who provide expert opinions and analysis on topics in the news.  

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Arts and Humanities

Cecil Foster.

Cecil Foster

Africana and American Studies

Canadian studies; multiculturalism, politics, race, ethnicity and immigration in Canada
 

Donald A. Grinde Jr.

Donald A. Grinde Jr.

Africana and American Studies

Native American studies,
Native American thought, Haudenosaunee/Iroquois history, U.S. Indian Policy since 1871, American Indian activism

Lillian S. Williams.

Lillian S. Williams

Africana and American Studies

U.S. social and urban history; African American history in the U.S. and Western New York; women’s history
 

Rinaldo Walcott.

Rinaldo Walcott

Africana and American Studies

Black diaspora cultural and postcolonial studies, Canadian studies, queer theory, and gender studies
 

Joan Linder.

Joan Linder

Art

Drawing, consumption and mass production, mundane objects, modern life, Love Canal and other toxic sites, environmental art, feminist art, power, public art


Elizabeth "Libby" Otto.

Elizabeth "Libby" Otto

Modern and Contemporary Art History

The Bauhaus, history of photography, European and American Art, visual culture, theories of montage, gender issues, art and religion

Carine Mardorossian.

Carine Mardorossian

English, Global Gender and Sexuality Studies

Medical humanities, death and dying, feminism, sexism, sexual violence, Caribbean literature



Elizabeth Mazzolini.

Elizabeth Mazzolini

English

Mountaineering deaths, climbing technology, consumerism, material culture, garbage, culture of waste



David Schmid.

David Schmid

English

Popular culture, cultural studies, celebrity, crime, manhood, the monstrous, contemporary British and American fiction, American literary and cultural treatments of the city

Yige Dong.

Yige Dong

Sociology, Global Gender and Sexuality Studies

Labor, work, gender and political economy, especially in China; labor and feminist movements in China and in a global context

Gwynn Thomas.

Gwynn Thomas

Global Gender and Sexuality Studies

Gender and politics; feminism; global women’s movements, including #MeToo; politics in Latin America
 

Jenifer Barclay.

Jenifer Barclay

History

Disability history; disability, race, gender, class and sexuality; intersectionality; ableism; African American history; history of slavery, emancipation and the U.S. Civil War

Susan K. Cahn.

Susan K. Cahn

History

Gender and sexuality in sports, homophobia in sports, women’s history, feminist theory, history of chronic illness, history of mental illness

 

Carole Emberton.

Carole Emberton

History

Civil War era, Confederate flag and monuments, history of race, slavery, Southern history, racial violence
 
 
 

David Herzberg.

David Herzberg

History

Opioid epidemic; history of prescription drugs, street drugs and psychoactives; drug policy and wars; drugs and pop culture; addiction; drugs and social inequalities of race and gender 

Yan Liu.

Yan Liu

History

History of Chinese medicine, food and spices; history of epidemics; history of the senses; comparative historical perspectives in medicine

 

Ndubueze L. Mbah.

Ndubueze L. Mbah

History

African history; the Atlantic World; colonialism; gender in West Africa; history of slavery and emancipation; Boko Haram
 

Kristin Stapleton.

Kristin Stapleton

History

Modern China; U.S.-China relations; Chinese cities; history of the family, socialism and humor in China
 

Victoria Wolcott.

Victoria Wolcott

History

Civil rights, African American history, race and cities, urban history, gender, sexuality
 
 

Cody Mejeur.

Cody Mejeur

Media Study

Game studies; trans, queer and feminist studies; narrative; storytelling; social justice and inclusion in video games and new media; games pedagogy

Margaret Rhee.

Margaret Rhee

Media Study

Digital storytelling; participatory art; new media, ethnic, cultural, Asian American, queer and feminist studies
 

Sama Waham.

Sama Waham

Media Study

Filmmaking; cinematography; narrative, documentary, experimental and hybrid films; storytelling
 

David Castillo.

David Castillo

Romance Languages and Literatures

Early modern culture, Baroque literature, horror and fantasy, new media and culture, AI and the humanities

Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Victor Albert.

Victor Albert

Biological Sciences

Plant evolutionary biology; evolution of carnivorous plants; genomes of Amborella, avocado, birch, coffee and gardenia; comparative genomics; junk DNA

Derek Daniels.

Derek Daniels

Biological Sciences

Science of thirst; science of food, water and salt intake; ingestive/eating behaviors


 

Omer Gokcumen.

Omer Gokcumen

Biological Sciences

Human and primate evolution, ancient humans (including Neanderthals and Denisovans), anthropological genomics


Shermali Gunawardena.

Shermali Gunawardena

Biological Sciences

Neurons, axonal transport, biology of neurodegenerative diseases


Trevor Krabbenhoft.

Trevor Krabbenhoft

Biological Sciences

Fish ecology (especially in rivers and lakes), genomics, evolutionary biology, invasive species, climate change, Great Lakes

Charlotte Lindqvist.

Charlotte Lindqvist

Biological Sciences

Evolutionary biology, evolution of polar bears, hybridization of polar bears and brown bears, genomics
 

Vincent Lynch.

Vincent Lynch

Biological Sciences

Evolutionary developmental biology; genetics; genomics; mammoths; evolution of mammalian pregnancy and cancer

Laura Rusche.

Laura Rusche

Biological Sciences

Yeast, genomics, genetics, gene expression, chromosomes, DNA, RNA, chromatin, sirtuins
 
 

Zhen Wang.

Zhen Wang

Biological Sciences

Plant natural products, medicinal plants, synthetic biology, metabolic engineering


 
 

Diana Aga.

Diana Aga

Chemistry

Chemicals of emerging concern; industrial pollution; wastewater treatment; environmental impact of "forever chemicals" (PFAS, PCBs, PBDEs, pesticides, etc.); environmental antibiotic resistance; Great Lakes pollution

Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen.

Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen

Chemistry

Chemical biology, lipids, cellular aging, cellular senescence, cell death (apoptosis and necroptosis), omics approaches to research

 

Jason Benedict.

Jason Benedict

Chemistry

Chemistry, chemical reactions, chemical crystallography, photochemistry, nanomaterials, synchrotron light sources, science of snowflakes

 

Luis A. Colón.

Luis A. Colón

Chemistry

Analytical chemistry, separation science, liquid chromatography, diversity in STEM, mentoring students of color

 

Timothy Cook.

Timothy Cook

Chemistry

Molecular self-assembly, photochemistry, fluorescence, phosphorescence, batteries, alternative energy
 
 

Joseph A. Gardella, Jr.

Joseph A. Gardella, Jr.

Chemistry

Surface and analytical chemistry; Environmental chemistry and public policy; Surface chemistry of polymer controlled release technologies; Polymer reaction kinetics

Y. Chris Li.

Y. Chris Li

Chemistry

Electrochemistry, waste conversion, transforming greenhouse gases into useful products, chemistry of CO2, plastics

Eva Zurek.

Eva Zurek

Chemistry

Superconductors, high-pressure chemistry, crystals, materials science, materials discovery, computational chemistry
 

Nichol Castro.

Nichol Castro

Communicative Disorders and Sciences

Speech, language and memory; word retrieval; anomia, including in aphasia, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia

Richard J. Salvi.

Richard J. Salvi

Communicative Disorders and Sciences

Tinnitus, hearing, noise-induced hearing loss, hyperacusis, central auditory system
 

Jason Briner.

Jason Briner

Earth Sciences

Climate change, sea level rise, glaciers, ice sheets, Greenland Ice Sheet, Arctic environmental change
 

Beata Csatho.

Beata Csatho

Earth Sciences

Climate change, sea level rise, Greenland Ice Sheet, Antarctic ice loss, glaciers, using satellite data and laser altimetry to measure the Earth

Nick DiFrancesco.

Nick DiFrancesco

Earth Sciences

Rocks and minerals, the geology of Mars and the Moon, lava flows, science education and outreach
 

Tracy K. P. Gregg.

Tracy K. P. Gregg

Earth Sciences

Volcanology, volcanoes on Mars and Venus, the search for water on Mars, volcanism on the moon, deep-sea eruptions, basaltic lava flows

Sophie Nowicki.

Sophie Nowicki

Earth Sciences

Climate change, ice sheet modeling, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, glaciers, sea level rise
 

Kristin Poinar.

Kristin Poinar

Earth Sciences

Climate change, Greenland Ice Sheet, ice sheet modeling, sea level rise, Antarctica, Great Lakes ice cover

Elizabeth K. Thomas.

Elizabeth K. Thomas

Earth Sciences

Climate change, Arctic ice sheets, precipitation, lake effect snow, sea level rise, monsoons

 

Greg A. Valentine.

Greg A. Valentine

Earth Sciences

Volcanoes, volcanic eruptions, disaster preparedness, supervolcanoes, volcanoes in the western U.S.

Gino Biondini.

Gino Biondini

Mathematics

Mathematical properties of waves, solitons, applied mathematics, mathematical physics, general questions about mathematics

Sarah Muldoon.

Sarah Muldoon

Mathematics

Brain activity, brain networks, network neuroscience

 
 
 

Priya R. Banerjee.

Priya R. Banerjee

Physics

Intrinsically disordered proteins, protein droplets, membrane-less organelles, single-molecule biophysics

 

John Cerne.

John Cerne

Physics

Physics in everyday life, condensed matter physics, high-temperature superconductors, graphene, optics

 

Sambandamurthy Ganapathy.

Sambandamurthy Ganapathy

Physics

Condensed matter physics, quantum physics, superconductors, semiconductors

Ia Iashvili.

Ia Iashvili

Physics

Higgs boson search, particle detectors, search for supersymmetric particles

 

Avto Kharchilava.

Avto Kharchilava

Physics

Higgs boson search, particle detectors, phenomena beyond the Standard Model

 

William H. Kinney.

William H. Kinney

Physics

Astronomy, cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmic microwave background, dark matter, dark energy, solar eclipses, public outreach in science

Andrea Markelz.

Andrea Markelz

Physics

Higgs boson search, particle detectors, search for supersymmetric particles

 

Salvatore Rappoccio.

Salvatore Rappoccio

Physics

Particle physics, particle detectors


 

Surajit Sen.

Surajit Sen

Physics

Wave behavior, granular systems, quasi-equilibrium, nonequilibrium and chaotic phenomena, collisions, shock mitigation, sociophysics

Dejan Stojkovic.

Dejan Stojkovic

Physics

Cosmology, gravity, black holes, particle physics, exotic physics, origins of the universe, extra dimensions
 

Hao Zeng.

Hao Zeng

Physics

Magnetism, spintronics, nanomaterials, materials science, materials for solar energy harvesting
 

Salvatore Rappoccio.

Shira Gabriel

Psychology

Social psychology, social connections, sense of self, the need to belong, comfort food


 

Jamie Ostrov.

Jamie Ostrov

Psychology

Subtypes of aggression and victimization, developmental psychopathology, media effects on children, peer relationships, applied developmental psychology

Lora Park.

Lora Park

Psychology

Self, self-esteem, motivation, interpersonal processes


 
 

Peter Pfordresher.

Peter Pfordresher

Psychology

Singing accuracy, relationship between music and language, cognitive bases of music performance, psychology of music

Michael J. Poulin.

Michael J. Poulin

Psychology

Empathy, human generosity, stress, caregiving

 

Mark Seery.

Mark Seery

Psychology

Stress and coping; the self; motivation; psychophisiology

 

Ann-Marie Torregrossa.

Ann-Marie Torregrossa

Psychology

Taste science, feeding, food choice, bitterness
 

Wendy Quinton.

Wendy Quinton

Psychology

Prejudice, discrimination, stigma, social identity, student adjustment and success, international students

Social Sciences

Stephanie Poindexter.

Stephanie A. Poindexter

Anthropology

Biological anthropology, primate evolution, primate conservation,  slow lorises
 

Phillips Stevens Jr.

Phillips Stevens Jr.

Anthropology

Cultural anthropology, religion, spiritualism, cults, superstition, witchcraft, zombies, vampires, curses, rites of passage, populism, nativism, xenophobia

Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel.

Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel

Anthropology

Human and primate evolution; human skeleton; morphological evolution; biological anthropology

Melanie Green.

Melanie Green

Communication

Persuasion, power of narrative, storytelling, online friendships, trust and deception online
 
 

Lindsay Hahn.

Lindsay Hahn

Communication

Media psychology, morality, media effects, children and media, media and radicalization


 
 

Yotam Ophir.

Yotam Ophir

Communication

Misinformation; persuasion; effect of media content on audiences, including in health, science, politics and terrorism

 
 

Hua (Helen) Wang.

Hua (Helen) Wang

Communication

Communication strategies for health promotion and social change; entertainment-education; communication technology; social networks; digital media literacy; health interventions

Janet Yang.

Janet Yang

Communication

Science, health, environmental and risk communication


 
 
 

Yini Zhang.

Yini Zhang

Communication

Social media, political communication, misinformation, online activism, impact of social media on journalism and democracy

 

Joanne Song McLaughlin.

Joanne Song McLaughlin

Economics

Labor economics; health insurance mandates; age discrimination; older workers; AI and the future of work

Susan Spierre Clark.

Susan Spierre Clark

Environment and Sustainability

Climate change and sustainable development; resilient infrastructure; power outages due to extreme events; sustainability education; community resilience

Howard Lasker.

Howard Lasker

Environment and Sustainability

Coral reefs; coral bleaching; climate change and oceans


 
 

Adam Rome.

Adam Rome

Environment and Sustainability

Environmental movement in the U.S., environmental history, Earth Day, sustainable business, suburban sprawl
 

Barbara Wejnert.

Barbara Wejnert

Environment and Sustainability

Democracy since 1800, democratic transitions and sustainability, Eastern European politics, democracy and inequality in a globalized world

Jared Aldstadt.

Jared Aldstadt

Geography

Zika virus, dengue fever, chikungunya, mosquito-borne illness, disease transmission, epidemiology
 
 

Abigail Cooke.

Abigail Cooke

Geography

Economic impact of immigration; economic impact of international trade; urban economies; international trade

 

Stuart M. Evans.

Stuart M. Evans

Geography

Climate change, dust and dust storms, weather, atmospheric science, precipitation, monsoons, lake effect snow

Trina Hamilton.

Trina Hamilton

Geography

Corporate responsibility, social and environmental activism, diamond trade, gentrification
 

Yingjie Hu.

Yingjie Hu

Geography

GIScience, spatial analysis, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining, big data

Peter A. Rogerson.

Peter A. Rogerson

Geography

Dynamic migration modeling; Demographic forecasting; Mathematical modeling
 

Marion Werner.

Marion Werner

Geography

Global trade; agriculture, food, labor rights and trade; agri-business; development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Eun-Hye “Enki” Yoo.

Eun-Hye “Enki” Yoo

Geography

GIScience, human mobility, spatial statistics (including in relation to public health, air pollution and the environment)

Jeff Good.

Jeff Good

Linguistics

Morphology, syntax, evolution of languages, endangered languages, language documentation, multilingualism

Ryan Muldoon.

Ryan Muldoon

Philosophy

Social and political philosophy, diversity, international development policy, social norms, behavior change, ethics

James Campbell.

James Campbell

Political Science

U.S. politics; political parties, polarization and participation; campaigns, public opinion, congressional elections, election forecasting, elections and the economy, presidential approval, electoral systems

James Coleman Battista.

James Coleman Battista

Political Science

National, state and legislative politics; formal modeling; quantatative methods



Shawn J. Donahue.

Shawn J. Donahue

Political Science

Voting rights, redistricting, gerrymandering, state and local politics (including New York State and Buffalo-area politics), campaigns, elections, civil liberties, Constitutional law, election law

Timothy Hellwig.

Timothy Hellwig

Political Science

Politics of European nations, the European Union, immigration and trade in Europe, the US, and globally, public support for presidents and governments around the world
 

Carla Martínez Machain.

Carla Martínez Machain

Political Science

International conflict, US military deployments and basing, great power competition, foreign military training, foreign military aid, civil-military relations, and aerial bombing

Jacob Neiheisel.

Jacob Neiheisel

Political Science

Political communication, campaigns, electoral strategy, religion and politics, the U.S. Christian right, voter turnout, voting rights, election administration, electoral reforms, the U.S. presidency

Antoine Yoshinaka.

Antoine Yoshinaka

Political Science

American politics, U.S. political parties, polarization, party switching, legislatures, political lobbying, redistricting

 
 

Robert Adelman.

Robert Adelman

Sociology

Urban sociology, segregation, race, immigration, U.S. Census



 
 

Erin Hatton.

Erin Hatton

Sociology

Labor movements, gig economy, job security, coerced labor, pay for college athletes, minimum wage, workfare