New Faculty - East College

Joni Adamson
Associate Professor, Humanities and Arts Program

Dr. Joni Adamson earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Arizona . Before coming to Arizona State University, Dr. Adamson developed and headed the English program at the University of Arizona's south campus. She is author of American Indian Literature, Environmental Justice, and Ecocriticism: The Middle Place and coeditor of The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy. Her essays have appeared in Globalism on the Line: Nation and Ethnicity in a Global Context, Reading the Earth: New Directions in the Study of Literature and the Environment, and Studies in American Indian Literatures. In 2004, she organized the Symposium on Globalization and the Environmental Justice Movement sponsored by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. She was a member of the Federal Facilities Working Group of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, which advises the United States Environmental Protection Agency from 2003-2005. The working group visited environmentally impacted communities throughout America and authored Environmental Justice and Federal Facilities: Recommendations for Improving Stakeholder Relations between Federal Facilities and Environmental Justice Communities . In 2006, Dr. Adamson joined the faculty of Humanities and Arts at the Polytechnic campus to teach in the new Literature, Writing and Film program. She offers courses in American Literature, Native American Literatures, Southwest American Literature, and Literature and the Environment.

Barbara Ainsworth
Professor, Department of Exercise and Wellness

Dr. Ainsworth's research relates to physical activity and public health and focuses on the assessment of physical activity in populations, evaluation of physical activity questionnaires, and identification of neighborhood environmental supports for physical activity. She teaches courses on grant writing, physical activity and public health, physical activity and nutritional epidemiology. Dr. Ainsworth is best known as the lead author for the Compendium of Physical Activities, an exhaustive list of the energy cost of human physical activities. She is a core member of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) development and evaluation team, Healthy People 2020 physical activity assessment working group, and serves as the translation coordinator for the questionnaires that reside on the IPAQ website ( www.ipaq.ki.se ). Dr. Ainsworth is a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Scientific Advisory Committee and serves on the Editorial Board for the journals, Physical Activity and Health, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, and Journal of Physical Activity and Aging . Dr. Ainsworth has lectured in many countries and holds honorary academic appointments at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. She is a fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine, Research Consortium of AAHPERD, the North American Society of HPERD Professionals, and is a member of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

Patience Akpan-Obong
Assistant Professor, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Akpan-Obong holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada (2003) and a master in journalism from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada (1996). She did her undergraduate work in mass communication at The Polytechnic Calabar, in Nigeria, before going to the University of Toronto for the Gordon N. Fisher Fellowship in 1994. Dr. Akpan-Obong's teaching and research interests include: global politics, democratization, information and communication technologies in socio-economic development, intersection of globalization and information technology, politics of underdevelopment, and women and technology. Her research in these areas has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals and as book chapters. Prior to her appointment as assistant professor, she also taught courses on globalization and Third World politics while at the University of Alberta. A journalist for several years in Nigeria and Canada, Dr. Akpan-Obong has two unpublished works of fiction and a collection of poems.

Karen L. Bollermann
Assistant Professor, Humanities and Arts Program

Dr. Bollermann earned her Ph.D. in literature from Arizona State University , with an emphasis in Old English literature and a joint J.D./M.B.A. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law and the University of California, Berkeley , Haas School of Business. She currently studies the poetics of variation in Old English poetry, especially Beowulf, in light of both oral theory and micro- and macro-level structuring techniques. Dr. Bollermann is also interested in the cultural and linguistic currency of Anglo-Saxon customs and Old English words from the end of the Anglo-Saxon period into the 17th Century, as well as in women's roles, rhetoric, and sexuality throughout the Middle Ages.

Russell Branaghan
Assistant Professor, Applied Psychology Department

Dr. Branaghan joined Arizona State University after working in industry (for Hewlett-Packard and IBM) and consulting for 15 years, and after teaching human factors in the Master of Product Development Program at Northwestern University . Dr. Branaghan received his Ph.D. from New Mexico State University in 1994. Professor Branaghan's applied research and consulting focuses on cognitive human factors - identifying ways to make products understandable, such as computer programs, instructions, and signs. That is, how do we make things easy to learn, efficient and satisfying to use, and easy to remember? His favorite topics include: small screen and hand held devices; medical devices such as programmers for pacemakers/defibrillators and external defibrillators; aviation design of cockpit displays and controls; technology products including printers, cell phones, and data storage devices; web applications for medical devices, banking, and human resources; and consumer psychology of branding and brand personality.

Qiang (Shawn) Chen
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Biological Science and affiliated with the Biodesign Institute

Dr. Chen obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Arizona in 1992. He was a PMGI and NIH postdoctoral fellow at University of Minnesota , and spent more than ten years in the biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry directing molecular biology and biochemistry research in both plant and mammalian cell culture systems. Prior to joining ASU, he was the director of Division of Protein Chemistry at Cardinal Health. His research focuses on two areas of basic plant biology: gene expression and protein trafficking. His laboratory is interested in how gene expression is controlled in plants at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels as well as to identify and characterize new genetic elements that control gene expression. Another area of interest is to understand the regulation and mechanism of protein posttranslational modification and assembly. The Chen laboratory also applies the knowledge learned in the above basic research area to plant biotechnology, specifically, to express and produce human pharmaceuticals in transgenic plants. Dr. Chen is interested primarily in optimizing the expression and assembly of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and in designing novel mAb fusion proteins to enhance their targeting and efficacy. Another area of research is applied protein chemistry. His laboratory is developing innovative protein purification technologies for purifying human therapeutics from transgenic plants. In his capacity as a key faculty of ASU's Plant Bioengineer Center , he mentors scientists on how to perform protein chemistry under FDA's current Good Manufacture Practice (cGMP) regulations. His articles have appeared in publications such as Plant Physiogy, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Genetics and the Journal of Cell Biology.

Robert C. Kleinsasser
Associate Professor, School of Educational Innovation and Teacher Preparation

Dr. Kleinsasser came to Arizona State University from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia, where he was an applied linguist in a postgraduate program in the Faculty of Arts' School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies. His research interests include second language acquisition and teacher education and his research has appeared in Teaching and Teacher Education An International Journal of Research and Studies, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquee--International Association of Applied Linguistics Review , The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, Babel, Research in Middle Level Education Annual, and Learning Environments Research An International Journal, among others. He received the Distinguished Major Professor Award from the Association of Teacher Educators for the supervision of his first doctoral student and has served as dissertation director for doctoral students from Australia, Japan, Taiwan , Indonesia, Thailand, Oman, and the United States.

Claire Lauer
Assistant Professor, Department of Multimedia and Technical Communication

Dr. Lauer graduated with a Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Composition and the Teaching of English from the University of Arizona in May of 2006. She teaches courses in visual communication, information, technology and culture, and multimedia authoring. She has been honored as a teacher several times, including in 2004 when she received an award for Innovation in Teaching. Dr. Lauer's research interests include investigating the intersections between technology and culture, the construction of identity in American culture, and the communicative practices of multimedia and gaming companies. She has presented her research at many national conferences, including the Conference for College Composition and Communication and the Conference for Computers and Writing. She is currently working on a book that examines the construction of identity in on-line virtual environments.

Chong Lee
Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise and Wellness

Dr. Lee is an exercise epidemiologist and statistician. He earned his doctorate from the University of Houston and went on to complete his postdoctoral training in exercise epidemiology and biostatistics from the Cooper Institute in Dallas, TX (with Dr. Steven Blair). Dr. Lee also received National Institute of Health sponsored postdoctoral training in cardiovascular disease epidemiology from the University of Minnesota (with Dr. Aaron Folsom ). He received a National Research Service Award in 1999. He was a faculty member at West Texas A&M University and the University of Louisville prior to joining Arizona State University . Dr. Lee's research interests include cardiovascular disease and cancer epidemiology. His current research focuses on identifying early atherosclerotic risk factors and lower extremity disease risk factors in the elderly, and prevention of coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. He has served on several editorial boards including Stroke, Journal of Preventive Medicine, and Journal of Physical Activity and Health . He is a member of the American Heart Association, American College of Sports Medicine, and American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

Hans van der Mars
Professor, School of Education Innovation and Teacher Preparation

Dr. van der Mars received his doctoral degree from The Ohio State University (1984). He will join Arizona State University in August of 2007, after working at Oregon State University for the last 15 years. While there he taught in the professional Physical Education Teacher Education licensure program, directed the Sport Pedagogy Laboratory, advised a small cadre of doctoral students, and also served as Graduate Program Coordinator. Prior to his tenure at Oregon State University, he held faculty positions at Arizona State University and the University of Maine, in Orono. He has been an active researcher in Sport Pedagogy and Physical Education Teacher Education for over 20 years. He has co-authored and published over 60 research and professional papers, and book chapters. Dr. van der Mars published works have appeared in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, Adapted Physical Activity, Pediatric Exercise Science, Physical Educator, Strategies, Paleastra, Journal of Sport Pedagogy, and Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport. He is a Fellow in the Research Consortium of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education & Recreation, and was recently inducted as an Active Fellow in the American Academy of Kinesiology & Physical Education. A frequent presenter at international, national regional and state level conferences, Dr. van der Mars also delivers workshops for K-12 teachers in physical education. He co-authored the recently published “Complete Guide to Sport Education” and has served as Co-Editor of the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education . Dr. van der Mars chaired the NASPE Task Force that developed the new NASPE/NCATE Advanced Physical Education Standards for Teachers.

Christopher Sanchez
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Psychology

Dr. Sanchez is originally from Chicago , IL , and completed his undergraduate degree in applied psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2001. He completed his M.A. at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the cognitive psychology program in 2003. Dr. Sanchez completed his Ph.D. entitled, “Dynamic Spatial Ability and Comprehension of Complex Scientific Topics,” in 2006. Dr. Sanchez's research explores the interaction between cognitive abilities and features of the learning environment in an effort to better understand how people learn. For example, he is interested in how spatial and attention abilities influence how people learn about scientific topics, such as volcanic eruptions. He uses this information to determine different ways to present information to learners of different abilities, to optimize their understanding. Dr. Sanchez is also interested in how learners reconcile and integrate spatial information in general, and how this might cause certain pieces (or types) of information to be prioritized when it comes to developing understanding. He believes that cognitive abilities not only dictate what, but also how we learn, and are integral to the process of designing learning environments that maximize all individuals' learning potential. While pursuing these lines of research, he has employed several different methodologies, including think-aloud protocols, standard behavioral paradigms, advanced statistical modeling techniques, and eyetracking.