Harvey Mudd Trustees Approve Spring 2020 Faculty Promotions

Promotions and tenure appointments for Harvey Mudd College faculty were approved by the board of trustees and will become effective July 1, 2020.

Upon discussion and the recommendation of the Academic Affairs Committee, the board unanimously approved the following appointments.

Karl Haushalter received promotion to full professor. Hired in 2003, he researches DNA repair processes to understand the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis, aging and evolution. Haushalter is active in community efforts to combat the stigma associated with HIV-AIDS and support those living with HIV-AIDS through education and empowerment.  The HIV-AIDS: Science, Society, and Service class that he teaches is an integrative experience, service-learning course that addresses both the science of HIV and the ways that the HIV epidemic has impacted communities. His work in this area has applications to the COVID-19 pandemic, a topic he discussed in the April 23 Mudd Talks virtual presentation with epidemiologist Nadia Abuelezam ’09.

Kash Gokli was granted tenure and awarded the Oliver C. Field Professorship of Manufacturing and Engineering Economics. He has more than 30 years’ experience in manufacturing, engineering, product development, quality management and process improvement. Gokli previously served as senior vice president of total quality management and vice president of manufacturing for Amano USA Holdings and Amano Cincinnati, Inc. Since arriving at Harvey Mudd, he has mentored teams for case competitions sponsored by the Association for Supply Chain Management. In 2017, the Harvey Mudd team came in first in the west coast competition, in 2018 an HMC team came in third in the global competition, and, in 2019, an HMC team became the global champions.

Tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor

Albert Dato (engineering) researches the synthesis and applications of nanomaterials.
Matina Donaldson-Matasci (biology) studies how colonies of social insects, such as bees and ants, coordinate group behaviors.
Jae Hur (biology) studies the fundamental genetic and physiological pathways that govern organismal lifespan.
Julie Medero (computer science) researches natural language processing, machine learning and educational applications of language technology.
Beth Trushkowsky (computer science) specializes in database systems and human computation, also known as crowdsourcing.

Appointed for second, two-year term as assistant professor

Jason Gallicchio (physics) specializes in experimental cosmology—the study of the origin and evolution of the universe—and quantum fundamentals, including quantum entanglement.
Danae Schulz (biology) studies the African trypanosome, a protozoan parasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle.
Timothy Tsai (engineering) pursues research that lies at the intersection of signal processing, machine learning and music.
Werner Zorman (engineering; holder of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair in Leadership) is a leadership development expert and entrepreneur, he conducts research on leadership education and facilitates leadership development throughout the Harvey Mudd community.

Approved for first two-year reappointment

Lucas Bang (computer science) focuses on software verification and formal methods for security.
Alfred Flores (Asian American studies) researches the U.S. Empire in Asia and the Pacific Islands, with an emphasis on diaspora, labor, immigration, indigeneity, militarization, race and settler colonialism.
Mark Ilton (physics) researches the dynamics of energy release in elastomers and impulsive biological systems.
George Montañez (computer science) does research that lies at the intersection of machine learning, information theory and algorithmic search.