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College Guide program

College guides

College guides assist faculty, staff, and graduate students in conflict resolution and solutions-oriented support. This includes facilitating communication among conflicting parties and referring people to resources for further assistance. Although each department has at least two guides, faculty, staff, and graduate students within the College can choose to meet with any guide across the College.

Meet your guides

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Julia Kregenow

Julia Kregenow

Astronomy and Astrophysics

jmk50@psu.edu

Julia is an Associate Teaching Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, where she works to improve how science is taught to non-science majors. She loves sharing science and math with the world by bringing the wonder of the universe down to Earth. She is part of a community of passionate educators at Penn State who share ideas to continually improve their teaching. As an ombudsperson she hopes to spread empathy, transparency, and sincerity, and tap into the infinite power of human connection to open ever more doors for communication. As Bill Nye likes to say, we are all in this together folks.

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John Nousek

John Nousek

Astronomy and Astrophysics

jan2@psu.edu

John Nousek is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, serving on the faculty since 1981. John is the Mission Director for the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, operating this satellite for NASA since its launch in 2004. Swift is designed to react in seconds to new events that occur in the sky, especially Gamma-ray Bursts, supernovae and gravitational wave and neutrino source discoveries. John spends his spare time playing board games such as Gloomhaven, and on-line video games. He believes the role of an ombudsperson is to listen with an empathetic ear to issues which are bothering people, and to allow them to phrase the problem in a way that looks at solutions to the problem.

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Maria Krasilnikova

Maria Krasilnikova

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

muk19@psu.edu

Maria Krasilnikova is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She is teaching several undergraduate level classes and performing research in instability of DNA repeats. Maria is also a certified yoga instructor and enjoys teaching yoga classes to her students and friends. As is an ombudsperson, she encourages people to initiate conversations to promote positive change.

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Lorraine Santi

Lorraine Santy

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

lcs13@psu.edu

Lorraine Santy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, whose research focuses on understanding the signaling and trafficking processes that promote migration of epithelial cells. Epithelial migration plays important roles in tissue repair after injury and in cancer metastasis. She currently teaches a Cancer Biology course and a graduate Cell Biology course, and she has previously taught introductory Cell and Molecular Biology. She enjoys cooking, hiking and has a teenage daughter. Dr. Santy served as the BMMB Graduate Student Liaison Officer before becoming one of the BMB department’s ombudsperson. She serves as an ombudsperson because she believes it is important for students to have a place to go for support when experiencing difficulties that impact their academic progression.

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Moriah Szpara

Moriah is an Associate Professor of Biology, and also of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She received her undergrad degree in Biology from Penn State, and her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Moriah teaches virology and leads a research lab focused on viral genomics and chronic pathogens such as herpes viruses. Off campus, you can find Moriah walking her family’s shelter-rescue dog, working on her green thumb in the garden, or cheering on local youth soccer teams. Moriah has spent years helping trainees and colleagues find their way through challenging situations, and she is happy to support our university community as part of the Eberly ombuds team. 

Moriah Szpara

Biology

mls164@psu.edu

 

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Leana Topper for the ombuds website.

Leana Topper

Biology

lvm12@psu.edu

Leana received her PhD from the Department of Cell Biology at The University of Virginia where she studied the metaphase checkpoint and cell cycle control. She has been part of the Biology Department for over 13 years as an instructor and academic adviser. She teaches introductory biology, genetics, and developmental biology courses. She aids faculty in creating online course content, guides new faculty in course design, and works closely with transfer students entering the department. In her free time, she can be found walking her dogs, teaching science to elementary school children, and coaching gymnastics at the local gym or dance studio. As an Ombud, she is eager to listen and to connect members of our PSU community to applicable resources aimed at favorable outcomes.

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Aaron Garner for the ombuds website.

Aaron Garner

Chemistry

rag57@psu.edu

Aaron Garner is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Aaron teaches the introductory general chemistry series (CHEM 110/112 and CHEM 130) and the learning assistant pedagogy course (SC 220). Aaron’s academic background is in biochemistry, which inspired the creation of the biological chemistry specialty sections of our general chemistry courses (CHEM 110B and CHEM 112B). Aaron earned his B.S. in Chemistry, Biological Sciences, and Botany from North Carolina State University in 2008 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 2014. Outside of teaching, Aaron enjoys cooking, football, and movies (especially the horror genre). As an ombud, he hopes to help build and maintain a welcoming and inclusive climate within our college.

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Kenneth Kappenberger

Kenneth Kappenberger

Chemistry

klk260@psu.edu

Ken Knappenberger is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry. His research interests include laser spectroscopy and photonic materials. He advises a group of graduate and undergraduate student and postdoctoral researchers. He is an avid runner. When he is not working, he can often be found running with friends or hiking local trials with his family. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from Penn State, and was subsequently a postodoctoral research fellow at University of California, Berkeley, and a faculty member at Florida State University. He returned to Penn State as a member of the faculty in 2017. He is an ombudsperson because he believes in the Penn State community and helping people develop positive, productive working environments.

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Christine Keating for the ombuds website.

Chris Keating

Chemistry

cmd8@psu.edu

Chris Keating is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry whose research interests include bioinspired materials, synthetic cells, and interface science. She has experienced Penn State from multiple roles over the years, including graduate student, postdoc, research faculty, and tenure-track faculty. Her hobbies include exploring the natural world, gardening, and baking. She believes that science is for everyone. As an ombudsperson, she hopes to serve as a resource for anyone facing a difficult situation in the workplace.

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Jim Hager

Jim Hager

Mathematics

jah14@psu.edu

Jim Hager is a Teaching Professor and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Education in the Department of Mathematics. He coordinates many of the department’s first and second year course offerings and is active in undergraduate student research. Outside of his departmental responsibilities, he enjoys traveling, hiking, gardening, fly-fishing, and oil/acrylic painting. He earned his PhD from Stanford University while working as a senior scientist at Stanford Research Incorporated. His primary research areas are focused on signal processing, Natural Language Processing, and Automatic Theorem Proving. He is an ombudsperson because it represents the university’s commitment to being fair, to promoting a constructive and user-friendly approach to conflict resolution, and to helping identify policy weaknesses and gaps in the system.

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Nestor Handzy

Nestor Handzy

Mathematics

nzh100@psu.edu

Nestor Handzy is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Mathematics focused on undergraduate education as well as training graduate students to prepare lectures and teach mathematics. His lectures and discussions with students center around applications of math to anything from nuclear particles to the human brain. He enjoys a good game of chess and spends most of his time with his family. He is an ombudsperson because he thinks everyone should feel respected and comfortable in the workplace, and there should be a resource for people who experience harassment or other unprofessional conduct.

Diane Henderson photo for the ombudsperson website.

Diane Henderson

Mathematics

dmh9@psu.edu

Diane Henderson is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics. She enjoys teaching, especially when she sees a student "get it". Her research involves laboratory experiments on nonlinear water waves in the Department's Bill Pritchard Fluid Mechanics Laboratory. A long-standing hobby is white-water kayaking; more recently she has begun learning to play fiddle. She recommends starting this hobby at an earlier age. Her PhD is in Physical Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. She became an omsbud in the hope that she could help all math-folk feel safe, welcome and at home in the Department.

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Louis Leblond

Louis Leblond

Physics

lul29@psu.edu

Louis Leblond is an associate teaching professor of physics teaching primarily undergraduates at the world campus and undergraduate physics and astrophysics majors at University Park. He earned his PhD at Cornell University where he conducted research in high-energy theoretical physics. He has now transitioned to physics education research and he is active in promoting evidence-based pedagogy and in diversity, equity and inclusivity efforts. At home, he likes to spend time with several hobbies, often jointly with his wife and daughter, such as board games, baseball, hiking, cooking and woodworking. As an ombud, he hopes to help others, to be an agent for change or just a friendly listening ear to students and colleagues.

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Julianne Mortimore.

Julianne Mortimore

Physics

jrm62@psu.edu

Julianne Mortimore is the Graduate Program Coordinator for the Physics Department. She is a liaison between the graduate students, the Physics Department, the College of Science, Human Resources, and the Grad School. She has a husband, three mostly grown kids, a dog, and a cat. She earned an M.P.S degree from the Alliance Theological Seminary, focusing on counseling and education. She enjoys talking to people of all persuasions, learning about different cultures, and trying recipes from all over the world. She also likes to grow plants, sometimes with great success. As an ombud she hopes to empower others to take control of their circumstances and learn to resolve conflicts peacefully.

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Jorge Soto

Jorge O. Sofo

Physics

jos13@psu.edu

Jorge Sofo is a Professor of Physics and of Materials Science and Engineering. His research is in the area of theoretical condensed matter physics, with emphasis in transport and non-equilibrium phenomena. His hobbies are physics, mathematics, food, and cocktails. All things he likes to mix with good friends and family. Jorge is originally from Argentina and got his Ph.D. in Physics from the legendary Instituto Balseiro of Bariloche, in the northwest Andean mountains of Patagonia in Argentina. His role as an ombudsperson is the result of a long-life passion for humanism and the well-being of others.

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Francesca Chiaromonte for the Ombuds website.

Francesca Chiaromonte

Statistics

fxc11@psu.edu

Francesca Chiaromonte has been a faculty in the Department of Statistics at Penn State since 1998. Since 2019, she holds the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Statistics for the Life Sciences. She develops methods for the analysis of large, high-dimensional and complex data, and works on applications in “Omics”, Biomedical Sciences, Meteorology and Economics. She received a Laurea (cum laude) from the University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy), and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. At Penn State, she is part of the graduate programs in Statistics, and in Bioinformatics & Genomics. She also entertains a number of international collaborations, and is part of the faculty of graduate programs in Data Science and AI in Italy. She has a long history of advising doctoral and postdoctoral students across disciplinary, geographical and cultural boundaries. She is an ombud because of her passion for mentoring young scientists, supporting them as they chart their paths, and fostering collaboration at all levels of academia.

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David Hunter.

Dave Hunter

Statistics

drh20@psu.edu

Dave Hunter has been a faculty member in the Department of Statistics since he finished his PhD at the University of Michigan. He and his wife have two daughters and have lived in State College for approximately one Molly. (Molly finished her undergraduate chemistry degree in 2022.) He's previously served as undergraduate chair, department head, and Tussey Mountainback team organizer for the Statistics Department. Adding the role of ombud to that list is a way to help all members of the Department and College community work toward a supportive climate for everyone.

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Jeff Engelman.

Jeff Engelmann

Dean's Office

jqe5132@psu.edu

Jeff Engelmann is an IT Consultant for the College, assisting staff in identifying their technology needs and helping to make their tech-based dreams a reality. Before coming to the University and a life in IT, he spent over a decade as a Registered Nurse. In his off time he enjoys gaming and home brewing. He is an ombud because of a personal drive toward empathy and inclusion, as well as a desire to help people navigate challenging situations.

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Beth Johnson

Beth Johnson

Dean's Office

bai107@psu.edu

Beth Johnson is the Director for the Science Major and the Director of Academics for the Science BS/MBA Program within the college. Beth works with undergraduate students pursuing the Science Major or the BS/MBA duel degree major. When she is not working with students, she can usually be found chasing after her little kid who always seems to be two steps ahead. Her hobbies include cooking, gardening, fishing, and homebrewing. She earned her PhD from Penn State’s Entomology Department where she conducted research in the areas of plant-insect interactions, chemical ecology and plant biology. She is an ombudsperson because she enjoys empowering others to take action toward the goal of positive change.

If you would like to utilize a program outside of the Eberly College of Science, there is a separate University Faculty Ombudsperson program administered by the University Faculty Senate who have specific responsibilities for faculty, and there are Graduate Student Ombudspersons administered through the Graduate School.