Eilaf Ahmed, MLK Visiting Scholar, Chemistry
Paul Ampadu, MLK Visiting Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Terrence Blackman, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Carlos Castillo-Chavez, MLK Visiting Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Ta-Nehisi Coates, MLK Visiting Scholar, Writing
Julio D’Arcy, MLK Visiting Scholar, Chemical Engineering
Thomas Epps, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Chemistry
Robert Hampshire, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems Division
Sophia Inzunza, MLK Visiting Scholar, Physics
Susan Perkins, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Sloan School of Management
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, MLK Visiting Scholar, Physics
Profiles
Eilaf Ahmed, MLK Visiting Scholar, Chemistry
Eilaf Ahmed received her Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington in June 2011. Her graduate work has focused on organic electronic materials directed at photovoltaics and thin film field- effect transistors. She has been re-appointed for a second year as an MLK Visiting Scholar in the Department of Chemistry. She will continue working with Professor Timothy Swager on DNA hybrid assemblies with carbon nanotubes.
Paul Ampadu, MLK Visiting Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Paul Ampadu is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Rochester. He has been re-appointed as an MLK Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He will continue his work with his host, Professor Vladimir Stojanovic researching activities involving algorithm and implementation methodology for energy constrained sensing and communication systems.
Terrence Blackman, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Terrence Blackman received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mathematics at The Graduate School and University Center, CUNY in 2011. He is currently an Instructor in the Mathematics Department at Medgar Evers College, CUNY. His research focuses on the “Jacquet-Langlands correspondence” for GL(2). As an MLK Visiting Assistant Professor he will work closely with Prof. David Vogan and participate in the Department of Mathematics Lie group and number theory seminars. He will also teach undergraduate courses including a mix of recitations in the core courses.
Carlos Castillo-Chavez, MLK Visiting Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Carlos Castillo-Chavez is a Regents Professor, a Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor of Mathematical Biology, a Distinguished Sustainability Scientist and the Executive Director of the Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute and The Institute for Strengthening the Understanding of Mathematics and Science, both institutes recognized by the White House, at Arizona State University. He co- established the David Blackwell and Richard Tapia Award (2000). While a professor at Cornell, where he spent 18 years, he was recognized with two White House Awards (1992 and 1997), the SACNAS Distinguished Scientist Award; and the Richard Tapia Award. Recent recognitions include the American Mathematical Society Distinguished Public Service Award and the 2007 AAAS Mentor award. He has mentored 27 PhD students (14 US Latinos and 10 women); 22 postdoctoral researchers; and hundreds of undergraduates. He held a Stanislaw M. Ulam Distinguished Scholar at Los Alamos National Laboratory; an honorary professorship at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China, and holds a Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professorship at MIT. He is a fellow of the AAAS, SIAM, and a member of President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, MLK Visiting Scholar, Writing
Ta-Nehisi Coates is currently a Senior Editor at The Alantic. He is a leading journalist and public intellectual whose work centers on politics, culture, and society from a point of view that recognizes that the United States is not yet a race-blind society. As an MLK Scholar, Mr. Coates will teach one course per semester and give a public lecture on work in progress in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies.
Julio D’Arcy, MLK Visiting Scholar, Chemical Engineering
Julio D’Arcy received his Ph.D in Chemistry at UCLA in June 2012. His areas of expertise are conjugated polymers, electrochemistry, and thin film composite devices with a particular interest in energy applications. As an MLK Visiting Scholar he will work closely with Prof. Paula Hammond’s research group in the Department of Chemical Engineering
Thomas Epps, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Chemistry
Thomas Epps III is currently an Associate Professor and the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD), with a joint appointment in Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to his faculty appointment at UD, Thomas was a National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. He received his Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in Chemical Engineering. Thomas is also a graduate of the Chemical Engineering Department at MIT (B.S. 1998, M.S. 1999). His research group at UD focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of polymeric materials that exhibit nanoscale self-assembly for use in applications including conducting membranes, nanoscale templates, coatings, and drug delivery materials. As an MLK Visiting Associate Professor he will work closely with Prof. Tim Swager in the Department of Chemistry on novel materials that undergo controlled assembly processes.
Robert Hampshire, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems Division
Robert Hampshire received his Ph.D. from the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University in March 2007. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the John H. Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University. His research focus is urban transportation systems. He is immersed in innovative ways to reduce urban congestion and reduce air pollution. As an MLK Visiting Assistant Professor he will work closely with Prof. Richard C. Larson in the Engineering Systems Division (ESD) as a lecturer and collaborate on research papers.
Sophia Inzunza, MLK Visiting Scholar, Physics
Sophia Inzunza, earned her Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Mexico. She has been re-appointed as an MLK Visiting Scholar for a second year in the Department of Physics working in the Neutrino and Dark Matter Research Group led by Professor Joseph Formaggio. Their focus will be on the Design and Development of Project 8 and on the role of Beta Decay Experiments toward Relic Neutrino Detection.
Susan Perkins, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor, Sloan School of Management
Susan Perkins is currently an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations & International Business and Markets at the Northwestern University. She has been re-appointed as an MLK Visiting Assistant Professor for a second year in the Sloan School of Management. Susan is an international business Strategy Scholar who’s research focuses on cross-country variations in the institutional environment and their effects on firms performance, strategic responses, alliance formations and broader societal outcomes. Susan will work closely with Profs. Ray Reagans and Denise Lewin Loyd in the Sloan School of Management.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, MLK Visiting Scholar, Physics
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein hails from East Los Angeles and was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in the Observational Cosmology Lab at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD before coming to MIT. She is hosted by Prof. Ed Bertschinger in the Department of Physics and will continue her research on exploring models from particle physics and quantum gravity for cosmic acceleration, as well as her investigations of the systematics associated with using a space telescope to do weak lensing for precision cosmology. She has been re-appointed for a second year as an MLK Visiting Scholar. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein will continue working with Prof. Bertschinger to develop a Boston-area peer mentoring network for women of color in science and engineering. She is an active member of the leadership of both the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists.
