Faculty

EXPERTISE: AI and applications to digital health, 5G/6G communications and cybersecurity

Dr. Honggang Wang, founding chair of the Graduate Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has received research grants totaling over $5 million from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Transportation.

Current projects include developing autonomous vehicle navigation algorithms for detecting hazardous road situations to make cars safer and developing AI-powered wearable devices to monitor drug use and aid in disease detection.

Previous work includes a portable, lightweight “intensive care unit,” which is a wearable biosensor system incorporating a wireless body area network that monitors remotely the physiology of infants to anticipate life-threatening events, such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Dr. Wang, who is an IEEE Fellow and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, received Outstanding Researcher and Leadership Awards from the IEEE Communications Society and served as chair of both the IEEE Technical Committee on Multimedia Communications and IEEE e-Health Technical Committee.

In addition, he served as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Journal. His book, Wireless Health, published by Springer, was one of the first in the field.

Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and an M.S. in computer science and engineering and a B.E. in electrical engineering from Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China.

See his full bio.

EXPERTISE: Machine learning, computer vision, transfer learning, manifold learning and shape analysis

Youshan Zhang, an assistant professor of AI and computer science, specializes in machine learning, computer vision, transfer learning, manifold learning and shape analysis. As a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cornell University, he applied deep learning models in veterinary science to detect the diseases of animals and to analyze different animal behaviors.

Zhang holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Lehigh University and a master's degree in neuroimaging and informatics from USC. 

Read his full bio.

EXPERTISE: Data Science, Data Analytics, Big Data, Machine Learning, Deep Learning

David Li brings 20+ years of experience as principal and senior executive from industry. An astrophysicist, his current research research interests include the cross-industry applications of machine learning and big data. He has published and presented at IEEE conferences, Analytical Chemistry and ACS national meetings.

He holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University.

EXPERTISE: Data Systems, Research Design

Dr. Jason Bryer is an assistant professor and associate director in the data science and information systems department at the City University of New York. He is the principal investigator of the $3 million FIPSE and $3.8 million IES-funded Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills.

Dr. Bryer's research interests include quasi-experimental designs, with an emphasis in propensity score analysis, data systems to support formative assessment and the use of open source software for conducting reproducible research. He is the author of over a dozen R packages, including three related to conducting propensity score analyses.

He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in educational psychology and methodology from the State University of New York (SUNY).

EXPERTISE: Financial Instrument Pricing and Forecasting

Andy Catlin, a data scientist and data system developer, teaches the Capstone; Internship; and Independent Study, as well as training courses Python, R, Java, C, C++, SQL, and NoSQL. He is an expert in financial instrument pricing and forecasting using the weighted Black Scholes Merton model, as well as incorporating yield curve analysis into emerging markets products.

He is also experienced at migrating client-server systems into web and cloud-hosted solutions, and his key initiatives included incorporating artificial intelligence and neural networks in specialized applications, C++ financial libraries, security authentication bottleneck correction, patient-days forecasting model using Box Jenkins, production replication architectures, and multiphase commit and log-shipping architectures.

His major clients include Fidelity Investments, Smart Money, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, the National Football League and The Wall Street Journal. He is the founder of the tech startup Hudson Technology Group, which was acquired by Incepta.

Read his full bio.

EXPERTISE: Information Architecture, Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence

Brandon Chiazza, is chief technology officer in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, where he leads a team of 50 independent consultants and directs employees in three units—Enterprise Data Services, Project Management Office and Design and Quality Assurance—in the technology strategy division.

As part of his job, he oversaw the technical implementation of PASSPort Release 1, the replacement for VENDEX, the city’s vendor portal for vetting and preparing to do business with the city; PASSPort Release 2, the replacement of the city's purchasing system and the centralized creation of a citywide invoicing system; and Release 3, the city’s sourcing-to-contract system. The $50 million PASSPort project, an end-to-end cloud-based procurement solution for the City of New York, supports approximately 50,000 transactions and $21 billion in spending annually.

In addition, he oversaw the development of an Enterprise Data Warehouse & Business Intelligence system, a project that consolidated citywide procurement and contracting legacy systems into a centralized warehouse while leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure.

Chiazza holds an MPA in environmental and energy economics and environmental finance, and a B.S. in communication, applied economics and management from Cornell University.

EXPERTISE: Media and Advertising-Related Forecasting, Large-scale Anonymized Identity Models

Dr. Sergey Fogelson teaches three courses in Computational Statistics; Linear Algebra; and Machine Learning. He is a data scientist and data product architect with expertise in media and advertising-related pricing, scheduling and forecasting, as well as in large-scale anonymized identity models.

His major projects include building petabyte-scale data warehouses for media-asset management and consumption-analysis use cases; fault-tolerant data products utilizing human-in-the-loop, machine-learning algorithms for back-office financial applications; and risk-scoring algorithms for third-party cybersecurity vendor risk management.

His doctoral research examined hierarchical-category learning mechanisms in the visual system utilizing supervised learning algorithms applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging data.

Dr. Fogelson holds a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from Dartmouth College, and a B.A. and M.S. in cognitive science from the University of Georgia.

EXPERTISE: Dynamical Systems, Financial Mathematics, Topological Data Analysis

Dr. Gidea is associate dean of STEM research and director of the graduate programs in mathematical sciences. His research interests include dynamical systems and their applications, including celestial mechanics, mathematical physics, mathematical biology, financial mathematics and topological data analysis. 

From 2021 to 2022, he served as program director of the Mathematical Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation, where he guided and evaluated research at the national level. This role is awarded only to the most accomplished researchers in their respective fields.

Prior to joining Yeshiva University in 2013, he was a research professor at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton from 2011 to 2013, a tenured professor at Northeastern Illinois University from 2000 to 2013 and a visiting assistant professor at both Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago.

Dr. Gidea he holds a Ph.D. from SUNY Buffalo.

Read his full bio.

EXPERTISE: Data Services and Strategy

Amarildo Gjondrekaj, an industry professor in the M.S. in Data Visualization and Analytics program, teaches Data and Product Design. He is a manager of Global Strategic Alignment within Data & Services Strategy at Mastercard, where is has worked for almost five years.

He also teaches corporate strategy in the Department of Management at Baruch College. Born in Albania, Gjondrekaj moved to the States in the late 1990’s. He was co-lead of the advisory board for Madison Strategies Group, an economic empowerment organization, and for Solving Kids’ Cancer where he was chairman of their junior board for four years.

Gjondrekaj holds an MBA from Cornell Tech and an undergraduate degree in finance and investments from Baruch College.

EXPERTISE: Data and AI Technology, Data Science, Business Intelligence

Javier Guillen, a data and artificial intelligence technology specialist for one of the largest software companies in the world, teaches Virtual Design and Storytelling. He has 19 years of experience working in technology, data strategy and analytics and has participated in numerous deployments of corporate data and analytics initiatives involving reporting, governance, engineering and data science.

He co-founded the Charlotte Business Intelligence User Group, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Big Data, analytics education and professional networking in the U.S. Southeast.

Guillen holds an MBA from Schiller International University and a B.S. in psychology from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

EXPERTISE: Data Analysis, Data Design and Storytelling

Cristina Jeong teaches Data Design and Storytelling in the Data Analytics and Visualization master's program. Concurrently, she serves as a data analyst at Meta, focusing on content analytics on Facebook and Instagram. Previously, she was a data professional at IBM and Samsung.

She holds an MBA in statistics and marketing from the Zicklin School of Business and a B.S. in applied mathematics and hospitality management from Kyung-Hee University in Korea.

EXPERTISE: Microservice security, evasive malware analysis, automotive and embedded security, approximate computing and adversarial learning.

Dr. Kadiyala is a postdoctoral research fellow in the M.S. in Artificial Intelligence program. From 2015 to 2016, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in the field of designing approximate architectures for low-power hearing aids in the School of Electrical Engineering, and from 2016 to 2019 a postdoctoral fellow in the field of cybersecurity for embedded systems in the School of Computer Science and Engineering.

From 2019 to 2021, he was a research scientist at System Security Group, Institute for Infocomm Research, A-STAR Singapore. He was involved in developing anomaly detection algorithms for program behavior analysis and characterization of malware. His research work is supported by grants from the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and A-STAR Core Grant.

Dr. Kadiyala holds a Ph.D. in computer science engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

EXPERTISE: Data Science and Education, Computational Research

Joy Payton, a data scientist, educator and engineer for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, teaches Analytics Programming at the Katz School. She supports researchers in mastering the tools of reproducible, computational research, and is an expert in curriculum development and web design.

Payton holds an M.S. in data science from the City University of New York and a B.A. in applied mathematics from Agnes College. She also has done advanced graduate work at Pennsylvania State University and Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid. 

EXPERTISE: R Programming, Casual Inference, Statistical Analysis

George Perrett, a visiting assistant professor and former director of research and data analysis at NYU, works at the intersection of machine learning and causal inference.

He holds an M.S. in applied statistics from New York University and an MPH from the University of Michigan.

EXPERTISE: Data Science, Visual Design and Storytelling, Data Driven Organizations

Jessica Rifkind is the senior director of strategy at Audible, an Amazon company, where she oversees a team that develops global innovation strategies based on quantitative data science and qualitative customer insights. She developed the strategy for Audible's new Plus offering and leads the three-year strategic planning and annual operating plan processes for Audible.

Prior to Audible, she worked as a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting Group, a data scientist within BCG Gamma, and in mission-driven investing at Arabella Advisors and Nonprofit Finance Fund.

Rifkind holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MPA from Syracuse University, and a B.S. in applied economics and management from Cornell University.  

EXPERTISE: Clinical Data Analytics, Epidemiological Research in Dialysis

Dr. Jochen Raimann, an industry professor in the M.S. in Biotechnology Management and Entrepreneurship program, teaches Biostatistics and Informatics. He has been a full-time scientist at the Renal Research Institute since becoming a postdoctoral research fellow there in 2007. As director of data analytics, he conducts epidemiological research in dialysis, oversees research database management and national and international data transfers.

He is also an associate editor for the journals Trials and Scientific Reports, both part of the Springer Nature Publishing group, as well as a member of the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Easy Water for Everyone, which provides clean water to rural communities in developing countries.

Dr. Raimann holds an M.D. from the Medical University Graz, a Ph.D. from Maastricht University and an MPH with a focus on epidemiology and biostatistics from the City University of New York’s School of Public Health.

EXPERTISE: Data management, data analytics, data modeling

Samuel Strum, director of data technology in the customer office at Prudential Financial, teaches Structured Data Management at the Katz School. He has over 30 years of data management and analytics experience in industries such as retail, healthcare, telecommunications, hospitality and finance.

He has led data teams at companies such as Pfizer, Polo Ralph Lauren and AT&T, establishing data modeling, business intelligence and big data centers of excellence that have translated to top-line revenue gains.

Strum holds an M.S. in information systems from Drexel University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Lafayette College. 

EXPERTISE: Quantitative Trading

Dr. David Sweet is a quantitative trader and former machine learning engineer at 3Red Partners, a social media company in New York. He co-founded a cryptocurrency trading company, Bedford Ave. Trading/Galaxy Digital Trading, which was acquired by the first crypto-focused investment bank.

He was the principal author of KDE 2.0 Development, published by Macmillan in 2000, and was a contributing author to Special Edition: Using KDE, also published by Macmillan. Both books explored computer programming and experimental methods for ML engineers working in finance and technology.

His book, Tuning Up: From A/B Testing to Bayesian Optimization, which is an extension of his lectures on tuning quantitative trading systems over the past three years, was published by Manning in 2023. In addition, he has published research in Nature; Physical Review Letters; and Physical Review D, and helped fashion the Nature research into an exhibit at the Museum of Mathematics in New York City.

Dr. Sweet holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland, and a B.S. in physics and B.A. in mathematics from Duke University.

EXPERTISE: Data science, data product design

Gary Sztajnman, a product data scientist at Verizon where he builds data products, teaches Data Product Design at the Katz Scvhool. In his previous work for an A.I. startup, he developed an application that learns musical taste to ensure that music composition is customized for each user. He has also won several hackathons.

Sztajnman holds an MIB in information and communications technology from Paris Dauphine University and an M.S. in data science from Columbia University.

EXPERTISE: Product development cycle

Esteban Wesson, an industry professor, teaches the course Data Design and Storytelling. He is a product manager in the AccuWeather for Business division where he handles a mobile application that delivers life-saving notifications and information.

His experience focuses on project and product management in large and small companies, with a focus on climate change effects on business.

Originally from Costa Rica, Wesson holds an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and an MBA from Cornell Tech.

Expertise: Data science; data analytics; big data; machine learning; software engineering

Liyang Yan, who has over a decade of experience in software engineering and machine learning at Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon, teaches the course Analytics Programming. As an engineering manager at Amazon, he successfully led his team through innovative machine learning and Generative AI initiatives, driving revenue growth in the billion-dollar range. 

He holds a master of science in computer science from New York University and bachelor of engineering in electrical engineering from Fudan University.

Vince Zhu has worked on improving how computers can learn to recognize and separate over 200 different human organs in medical images, focusing on using advanced deep learning techniques, like transformers, to make the system smarter at understanding and processing these images.

He is an algorithm engineer in the Global Medical AI Laboratory at Alibaba DAMO Academy in New York, and has been a faculty member in the Whiting School of Engineering and in the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University.

He holds four master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University: in data science, in computer science, in applied and computational mathematics and in business administration.

Honggang Wang, Ph.D.

EXPERTISE: Artificial intelligence and its applications to digital health, 5G/6G communications and cybersecurity

Dr. Honggang Wang is founding chair of the graduate Computer Science Department at the Katz School of Science and Health. An IEEE Fellow and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Honggang Wang has received research grants totaling over $5 million from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Transportation.

As a senior faculty member at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Dr. Wang focused his research on the field of Internet of Things (IoT). One of his discoveries was a portable, lightweight “intensive care unit,” which includes a wearable biosensor system incorporating a wireless body area network that monitors remotely the physiology of infants to anticipate life-threatening events, such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He is also developing autonomous vehicle navigation algorithms for detecting hazardous road situations to make cars safer.

He received an Outstanding Researcher Award from the IEEE Communications Society and served as chair of both the IEEE Technical Committee on Multimedia Communications and IEEE e-Health Technical Committee. He also served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE’s peer-reviewed Internet of Things Journal. His book, Wireless Health, published by Springer, was one of the first in the field.

Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and an M.S. in computer science and engineering and a B.E. in electrical engineering from Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China.

EXPERTISE: Technology leadership; IT and information security program development; third-party risk; GRC; risk management

Jonathan Deutsch, an industry professor of cybersecurity, teaches the YU courses Cybersecurity Foundations and Leading Technology Organizations. He is a vice president of information security management at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he leads product security for various consumer bank offerings, working to identify, quantify and address security issues and changes to business risk.

Previously, he was a compliance lead for a New York City-based FinTech, where he led the maturation of their information security program and spearhead their SOC 2 compliance effort. He is passionate about information security, particularly as it relates to the role of human psychology in the defense of digital assets.

Jonathan holds an M.S in technology management from Columbia University and an M.S. in cybersecurity from the Katz School of Science and Health, as well several industry certifications: CISSP, CDPSE and AWS Cloud Practitioner.

EXPERTISE: Information Security, Risk, Governance, Management, Compliance, Data Privacy, Enterprise Cloud Security, Enterprise Architecture, IT Strategy

Lev Feldman is principal security technical program manager at Amazon Web Services. He is an accomplished information security executive with over 20 years of expertise gained at large global enterprises: MetLife, Marsh Inc, Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney and Citibank.

Before joining Amazon, he served as senior vice president at the CISO Office of Citigroup, one of the largest systemically important financial institution (SIFI).

Lev holds an MBA in global management from the University of Phoenix and an M.S. in information systems from the Stevens Institute of Technology, as well as the following industry certifications: ISACA's Certified Information Security Manager (CISM); Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP); Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP); Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) by ISC²; Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) by CSA; AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner; AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate; and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

EXPERTISE: Risk, Controls, Audit

David Imre, a director of information technology audit for the Americas division of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a top 10 global bank, teaches Risk Management.

He has over 15 years of internal and external audit experience, primarily focusing on the financial services sector and other highly regulated industries. His expertise is in risks and controls involved in securing information technology and protecting information assets.

He holds an M.S. in applied mathematics from the Stevens Institute of Technology and is a certified information systems auditor (CISA) and certified fraud examiner (CFE).

EXPERTISE: Cryptocurrencies

Peter Nossal, who has over 15 years of experience in industries that combine business and technology, teaches Fundamentals of Blockchain Technology. He is technical project manager at Halborn, an international computer and network security firm. Prior to joining Halborn, he was senior project manager at Gateway Health, a Highmark Health company.

He began his career in IT sales for Xerox and parlayed that experience into project management while working across several industries, including manufacturing, health care and oil and gas. He was a member of the adjunct faculty at Hampton University in the Religious Studies Department for six years and taught briefly at Tarrant County Community College.

He is an expert in cryptocurrencies and an investor, trader, miner and entrepreneur. He was a founder of Eschaton Research Partners, which provides research and educational services on Bitcoin, blockchain and other cryptocurrencies. 

Nossal holds an MBA from Slippery Rock University and an M.Th. from Regent University, as well as the industry certifications Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Bitcoin Professional (CBP).

EXPERTISE: Penetration testing; Adversarial simulation

Kevin Suckiel, a red teamer with over eight years of experience in physical and cybersecurity, teaches the course E-Discovery, Digital Evidence & Computer Forensics. He is a staff consultant at EY, where he simulates real-world attacks and assesses the vulnerabilities of various systems and organizations.

Before joining EY, Suckiel was a police officer with the NYPD, where he specialized in OSINT and physical security. He received multiple awards for his life-saving and crime-fighting efforts, and became a certified operator in hostile surveillance detection.

He is listed in the NIST database for identifying two common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) in open source software. He also is a conference speaker on offensive security adversarial tactics and techniques.

Suckiel holds an M.S in cybersecurity from the Katz School and a B.A. in sociology from Queens College, as well as the certifications OSEP, OSCP, OSWP, CREST, CEH, and eWPT.

Aleksandr Zhuk, chief information security officer at the San Francisco Open Exchange (SFOX), has 25-plus years of experience in delivering business value for Fortune 100 financial-services and startup organizations. He is the creator and co-founder of the Business Relationship Management Institute, a go-to source of professional learning and a community catalyst for more than 20,000 BRM professionals in 40 countries around the world.

He has published numerous articles on topics in IT and business management, and has taught and created a number of graduate courses in cybersecurity, IT management and organizational leadership.

He holds a doctorate in management and organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix and a master of engineering degree in cybersecurity policy and compliance from George Washington University, as well as the certifications BRMP, CISM, CISSP, CRISC, CDPSE, CSM and ITIL Expert.

EXPERTISE: Dynamical Systems, Financial Mathematics, Topological Data Analysis

Dr. Gidea is associate dean of STEM research and director of the graduate programs in mathematical sciences. His research interests include dynamical systems and their applications, including celestial mechanics, mathematical physics, mathematical biology, financial mathematics and topological data analysis. 

From 2021 to 2022, he served as program director of the Mathematical Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation, where he guided and evaluated research at the national level. This role is awarded only to the most accomplished researchers in their respective fields.

Prior to joining Yeshiva University in 2013, he was a research professor at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton from 2011 to 2013, a tenured professor at Northeastern Illinois University from 2000 to 2013 and a visiting assistant professor at both Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago.

Dr. Gidea he holds a Ph.D. from SUNY Buffalo.

Read Dr. Gidea’s full bio.

EXPERTISE: Celestial mechanics, chaos dynamics, dynamical systems, aerospace engineering, cosmology (Big Bang singularity).

Dr. Edward Belbruno, a clinical professor of mathematics, was a trajectory analyst for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1985, designing routes for U.S. spacecraft to Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars. While there, he formulated a new theory of space travel by using chaos theory to find low-energy transfers to the moon. His theory was dramatically demonstrated in 1991 when he rescued a Japanese robotic lunar spacecraft, Hiten, and successfully got it to the moon on a new type of route.

He has published two books in mathematics with Princeton University Press and is editor of eight proceedings volumes. He’s also a professional painter, with regular exhibitions in the United States and Europe. His paintings are in a number of collections, including the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Belbruno holds a doctorate in mathematics from NYU’s Courant Institute and has published over 60 research papers in professional journals in mathematics, celestial mechanics, aerospace engineering, astrophysics and cosmology.

Read Dr. Belbruno's full bio.

Dr. Wenxiong Chen has been a mathematics professor at Yeshiva University since 2002. His research interests include nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations, fractional Laplacians and other non-local operators, nonlinear functional analysis, and geometric analysis. He has received six research grants from the National Science Foundation, among which he was the principal investigator in five of the grants. He has published over 80 papers/books published in refereed journals, including many in prestigious journals. He teaches introductory and advanced mathematics courses.

Read Dr. Chen's full bio.

Steven Gindi, a postdoc in the mathematics program, teaches the courses Calculus II and Mathematical Statistics. He is working on geometric analysis, especially on the long time behavior of Ricci flow. He has had previous postdoctoral positions at Binghamton University and Brandeis University.

He holds a Ph.D. from Stony Brook University.

Dr. Iovanov, a clinical associate professor of mathematics, focuses his research on algebra and related fields, and has published widely in noncommutative algebra and ring theory, Hopf algebras and quantum groups, representation theory, category theory, combinatorics/discrete math and linear algebra, as well as homological algebra and category theory, topology and combinatorics.

Prior to joining the Katz School, he was an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Iowa, as well as a visiting associate professor at St. John's University and an instructor at CUNY City College. In addition, he is editor of the Journal of Algebra and its Application and was co-principal investigator of the 2019 NSF-funded project, “Homological Methods and Tilting Theory of Finite Dimensional Algebras.”

Iovanov holds a Ph.D. from SUNY Buffalo and an M.S. and B.S. from the University of Bucharest in Romania. 

EXPERTISE: Financial applications of cognitive computational platforms, which combine distributed, cloud-based ecosystems with machine learning- and NLP-based technologies and advanced signal processing.

Dr. Yuri Katz is the senior director of data science at S&P Global Market Intelligence. His team supports businesses with innovative solutions based on methods developed in the fundamental sciences and cutting-edge machine learning technologies.

He leads advanced risk-valuation, big data and predictive analytics, ranging from forecasting of systemic market downturns to projections of global hurricanes activity. He has hands-on experience with cutting-edge, cloud-based distributed data and computational platforms.

Previously, he was senior director of enterprise architecture for 17 years and a member of various task forces and committees that addressed major IT and strategic business initiatives. He is a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences on topics ranging from topological data analysis to credit risk and climate finance.

He holds a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

EXPERTISE: Clinical Data Analytics, Epidemiological Research in Dialysis

Dr. Jochen Raimann, a full-time scientist at the Renal Research Institute since becoming a postdoctoral research fellow there in 2007, teaches in the M.A in Mathematics and the M.S. in Biotechnology Management and Entrepreneurship (Biostatistics and Informatics).

As director of data analytics, he conducts epidemiological research in dialysis and oversees research database management and national and international data transfers. He is also an associate editor for the journals Trials and Scientific Reports, both part of the Springer Nature Publishing group. In addition, he is a member of the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Easy Water for Everyone, which provides clean water to rural communities in developing countries and supports the organization’s research efforts.

Dr. Raimann holds an M.D. from the Medical University Graz, a Ph.D. from Maastricht University and an MPH with a focus on epidemiology and biostatistics from the City University of New York’s School of Public Health. 

EXPERTISE: Neuromuscular rehabilitation

Gioia Ciani is director of the Occupational Therapy Doctorate program and an associate professor. Prior to joining the Katz School, she was the OT program director, inaugural academic fieldwork coordinator and a tenured associate professor in the occupational therapy master's program at Hofstra University. In addition, she was chair of the Occupational Therapy Department at the New York Institute of Technology and a distinguished faculty member at Mercy University. She has been a practicing occupational therapist for over 20 years at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

Ciani holds a doctorate in occupational therapy from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and a master's degree in occupational therapy from Mercy College.

EXPERTISE: Co-occupation, parent-child relations, play and playfulness; trauma and adversity; research methodology: assessment and intervention effectiveness.

Dr. Waldman-Levi, OTR/L, is a clinical associate professor in the OT Doctorate program and a researcher, clinician and educator with extensive experience in higher education, teaching and mentoring a diverse body of students in the United States and Israel. Dr. Waldman-Levi's research agenda focuses on promoting individuals, families and caregivers’ resiliency to overcome the impact that adversity has on their social-emotional functioning. At the Katz School, Dr. Waldman-Levi educates and mentors students in the research process.

She has published widely on topics related to parent-child relationships, adversity and cognition, and has diverse research experience with observational and psychometric studies, effectiveness studies (protocol development and fidelity), scoping review and mixed-methods designs.

Prior to joining the OT Doctorate faculty, she was an associate professor in the occupational therapy program at Long Island University, adjunct professor at Mercy College’s School of Health and Natural Studies, a research fellow at the Research Institute for the Health and Medical Professions at Ono Academic College in Israel, and a faculty member at the School of Occupational Therapy at Hebrew University in Israel.

Dr. Waldman-Levi holds Ph.D., M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from the School of Occupational Therapy at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has received postdoctoral training in parent-child observational assessments and attachment representations at the Center for Attachment Research at the New School for Social Research in New York, and in assessment and intervention of adults with significant cognitive and executive deficits at Mercy College.

Read Amiya Waldman-Levi's full bio.

Expertise: Disability inclusion; disaster risk reduction and management; welfare of children with disabilities and their families.

While on the faculty at the University of Santo Tomas, Charles Bermejo worked on a project with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which helped build a community resilience plan that focusd on children in Pugad Island, Hagonoy, Bulacan, and on another project that assisted Sitio Galilee in Antipolo to promote disability-child friendly spaces during emergencies.

In addition, he was involved in a project with Save the Children Philippines in promoting childhood disability prevention, and led an undergraduate study on the use of Facebook social support groups to help caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder cope with stress.

He holds a master of science in occupational therapy from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.

EXPERTISE: Pediatric/school-based practice; and assistive technology

Dr. Garfinkel, OTD, OTR/L, ATP is an occupational therapy practitioner with more than 30 years of experience, twenty of which have been in the field of pediatrics and school-based practice, and 10 in the area of adult rehabilitation. She is certified as an assistive technology professional (ATP) through the Rehabilitation and Engineering Society of North America (RESNA).

After receiving her post-professional occupational therapy doctorate (OTD), Dr. Garfinkel joined academia and devoted more time to research and other scholarly pursuits. Her research interests include service delivery in school-based practice, literacy, Universal Design for Learning, and assistive technology to support all individuals.

Engaging in service to the profession in several ways, Dr. Garfinkel serves on the Education Committee of RESNA. She was the Technology Coordinator for the Children and Youth Special Interest Section (SIS) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and a Professional Development Coordinator for AOTA’s Technology SIS. Dr. Garfinkel is a founding member of the AOTA Literacy Community of Practice and the AOTA School-Based Community of Practice.

Dr. Garfinkel has presented nationally on a variety of topics related to her research and committee work. She collaborated with colleagues to create a continuing education product for AOTA; materials for advanced certification in school-based occupational therapy practice; and participated in webinars. She has also established a website to house research and resources on Caseload to Workload in school-based practice, the topic of her doctoral research.

Dr. Garfinkel holds a post-professional doctorate in occupational therapy from Quinnipiac University, a Master of Arts in occupational therapy from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the City University of New York, Flushing.

Read Dr. Garfinkel's full bio.

Melanie Evangelista, a clinical assistant professor, teaches the courses: Occupational Performance in the Older Adult Population; Skills Lab: Older Adults; Skills Lab: Adults; Clinical Skills Lab; and Preparatory Methods II (orthotic fabrication). She also is an adjunct instructor and capstone mentor for doctoral students in the occupational therapy program at the New York Institute of Technology.

In addition, she is a per-diem occupational therapist in an acute rehab at Mercy Medical Center (CHSLI), where she evaluates and treats patients with a wide range of diagnoses, including neurological, orthopedic, cardiac and post-operative conditions.

Prior to that, she was a full-time occupational therapist in a subacute rehab and long-term care facility for Better Healthcare, evaluating and treating adult residents with a variety of diagnoses, including CVA, orthopedic injuries, dementia, COPD, CHF, PD, amputations, failure to thrive, CA, neurological conditions, post-op (cardiac, etc.) and psychological disorders.

Evangelista is a candidate for a Ph.D. in gerontology from Concordia University and holds a master’s degree in occupational therapy and bachelor’s degree in life science from the New York Institute of Technology.

Dr. Asha Roy, an adjunct professor specializing in occupational therapy, leadership, and health and wellness, teaches the courses Occupational Wellness and Leadership and Advancement in Practice.

She is senior director of workforce safety at Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare system, where she leads employee safety programs, emphasizing ergonomic consultations and injury prevention. Her approach prioritizes health and safety, driving workforce wellness initiatives that reduce workplace injuries.

Roy holds a Ph.D. in organizational leadership, master’s of applied science in patient safety and healthcare quality, a master's degree in occupational therapy, an MBA in strategic healthcare management, and a post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy in Administration and Practice Management, and a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy.

EXPERTISE: Image reconstruction with scanning probe microscopes, atomistic modeling of materials, quantum optics, and mathematical optimization

Dr. Fredy Zypman is a professor and chair of of physics, and is the author or co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles. He received the 2018 Materials Today Embracing Challenge Award, and an award for a Best Paper in the Journal of Physics. 

He has received research grants from NSF, NIH, NASA, NIH and the U.S. Department of Energy, and awards for his contributions to NASA, a NASA Faculty Research Fellowship and a Research Corporation award. In addition, he has three patents on probe microscopy.

Dr. Zypman holds a Ph.D. in physics from Case Western Reserve University.

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Dr. Asherie is a professor of physics and biology. His research interest is to make it possible to predict the phase behavior of protein solutions and to learn to control protein self-assembly. Proteins can self-assemble into a variety of phases (crystals, dense liquids, aggregates, and gels), but this phase behavior is not well understood. The inability to predict protein phase behavior inhibits progress on many biophysical problems, including protein condensation diseases, the industrial purification of proteins, and the determination of the high-resolution x-ray structures of proteins. A combined experimental and computation approach is used to understand the relationship between the molecular interactions and the macroscopic phases.

He holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Dr. Gabriel Cwilich is a professor of physics and director of the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program.

He holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University.

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EXPERTISE: Crystallization of water

Dr. Ran Drori, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of Yeshiva University since 2017, teaches Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Stern College for Women. He is a co-founder of µ-Ice, a company that makes microscope-mounted cold-stages.

His current research focuses on the crystallization of water which affects various processes globally and in our daily lives. Ice crystals cause freezing when they grow inside organisms living in sub-freezing conditions. Similarly, the formation of gas hydrates in flowlines transporting gas and oil causes safety and economic risks, and the release of methane from gas hydrates to the atmosphere contributes to global warming. Antifreeze proteins are evolution’s answer to the problem of freezing in organisms, and some synthetic inhibitors of gas hydrates are currently in use. However, the mechanisms by which these natural and synthetic inhibitors work remain largely unclear.

His lab is using a unique combination of cold stages, fluorescence microscopy and microfluidics to study the effects of molecular agents on the crystallization of water.

Dr. Drori holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. He was trained as a postdoctoral researcher at NYU's chemistry department.

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Dr. Mark Edelman is an clinical full professor at the Stern College for Women. He teaches General Properties of the Fractional Dynamical Systems, Mathematical Physics, Physical Universe, Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Physics I, and Physics II.

He received the American Astronomical Society Grant awarded for the investigation of the stability of oblique MHD shock waves and, in 2016, he received an international Zaslavsky Prize in Nonlinear Science and Complexity. 

He holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Odessa University.

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EXPERTISE: Rigorous mathematics and computer simulations to study the physics of condensed matter.

Dr. Prodan is a professor of physics and teaches introductory and advanced physics courses. He has taught one-semester courses in thermodynamics, mathematical physics and classical waves. His background is in mathematical physics, specifically in operator theory, spectral analysis and constructive quantum field formalism.

He recently received a three-year NSF grant for "Topological Dynamics of Hyperbolic and Fractal Lattices." He was among the 2016 recipients of the Keck Foundation research awards for the collaborative project "Engineering New Materials Based on Topological Phonon Edge Modes." Dr. Prodan also received in 2011 the NSF CAREER award for his proposal "Strong Disorder and Electron Interaction Effects in Topological Insulators."

Dr. Prodan holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Rice University.

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