New Faculty Bios 26-27

Amy Allocco She/Her

NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor, Religion (PhD, Emory University, 2009; MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 2001; BA, Colgate University, 1997)

Amy Allocco returns to Colgate as the NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor in Religion, having previously served as Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Multifaith Scholars Program at Elon University. A Colgate alumna (Class of 1997), Amy earned her PhD from Emory University in 2009 and has also served as the founding director of Elon’s Multifaith Scholars Program and as a faculty director in residence.

Amy teaches courses on the religions of South Asia, particularly Hinduism, as well as ethnography and gender in Islam. Her research focuses on vernacular Hinduism and contemporary ritual traditions in Tamil Nadu, India, where she has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork. Her current work explores the stories, songs, and rituals of hereditary Hindu drummer-priests, and she is completing a book, Living with the Dead, on rituals that welcome deceased relatives as family deities in South India.

Outside of her academic work, Amy enjoys gardening with native plants, cooking, and pickling.

Amy's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

2025. Sweetening and Intensification: Currents Shaping Hindu Practices (co-edited with Xenia Zeiler). State University of New York Press.

2025. “Alcohol, Suicide, and Gendered Protest in Tamil Hindu Invitations to the Dead.” The International Journal of Hindu Studies 29 (2): 237-56.

2025. “Insistence, Persistence, and Resistance in Tamil Hindu Rituals to Call the Dead,” in Sweetening and Intensification: Currents Shaping Hindu Practices, eds. Amy L. Allocco and Xenia Zeiler (State University of New York Press, 95-117).

2023. “Wonder in the Cremation Ground: The Affective and Transformative Dimensions of an Urban Tamil Hindu Festival” in Wonder in South Asia: Politics, Aesthetics, Ethics, ed. Tulasi Srinivas (State University of New York Press, 167-95).

2021. “Bringing the Dead Home: Hindu Invitation Rituals in Tamil South India.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 89 (1): 103-42.

2020. “Shifting Technologies of Reflection: Intergenerational Relationships and the Entanglements of Field and Home.” Fieldwork in Religion 15 (1-2): 159-79.

2020. “Vernacular Practice, Gendered Tensions, and Interpretive Ambivalence in Hindu Death, Deification, and Domestication Narratives.” The Journal of Hindu Studies 13 (2): 144-71.

Awards:

American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Fellowship: “The Drummer-Priests of Tamil Nadu” (2025)

Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship: “The Drummer-Priests of South India: Intergenerational Learning in a Tamil Performance Tradition” (2023-24)

The Excellence in Scholarship Award, Elon University College of Arts and Sciences (2021)

American Academy of Religion Collaborative International Research Grant (2020-2024)

Ward Family Excellence in Mentoring Award, Elon University (2019)

The Excellence in Teaching Award, Elon University College of Arts and Sciences (2012)

Grace Burgin She/Her

Assistant Professor, Biology (PhD, Harvard University, 2024; BS, University of Washington, 2017)

Grace Burgin is fascinated by the genetics and evolution of plants, with a particular interest in how new species arise and adapt. She earned her PhD from Harvard University in 2024, where her dissertation, Mate Choice in Phlox Wildflowers, explored the evolutionary biology of flowering plants. Before joining Colgate, she was a Walder Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Grace teaches genetics and genomics, evolutionary biology, plant biology, and bioinformatics. Her research brings together genetics, plant reproductive biology, conservation genetics, and speciation to better understand the diversity of life.

Outside the lab, Grace enjoys ballet, needlepoint, karaoke, scrolling iNaturalist, and trying to stop her dog, Norman, from eating wood chips.

Grace's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ILffMSIAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Awards:

2025 – 2026 Biota Postdoctoral Fellowship, Walder Foundation

2025 Margaret Menzel Award for outstanding genetics paper presented

2024 Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching of Undergraduates, Harvard University

2024 Mini-Course Grant, Harvard Graduate Student Council

2023 Expedition Grant, Harvard University Herbaria

2023 Rosemary Grant Advanced Award, Society for the Study of Evolution

2023 Grants-in-Aid of Research, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology

2021, 2022, 2023 Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University

Connor Cassady He/Him/His

Visiting Assistant Professor, Mathematics (PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2023; BS, Pennsylvania State University, 2018)

Connor Cassady explores the rich connections between algebra, geometry, and number theory. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2023, where his dissertation, Quadratic Forms, Local-Global Principles, and Field Invariants, reflected his interest in the arithmetic structures that shape modern mathematics. Before coming to Colgate, he served as the Arnold Ross Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on algebraic number theory and algebraic and arithmetic geometry, with particular interests in quadratic forms, local-global principles, rational points, and algebraic groups.

Outside of mathematics, Connor enjoys reading, staying active, walking his dog Booker, playing golf, watching sports, and playing the drums.

Connor's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

C. Cassady, "On possible values of the m-invariant", Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 154 (2026), no. 7, 2907 - 2918;

C. Cassady, "Universal quadratic forms over semi-global fields", Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra 230 (2026), no. 7, Paper No. 108297;

C. Cassady, "Two refined notions in quadratic form theory", Communications in Algebra 54 (2026), no. 3, 1187 - 1220;

C. Cassady, "Hasse principles for quadratic forms over function fields", Journal of Algebra 628 (2023), 613 - 633.

Awards:

Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences (2022-2023);

AMS Travel Grant (2023);

CTL Teaching Certificate (2022), University of Pennsylvania;

Good Teaching Award (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), University of Pennsylvania

Tarana Chauhan

Visiting Assistant Professor, Economics (PhD, Cornell University, 2024)

Tarana Chauhan brings expertise in applied microeconomics and development economics to Colgate. After earning a PhD from Cornell University in 2024, Tarana continued this work as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University.

Teaching interests include applied econometrics, applied microeconomics, development economics, and behavioral economics. Tarana's research explores questions at the intersection of applied microeconomics, development economics, labor economics, gender, and political economy.

Outside of academic work, Tarana enjoys hiking, dancing, cycling, yoga, and tai chi.

Tarana's Publications

Publications:

Raghunathan, K., Kumar, N., Gupta, S., Chauhan, T., Kohli, A. and Menon, P. (2023). “Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar”. World Development, 168: 106267.

David Gellman He/Him/His

A. Lindsay O'Connor Chair of American Institutions in the Department of History (PhD, Northwestern University, 1997; BA Amherst College, 1988)

David Gellman is a historian of the early United States whose scholarship examines slavery, emancipation, abolitionism, and the nation's founding era. His dissertation, Inescapable Discourse: The Rhetoric of Slavery and the Politics of Abolition in Early National New York (1997), launched a distinguished career exploring the political and cultural history of the United States. A Professor of History at DePauw University, he joins the Colgate faculty for 2026-27

David teaches courses on the American Revolution, colonial North America, the early republic, the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Abraham Lincoln, New York City, and Chicago. His research explores slavery, emancipation, and abolitionism, New York State history, Abraham Lincoln and American cultural memory, the founding era, and even the enduring cultural significance of Bruce Springsteen.

Outside the classroom, David enjoys traveling, swimming, rock music, and cheering on his favorite sports teams.

David's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

--“A Citizen by Birthright,” Albany Times Union, April 19, 2026.

--“Beckwith’s Three-Fifths Compromise view glosses over slavery expansion,” Indianapolis Star online, April 29, 2025.

--Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York (Ithaca: Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2022).

--“No Shelter from the Storm: Slavery and Freedom in Early New York City,” in forum “Decentering Early New York City’s History,” New York History 103, no. 1 (Summer 2022), 23-35.

--“”The master and the man must change places for a season’: Untangling Historical Narratives of Race and Loyalty in The Spy,” The James Fenimore Cooper Society Journal 32, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2021), 5-27.

--“Sharing the Founders’ Flame: John Jay, Missouri, and Memory,” in A Fire Bell in the Past: The Missouri Crisis at 200, Volume 1: Western Slavery, National Impasse, ed. Jeffrey L. Pasley and John Craig Hammond (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2021).

--“Abbe’s Ghost: Negotiating Slavery in Paris, 1783-4,” in Experiencing Empire: Power, People, and Revolution in Early America, ed. Patrick Griffin (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017).

--American Odysseys: A History of Colonial North America, co-author, Timothy J. Shannon (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).

--“Darkness on the Edge of Town: Springsteen, Richard Ford, and the American Dream,” in Kenneth Womack, Jerry Zolten, and ¬Mark Bernhard eds., Bruce Springsteen, Cultural Studies, and the Runaway American Dream (Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2012).

--“Going Nowhere: Bruce, The Beatles, Neil Young, Talking Heads and Others,” in David Izzo, ed., Bruce Springsteen and the American Soul: Essays on the Songs and Influence of a Cultural Icon (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2011).

--Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery and Freedom, 1777-1827 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006).

--Jim Crow New York: A Documentary History of Race and Citizenship, 1777-1877, co-editor, David Quigley (New York: New York University Press, 2003).

--“Pirates, Sugar, Debtors, and Slaves: Political Economy and the Case for Gradual Abolition in New York,” Slavery and Abolition, Vol. 22, No. 2 (August 2001), 51-68.

--“Race, the Public Sphere, and Abolition in Late Eighteenth-Century New York,” Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Winter 2000), 607-636.

Awards

--Herbert H. Lehman Prize for History—Distinguished Scholarship (2024).

--National Endowment for the Humanities Connections Planning Grant: Co-Director and leadership team for curricular project.(2024-25).

--Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow, Huntington Library, (March 2015).

--John J. & Elizabeth Bowden Baughman Faculty Fellowship, DePauw University (2009-2010, 2011-2013)

--Choice Outstanding Academic Titles, 2007.

--Edwin L. Minar Jr. Scholarship Award, DePauw University (2007).

--Associate Fellowship, The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, Yale University (Jan./Feb. 2005).

--Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society (March 2005)

--Choice Outstanding Academic Titles, 2004.

--The Ralph D. Gray Article Prize, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (2001).

Calypso Michelet She/Her

Visiting Assistant Professor, Theater (Master of Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts, 2021; Art Degree - Costume construction and technology, Académie de Versailles (France), 2018; Foundation Degree in Architecture, Ateliers des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (France), 2016; BA in Arts and Humanities, Université Paris-Nanterre (France), 2015)

Calypso Michelet is an international costume and set designer whose work spans theater, opera, musicals, and film. Her MFA thesis, Designing New Costumes and Scenery for the Musical Notre-Dame de Paris (2020), reflects her passion for creating immersive theatrical worlds. Before joining Colgate, she worked as a freelance costume and set designer, served as a guest designer and student advisor at Trinity College, and taught as Visiting Professor of Costume Design at Keene State College.

Calypso has collaborated with leading arts organizations including the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Houston Grand Opera, the Spoleto Festival, and the costume team for Season 4 of Netflix's Lupin. She also recently worked as associate costume designer for Benjamin Millepied's 2025 production of La Ville Dansée in Paris. Her teaching focuses on costume and set design and digital rendering, while her creative research explores staging identity, re-centering marginalized narratives, and translating social tension into dramatic form. As Calypso puts it, "the beauty of theater resides in its ability to conjure up complete worlds, revealing our society from fresh perspectives."

Outside the theater, she enjoys cooking, painting, singing, and playing board games.

Calypso's Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Awards:

Finalist for the 1/52 project;

Recipient of the FY26 Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund (Design Enhancement: Set, for Notch Theater Company);

Recipient of the Mass Cultural Council grant for her role in supporting a cultural life in Massachusetts during the 2020 pandemic;

Recipient of the UMass Arts Council Grant from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Katherine (Katie) Mott She/Her

Visiting Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies (PhD, Syracuse University, 2026; MS, Syracuse University, 2019; BS, SUNY-ESF, 2011)

Katherine "Katie" Mott is an ethnographer whose work explores the intersections of work and labor, food and the environment, and technology. She earned her PhD from Syracuse University in 2026, where her dissertation, Press to End Nightmare: Technology, Disfigured Labor, and Retail Grocery Work, examined how new technologies are transforming the experience of retail grocery workers. Her current research continues this work as she prepares a book manuscript on the changing nature of grocery labor.

During the 2025–26 academic year, Katie taught Urban Sociology, Introduction to Sociology, and Sociological Research Methods & Design in Colgate's Department of Sociology and Anthropology, where she says she "had a blast" teaching. She also served as Director of the Conflict Management Center at Syracuse University's Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration and previously worked as a water resources engineer designing green stormwater infrastructure for the City of Philadelphia.

Outside of work, Katie enjoys camping, cooking good food, catching up with friends, and taking in stand-up comedy and live music.

Katie's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

Mott, Katherine. 2026. “Checked Out: Coping and Cashiering in Retail Grocery Work.” Research in the Sociology of Work, v. 38. Binkley, UK. Emerald Publishing.

Mott, Katherine. 2022. “Hurry up and wait”: Stigma, Poverty and Contractual Citizenship. Qualitative Sociology 45:271-290.

Mott, Katherine and Maegan Krajewski, eds. 2021. Special Issue on “Food as a Tool for Social Change.” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

Mott, Katherine. 2021. Review of Feeding the Crisis: Care and Abandonment in America’s Social Safety Net by Maggie Dickinson (University of California Press, 2019) in Exertions (a web-based publication for the Society of Anthropology of Work Review).

Mott, Katherine. 2019. “Lotta Food, No Money”: Syracuse’s Poor Have Challenges that are Much Bigger than Food Access. Lerner Center Research Brief Series. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion.

Holt-Gimenez, Eric and Katherine Mott. 2016. Ground Shaking? Assessing the FAO’s 2015 International Year of Soils. Food First Backgrounder, Vol 22(1). Oakland, CA: Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy.

Awards:

2025 Winner of Harry Braverman Paper Award, Labor Studies Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems

2024, 2022 Syracuse University Maxwell School Roscoe-Martin Fund for Graduate Research

2024 Syracuse University Graduate School Summer Dissertation Fellowship

2024 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Syracuse University

2023-24 Labor Research and Action Network New Scholars Research Grant

2023-24, 2020-21 Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Graduate Fellowship, Department of Sociology

2022-23 Syracuse University Lender Center for Social Justice Graduate Assistantship

2022 Syracuse University Program for the Advancement in Research on Conflict and Collaboration John Burdick Mini-Grant

2021 Winner of Graduate Student Paper Competition, Sociology and Social Welfare Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems

Lisa Nehring She/Her

Visiting Instructor, Educational Studies (PhD, Johns Hopkins University, [expected fall 2026]; MS, Hunter College, 2016; BA, Colby College, 2014)

Lisa Nehring explores the connections between education, place, and the environment. Her dissertation, Overlooked Understory: Neighborhood and School-Based Perspectives for Ecologizing Education, examines the relationship between formal education and the urban outdoors through the everyday experiences of students and teachers in Baltimore. She is completing her PhD at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, with the degree expected in fall 2026.

Before pursuing her doctorate, Lisa taught sixth-grade science in Brooklyn, New York, where she developed a passion for place-based and outdoor learning. She has also taught in the TeachingWell Teacher Residency Program, preparing future secondary STEM teachers for careers in Baltimore-area schools. Her teaching and research focus on environmental justice, environmental education, school-based outdoor learning, climate change communication, and the social contexts of education.

Outside the classroom, Lisa enjoys tinkering in the garden, trying new fitness trends, and painting what she describes as "mediocre watercolors."

Lisa's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

Nehring, L., Shepard, L. R., Li, L., Mu, N., Cornwall, K. J. Jayabharathi, A., Zhang, Q., & Gehlbach, H. (2026). Gaining perspective in climate collaboration: The effect of establishing common ground on outgroup perceptions in climate-related communication. [Preprint] PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/e6zwq_v1

Awards:

Greater Baltimore Climate Summit Most Inclusive Research Award, 2025

NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Semifinalist, 2025

Johns Hopkins School of Education Social Justice Fellow, 2021-2025

Jeffrey A. Grigg Society of Excellence Award, 2024-2025

Johns Hopkins SNF Agora Institute Graduate Fellow, 2024-2025

Kristen Nelson She/Her/Hers

Assistant Professor, Sociology (PhD, UC Berkeley, 2023; BA, Smith College, 2007)

Kristen Nelson studies the social forces that shape racial attitudes and bias. She earned her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2023, where her dissertation, The Social Roots of Implicit Racial Bias, explored the social and psychological foundations of implicit bias. Before joining Colgate, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow with UC Berkeley's Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center.

Kristen teaches courses on race and ethnicity, racism and anti-racism, and social psychology. Her research examines these same areas, with a particular interest in understanding how social environments influence racial attitudes and interactions.

Outside of her academic work, Kristen enjoys running, hiking, rock climbing, and meditation.

Kristen's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

Nelson, Kristen Novella. 2023. “The Limited Promise of Interracial Friendship: Political Partisanship Moderates the Association between Having Black Friends and Anti-Black Implicit Bias.” Ethnic and Racial Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2236686.

Awards:

2022 Cynthia Ladd-Viti Leadership in Graduate Diversity Award, UC Berkeley Graduate Division

2021 Herbert Blumer Paper Prize, UC Berkeley Sociology Department

2021 Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times Award, UC Berkeley

2021 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award, Association of American Colleges & Universities

Michael O'Ryan He/Him/His

Olive B. O'Connor Creative Writing Fellow (MFA, University of Michigan, 2024; BA, University of Oregon, 2019)

Michael O'Ryan arrives at Colgate following his time as Poet in Residence at Interlochen Arts Academy. As the Olive B. O'Connor Fellow in Creative Writing, he brings a passion for poetry and literary arts. Beyond the written word, Michael enjoys film, tennis, and exploring new restaurants wherever he goes.

Michael's Publications

Publications:

"Pacifica", The Iowa Review, 2026; "Mortality Salience", Third Coast, 2026; "Agnosticism", North American Review, 2026; "Vinery", Oxford Poetry, 2026; "Against Logos", Ninth Letter, 2025; "On Praise", The Missouri Review, 2025; "Aspen", The Cincinnati Review, 2025; "Wyoming, February", Best New Poets 2024; "Horse Thief", Narrative Magazine, 2024

Gretchen Perhamus She/Her

Assistant Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences (PhD, University at Buffalo, SUNY 2025; BA Psychology and BA Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, 2016)

Gretchen Perhamus is a clinical psychologist whose research focuses on understanding how youth develop externalizing behaviors, including irritability, aggression, and callous-unemotional traits. She earned her PhD in Psychology from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, in 2025, where her dissertation, Peer Socialization Processes in the Development of Callous-Unemotional Traits, examined how peer relationships shape youth development. Prior to joining Colgate, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Gretchen's teaching interests include Psychopathology, Developmental Psychology, and Statistics in Psychology. As a license-eligible clinical psychologist, she has worked extensively with children and families, particularly in the areas of disruptive behaviors, trauma-focused interventions, and community-based approaches that improve access to care for underserved populations. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how emotional, social, and environmental factors influence resilience and mental health outcomes in youth.

Outside of her academic work, Gretchen is a violist who has performed with community and semi-professional orchestras since college. She also enjoys running, reading, hiking, and spending time with her dog, Mini, and cat, Bergamot. She looks forward to exploring the classical music community in Hamilton and the surrounding area.

Gretchen's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

1. Perhamus, G. R., Perry, K. J., Murray-Close, D. & Ostrov, J. M. (2026). Multi-system stress activity profiles and socioemotional functioning across the transition to kindergarten. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 103, 101931. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2026.101931 Preregistration: https://osf.io/gezsx

2. Siciliano, R.E., Korom, M., Adams, Z., Chapman, J. E., Hall, K. E., Bounoua, N., Perhamus, G. R., Bernard, D., Amaya, S. & Danielson, C. K. (2026). Polyvictimization profiles and variations in youth mental health symptoms: A person-centered approach. Child Maltreatment, 31(2), 373-386.

doi: 10.1177/10775595251334115

3. Perhamus, G. R., Murray-Close, D. & Ostrov, J. M. (2025). Parenting and peer victimization in the development of callous-unemotional behaviors: Moderation by irritability and basal cortisol. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 53(9) 1311-1323. doi: 10.1007/s10802-025-01343-9

4. Perhamus, G. R. & Ostrov, J. M. (2025). Peer socialization processes in the development of callous-unemotional traits. Development and Psychopathology, 37(4) 2217-2234. doi: 10.1017/S0954579424001846

5. Lent, M. C., Perry, K. J., Perhamus, G. R., Buck, C., Murray-Close, D. & Ostrov, J. M. (2024). Is autonomic functioning distinctly associated with anxiety and asocial withdrawal? International Journal of Psychophysiology, 200, 112343. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112343.

6. Ramer, N. E., Perhamus, G. R., & Colder, C. (2024). Longitudinal reciprocal associations between reinforcement sensitivity and psychopathology: Within- and between-person effects. Developmental Psychology 60(3), 545-559. doi:10.1037/dev0001689

7. Perhamus, G. R., Ostrov, J. M. & Murray-Close, D. (2024). Aggression and irritability in middle childhood: Between- and within-person associations. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 53(2), 184 – 198. doi:10.1080/15374416.2023.2272941

8. Perry, K. J., Perhamus, G. R., Memba, G., Murray-Close, D., & Ostrov, J. M. (2024). A social-ecological model of preschoolers’ aggressive behavior: An exploratory analysis. School Psychology, 39(1), 95-105. doi:10.1037/spq0000565

9. Perry, K. J., Perhamus, G. R., Lent, M. C., Murray-Close, D. & Ostrov, J. M. (2023). The COVID-19 pandemic and measurement of preschooler’s executive functions. Psychological Assessment, 35(11), 986 – 999. doi:10.1037/pas0001250

10. Ostrov, J. M., Murray-Close, D., Perry, K. J., Perhamus, G. R., Memba, G., Rice, D. & Nowalis, S. (2023). Parenting and adjustment problems among preschoolers during COVID-19. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32(1) 93-109. doi:10.1007/s10826-022-02438-2. Preregistration: https://osf.io/m54y8

11. Perhamus, G. R. & Ostrov, J. M. (2023). Inhibitory control in early childhood aggression subtypes: Mediation by irritability. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 54, 366-378. doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01254-y

12. Ostrov, J. M., Murray-Close, D., Perry, K. J., Blakely-McClure, S., Perhamus, G. R., Mutignani, L., Kesselring, S., Memba, G., & Probst, S. (2023). The development of forms and function of aggression during early childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 35(2), 941 – 957. doi:10.1017/S0954579422000177 Preregistration: https://osf.io/5mjsw

13. Perhamus, G. R., Perry, K. J., Murray-Close, D. & Ostrov, J. M. (2022). Stress reactivity and social cognition in pure and co-occurring early childhood relational bullying and victimization. Development and Psychopathology, 34(4), 1300-1312. doi:10.1017/S0954579421000298 Preregistration: osf.io/x36cz.

14. Haller, S. P., Stoddard, J., Botz-Zapp, C., Clayton, M., MacGillivray, C., Perhamus, G., Stiles, K., Kircanski, K., Penton-Voak, I. S., Bar-Haim, Y., Munafò, M., Towbin, K. E., & Brotman, M. A. (2022). Computerized interpretation bias training for disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: A fast-fail study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 61(1), 37-45. doi: 10.1016.j.jaac.2021.05.022

15. Perhamus, G. R. & Ostrov, J. M. (2021). Emotions and cognitions in early childhood aggression: The role of irritability and hostile attribution biases. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(1), 63-75. doi: 10.1007/s10802-020-00707-7

16. Linke, J., Kircanski, K., Brooks, J., Perhamus, G., Gold, A.L., & Brotman, M.A. (2020). Exposure-based CBT for disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: An evidence-based case study. Behavior Therapy, 51, 320-333. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2019.05.007

17. Tseng, W.L., Deveney, C.M., Stoddard, J., Kircanski, K., Frackman, A.E., Yi, J., Hsu, D., Moroney, E., Machlin, L., Donahue, L., Roule, A., Perhamus, G., Reynolds, R., Roberson-Nay, R., Hettema, J., Towbin, K.E., Stringaris, A., Pine, D.S., Brotman, M.A., & Leibenluft, E. (2019). Brain mechanisms of attention orienting following frustration: Associations with irritability and age in youth. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 67-76. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18040491

Awards:

2025

- Best Research Paper Award, Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship

2024

- Student Achievement Award in Research – Late-Stage Graduate Student, Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology/APA Div. 53

- Rosatti Award, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo

2023

- Bugelski Dissertation Award Runner-Up, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo

- Graduate Student Travel Award, Society for Research in Child Development

- SUNY Graduate Research Empowering and Accelerating Talent Award

2022

- Morton D. Brooks Scholarship, Psychological Association of Western New York

- International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA) 2022 Young Investigator

- Murray Levine Graduate Award for Community Engagement in Psychology, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo

-Dissertation Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo

2021

- Robert W. Rice Memorial Award for Excellence in Research, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo

- Psychology Graduate Student Association Travel Award, University at Buffalo

2018 - 2022 Presidential Fellowship, University at Buffalo

2017 Outstanding Poster Award, National Institutes of Health Postbac Poster Day

2016 Undergraduate Student Spotlight, Pennsylvania State University Child Study Center

2015 Erickson Summer Discovery Grant, Pennsylvania State University

2015 Dean’s Chair Scholarship, College of Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State University

2014 – 2016 Gene & Roz Chaiken Trustee Scholarship, College of Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State University

Eric Robertson He/Him/His

Assistant Professor, Economics (PhD, University of Virginia, 2026; MA, University of Virginia, 2021; BA, University of Virginia, 2017)

Eric Robertson brings a passion for understanding how economies develop and change over time. He recently completed his PhD at the University of Virginia, where his dissertation, Essays in Development Economics, examined key questions in economic development. His teaching interests include economic history and economic development, while his research explores the intersections of economic history, development economics, and political economy.

Outside the classroom, Eric enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, staying active through fitness, and experimenting in the kitchen. He is also an avid student of history, often exploring it through books and travel.

Eric's Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Tipton R. Snavely Distinguished Dissertation Award, 2026

Jackson-Farrell Graduate Fellowship, 2025

Bankard Fund for Political Economy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, 2025

Quantitative Collaborative Bynum Grant, 2024

Dumas Malone Graduate Research Fellowship, 2023

Tipton R. Snavely Fund Prize for the Best Dissertation Proposal, 2023

Jacob Shaffer He/They

Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology (PhD, University of Tennessee - Knoxville, 2025; BS, University of Puget Sound, 2019)

Jacob Shaffer studies life in some of Earth's most extreme environments. He earned his PhD from the University of Tennessee–Knoxville in 2025, where his dissertation, Microbial Interactions in an Antarctic Desert: Responses to Environmental Change and Tools for Life Detection, explored how microorganisms survive and interact in one of the planet's harshest ecosystems. Prior to joining Colgate, Jacob was a postdoctoral researcher at Brigham Young University.

His teaching interests include microbiology and astrobiology, and his research focuses on the ecology of microbial communities in cold environments. By examining life in extreme conditions on Earth, his work also contributes to the search for life beyond our planet.

When he's not conducting research, Jacob enjoys hiking, camping, rock climbing, and playing the saxophone.

Jacob's Publications, Awards, Honors and Distinctions

Publications:

J Shaffer, A Jarratt, B Boles, J Mikucki. “Draft genomes of three abundant bacterial isolates from hypersaline Don Juan Pond, Antarctica.” (2025). Microbiol. Resour. Annouc. 0:e00279-25. DOI: 10.1128/mra.00279-25.

J Shaffer, E Sklute, R Samples, LA Giddings, A Jarratt, K Mateos, MD Dyar, P Lee, K Livi, J Mikucki. “Multi-technique characterization of iron reduction by an Antarctic Shewanella: an analog system for putative Martian biosignature identification.” (2025) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 0:e02528-24. DOI: 10.1128/aem.02528-24

J Clance, J Shaffer (Co-first author), M Cable, C Stenner, M Paton, A Szynkiewicz, O Vinnes, G Williams-Jones, K Graham, J Mikucki. “Biogeochemistry of the rare sulfidic glaciovolcanic cave system on Mount Meager, British Columbia, Canada.” (2024). Front. Geochem. 2:1410338. DOI: 10.3389/fgeoc.2024.1410338

R Samples, R Mukoyama, J Shaffer, J Mikucki, LA Giddings. “OpenASAP: an Affordable 3D Printed Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP) Mass Spectrometry System for Direct Analysis of Solid and Liquid Samples.” (2023). HardwareX. 16:e00490. DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00490.

E Phillips, J Shaffer (Co-first author), M Henson, J Coelho, M Martin, JC Thrash. “Genome Sequences of Four Agarolytic Bacteria from the Bacteroidia and Gammaproteobacteria.” (2023). Microbiol. Resour. Annouc. 12:11. DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00667-23.

J Shaffer, LA Giddings, R Samples, J Mikucki. “Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of a red-pigmented strain of Massilia frigida isolated from an Antarctic microbial mat.” (2023). Front. Microbiol. 14:1156033. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1156033.

Awards:

Kenneth L. and Wanda G. Beattie Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Research – Department of Microbiology, UTK (2025)

Graduate Student Teaching Award – Department of Microbiology, UTK (2021)

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