10 new faculty join Cornell
Cornell College welcomes 10 new full-time faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. As a group, they have studied around the world and cover a range of expertise from documentary filmmaking to the economics of invasive species.
Pictured, back row from left: James Goodenberger, Andrew Walters, Joshua Otten, Nicole Green, J. Fabian Candelaria, Collin O’Leary, Juana New Gavidia. Front row: Corrine Neville, Bing Yuan, and Noah Johnson. (Photo by Dee Ann Rexroat)
J. Fabian Candelaria, associate professor of mathematics, has research interests in applied mathematics, speleology and cartography, spatial analysis, ecology, and metapopulations. He was a professor of mathematics from 2007 to 2023 at the University of Puerto Rico and director since 2019 of its Center for Research and Creative Endeavors. He taught at Cornell from 2005–2007 and again for a block in 2011. He holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematical and computational sciences from the University of Iowa.
James Goodenberger, assistant professor of economics, has taught at Oglethorpe University’s Hammack School of Business in Atlanta, Georgia, since 2018, and prior to that at Washington and Lee University’s Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics in Lexington, Virginia. His research includes the economics of invasive species and the interactive effects of temperature and air pollution on labor productivity. He holds a Ph.D. in agricultural, environmental, and development economics, with a specialization in environmental and resource economics, from The Ohio State University.
Nicole Green, assistant professor of biology, has been a postdoctoral research scholar in anatomy and cell biology at the University of Iowa since 2018, and she has taught graduate courses at the Carver College of Medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Kansas State University in Manhattan. Her research uses the fruit fly Drosophila to understand how healthy tissues are maintained or may break down in diseases such as muscular dystrophy or cancer. Green loves bringing her research to the K-12 classroom and has been a science consultant for DC TV Podcasts Supergirl Radio since 2020.
Juana New Gavidia, assistant professor of Spanish, has taught at the University of Iowa’s departments of Spanish and Portuguese and Cinematic Arts, and the Universidad de los Andes in Venezuela. She holds a Ph.D. in film studies from the University of Iowa and an M.F.A in film editing from Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Her film production credits include camera work for the 2009 documentary “Vinotinto: la película.” Her research interests include contemporary Latin American documentary cinema and cartography.
Noah Johnson, visiting assistant professor of anthropology, has taught at the University of Iowa, Coe College, and Kirkwood Community College. His scholarly work with karate practitioners in the U.S. and Okinawa, Japan, examines the complex dynamics of traditions, practices, and discourses in cultural globalization. Most recently, this work has indicated that we should view leisure activities as cultural adaptations to the challenges and stressors of everyday life. Johnson earned his Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Iowa. He received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the University of Iowa Council on Teaching in 2020.
Corrine Neville, clinical assistant professor of elementary education, has experience as a lead teacher at Solon (Iowa) Elementary School (2019-2023), Edward White Career Academy in Chicago (2015-2018), James G. Blaine Elementary in Chicago where she also mentored student teachers through DePaul University (2007-2014), and Lakeshore Learning Center, Chicago (2006-07). She holds a master’s degree in education: interdisciplinary studies, curriculum, and instruction, from National Louis University in Chicago, and is national board certified.
Collin O’Leary, an assistant professor of biology and chemistry, earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Iowa State University in 2022, serving as a postdoctoral researcher after completing his studies. Before pursuing graduate studies, he worked for two years as a synthesis scientist at Integrated DNA Technologies, where he synthesized oligonucleotides. O’Leary’s research interests focus on identifying and characterizing RNA structures that impact the stability and translation of messenger RNAs within yeast. He enjoys time with family and has a passion for ultramarathon training.
Joshua Otten, assistant professor of biology, was a teaching assistant from 2018 to 2020 at the University of Toledo in Ohio, where he researched the long-term impacts of an oil spill on a freshwater turtle population and earned a Ph.D. in biology with a concentration in ecology. Otten worked as a wildlife biologist for many years, including at the Iowa DNR and also for an environmental consulting firm. He completed his master of science degree at the University of Northern Iowa studying wood turtles. He has received numerous grants to study turtles and other fauna in Iowa.
Andrew Walters, assistant professor of geology, has been a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona in Tucson since 2020. While there, he studied the geochemistry of leaf wax compounds preserved in ~50 million-year-old rocks in order to understand the hydroclimate of North America during the warm climate of the early Eocene. He earned a Ph.D. in geoscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has research interests in paleoclimatology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochronology.
Bing Yuan, visiting assistant professor of chemistry, holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Arizona in Tucson, a master of environment degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a master in earth science degree from Rice University, where she was a research assistant. She holds two patents and her research interests are green energetic materials, free radical reactions, and oxygen isotope fractionation during photosynthesis.
