Our Faculty

Seventh College faculty are committed to developing the next generation of changemakers, global leaders, and visionaries who are equipped to confront the challenges posed by a changing planet.

Virtual Room, Qualcomm Institute — *Photo was taken prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.*

The creative, energetic, and accomplished faculty affiliated with Seventh College are from every academic division at UC San Diego. Our faculty play a pivotal role in shaping the academic mission of the College, teaching our Synthesis courses, mentoring students, supervising research projects, and serving on College and campus committees.

Faculty Spotlight: Lei Liang wins American Academy of Arts & Letters Music Award

Professor Lei Liang, whose work boldly fuses Eastern and Western traditions, has been selected as a 2021 winner of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Awards.

Opportunities for Faculty

For faculty, Seventh College provides a venue for interdisciplinary collaboration and shared ideas around the climate crisis and other pressing global issues. In addition, just the colleges serve as a welcoming community for students, they do the same for faculty as well, providing them with numerous opportunities to meet faculty and students across campus.

Here are a few ways for faculty to get involved:

Serve on our Executive Committee (elections occur each Spring)
Teach one of our Synthesis courses, our First-Year Experience course, or our Transfer-Year Experience course
Serve as a faculty mentor for the Triton Research and Experiential Learning Scholars (TRELS) program
Talk about your research in our Freshman Honors Seminar
Take part in our Coffee-With-A-Prof or Dine-With-A-Prof program (temporarily suspended for 2020-2021 academic year)
Serve on a faculty panel at Orientation
Participate in the Seventh College Commencement ceremony

For more information, contact the Provost’s Office at seventhprovost@ucsd.edu

Faculty Committees

Executive Committee

The Seventh College Executive Committee oversees the academic mission of the college and helps shape its general education curriculum.

Members for 2020 - 2021
Michael Burkart, Professor of Chemistry
Michael McCullough, Professor of Psychology
Niema Moshiri, Assistant Teaching Professor of Computer Science & Engineering
Sarah Stockwell, Assistant Teaching Professor of Ecology, Behavior & Evolution
Alena Williams, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
Stephanie Mel, Chair of Faculty, ex-officio
Kate Antonovics, Provost, ex-officio
Josh Brimmeier, Dean of Student Affairs, ex-officio
Shannon O'Brien, Dean of Academic Advising, ex-officio

Members for 2019 - 2020
Adam Aron, Professor of Psychology
Prabhakar Bandaru, Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Michael Burkart, Professor of Chemistry
Karl Gerth, Professor of History
Stephanie Mel, Associate Teaching Professor of Molecular Biology
Kate Antonovics, Provost, ex-officio
Josh Brimmeier, Dean of Student Affairs, ex-officio
Shannon O'Brien, Dean of Academic Advising, ex-officio

High-Impact Advisory Committee

The Seventh College High-Impact Advisory Committee recommends and reviews experiential learning opportunities for the college's High-Impact Requirement.

Members for 2020-2021
Patty Ahn, Assistant Professor of Communication
Susan Golden, Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology
Brian Palenik, Professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Patrick Pannuto, Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Engineering
Pinar Yoldas, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts

Synthesis Advisory Committee

Members for 2020 - 2021
Adam Aron, Professor of Psychology
Jose Fusté, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies
Karl Gerth, Professor of History
Jane Teranes, Teaching Professor - Scripps Institution of Oceanography
David Victor, Professor of International Relations

Academic Senate Representative Assembly

Delegates for 2020 - 2021
George Porter, Associate Professor of Computer Science & Engineering
Tom Vogl, Associate Professor of Economics

Alternate Delegates for 2020 - 2021
Edward Wang, Assistant Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Robert Pomeroy, LSOE of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Faculty Listing by Division

Arts & Humanities

Carol Arcos Herrera, Literature
Amanda Batarseh, Literature
David Borgo, Music
Mark Dresser, Music
Cathy Gere, History
Karl Gerth, History
Sarah Hankins, Music
Lei Liang, Music
Ping-hui Liao, Literature
Robert McElver, Theatre & Dance
Alena Williams, Visual Arts
Pinar Yoldas, Visual Arts
Yingjin Zhang, Literature

Biological Sciences

Marcus Benna, Neurobiology
Elsa Cleland, Ecology, Behavior & Evolution
Andreas Ernst, Cell & Developmental Biology
Susan Golden, Molecular Biology
Ralph Greenspan, Neurobiology
Alisa Huffaker, Cell & Developmental Biology
Sara Jackrel, Ecology, Behavior & Evolution
Xin Jin, Neurobiology
Stephen Mayfield, Molecular Biology
Stephanie Mel, Molecular Biology
Sarah Stockwell, Ecology, Behavior & Evolution
Kay Tye, Neurobiology

Jacobs School of Engineering

Alexey Arefiev, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Prabhakar Bandaru, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Albert Chern, Computer Science & Engineering
Karen Christman, Bioengineering
Prasad Gudem, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Melissa Gymrek, Computer Science & Engineering
Nadia Heninger, Computer Science & Engineering
Patricia Hildago-Gonazalez, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Zeinab Jahed, Nanoengineering
David Kamensky, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Boris Kramer, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Kirill Levchenko, Computer Science & Engineering
Niema Moshiri, Computer Science & Engineering
Kenji Nomura, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Patrick Pannuto, Computer Science & Engineering
George Porter, Computer Science & Engineering
Alyssa Powell, Nanoengineering
Gabriel Silva, Bioengineering
Georgios Tsampras, Structural Engineering
Kristen Vaccaro, Computer Science & Engineering
Jon Wade, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Edward Wang, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Pengtao Xie, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Yang Zheng, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Physical Sciences

Michael Burkart, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Ioana Dumitriu, Mathematics
Philip Gill, Mathematics
Tongyan Lin, Physics
Dragos Oprea, Mathematics
Robert Pomeroy, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Erik Romero, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Mattia Serra, Physics
Jonathan Slade, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Julia Stauber, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Luca Spolaor, Mathematics
Zhouli Xu, Mathematics
Liang Yang, Physics

Rady School of Management

Rossen Valkanov

School of Global Policy & Strategy

Jennifer Burney
Teevrat Garg
Joshua Graff Zivin
Emilie Hafner-Burton
Lauren Prather
Nico Ravanilla

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Dovi Kacev
Brian Palenik

Social Sciences

Patty Ahn, Communication
David Arnold, Economics
Adam Aron, Psychology
Amy Bintliff, Education Studies Program
Judd Boomhower, Economics
Suzanne Brenner, Anthropology
Jasper Cooper, Political Science
Tom Csordas, Anthropology
Steven Dow, Cognitive Science
Erik Gartzke, Political Science
Stuart Geiger, Communication
Michael Joseph, Political Science
Lane Kenworthy, Sociology
Scott Klemmer, Cognitive Science
Michael McCullough, Psychology
Katherine Meckel, Economics
Eran Mukamel, Cognitive Science
Paul Niehaus, Economics
Zeynep Pamuk, Political Science
Jim Rauch, Economics
Isabel Rivera-Collazo, Anthropology
Thomas Schmidt, Communication
Fabian Trottner, Economics
Tom Vogl, Economics
David Wiens, Political Science
Michelle Yuan, Linguistics

Our Faculty

Photo was taken prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faculty Spotlight: Lei Liang wins American Academy of Arts & Letters Music Award

Opportunities for Faculty

Faculty Committees

Faculty Listing by Division