Mathematics, Physics and Statistics Faculty
The Department of Mathematics, Physics and Statistics has grown in size and scope and includes a faculty with a diverse array of research interests. Supplementing their varied expertise is a common goal of preparing you in a nurturing and supportive yet academically challenging environment. The end result is an education that leaves you ready to innovate upon graduation.
Elia V. Eschenazi, PhD
Chair and Professor of Physics
e.eschen@usp.edu | 215.596.8707
Dr. Eschenazi holds a PhD from Drexel University and a doctor of physics from University of Milan, Italy. His research interests include turbulence and chaotic advection non-linear dynamics and chaos, flows through porous media, colloidal science and polymer physics, physics of phages, quantum dots, nano-structures and chaos, pattern formation and physics education.
Salar Alsardary, PhD
Associate Professor of Mathematics
s.alsard@usp.edu | 215.596.8761
Dr. Alsardary holds a PhD and a master’s degree from West Virginia University. His thesis title was: Paths and cycles in powers of a complete graph. He also holds master’s from the University of Mosul, thesis title, The basis number of some non-planar graphs, and a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Sulaimania. His research interests are Graph Theory, Combinatorics, Special Functions, Mathematics Education, History of Mathematics.
Tarlok S. Aurora, PhD
Professor of Physics
t.aurora@usp.edu | 215.596.8911
Dr. Aurora received his doctorate from the University of Arkansas and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Bombay, India. His research interests are physics education, undergraduate laboratory, the use of technology in education and astronomy.
Barbara Bendl, MEd
Lecturer in Mathematics
b.bendl@usp.edu | 215.895.1120
Ms. Bendl holds a master’s from Arcadia University and a bachelor’s from Seton Hill University. Her research interests are calculus reform, fractals, the history of mathematics, especially history of the concept of infinity, interdisciplinary teaching, the role of technology in mathematics and science, program evaluation, and student attitudes towards mathematics, science and technology.
Bernard J. Brunner,PhD
Associate Professor of Physics
b.brunne@usp.edu | 215.596.8898
Dr. Brunner earned his PhD and MS from Ohio State University and his BS from Wheeling Jesuit University. He studies physics and mathematics education and human gait analysis.
Ping Y. Cunliffe, MA, MS
Lecturer in Physics
Laboratory Manager
p.cunlif@usp.edu | 215.596.8591
Ms. Cunliffe holds master’s degrees from Wesleyan University and Alfred University and a bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Normal University.
Sergio Freire, PhD
Assistant Professor of Physics
s.freire@usp.edu
Dr. Freire received his doctorate and master's from UFMG, Brazil. His research is focused on the development of instrumentation and microfluidics platforms for cilia/axonemes characterization.
Paul Halpern, PhD
Professor of Physics
p.halper@usp.edu | 215.596.8913
Dr. Halpern received his doctorate and master’s from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his bachelor’s from Temple University. His research interests are general relativity, cosmology, chaos and complexity, cellular automata, generic algorithms, the history and philosophy of science, and literature, culture and science.
Amy Kimchuk, MA
Lecturer in Mathematics
a.kimchu@usp.edu | 215.596.8705
Ms. Kimchuk earned her master’s degree at Villanova, her bachelor’s at Gwynedd Mercy College, and an associate’s degree at Community College of Philadelphia. She researches mathematics anxiety.
Dorjderem Nyamjav, PhD
Assistant Professor of Physics
d.nyamjav@usp.edu | 215.596.8593
Dr. Nyamjav received his PhD from Purdue University.
Charalampos (Babis) Papachristou, PhD
Assistant Professor of Statistics
babis@usp.edu | 215.596.7615
Dr. Papachristou earned his PhD in Statistical Genetics from the Ohio State University and his BS in Mathematics from The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. His research interests are in statistical genetics. He currently focuses on the development of statistical and computational methods for linkage analysis, association mapping, and the analysis of microarray gene expression data.
Laura Pontiggia, PhD
Assistant Professor of Statistics
l.pontig@usp.edu | 215.596.8914
Dr. Pontiggia earned her PhD and MS in statistics from the University of Minnesota, and her doctor of economics at the Università di Pavia, Italy. Her research interest are stochastic game theory, application of cooperative game thoery to regression and classification problems, statistical models for clinical data, and statistical methods for pharmaceutical and public health data.
Edward Reimers, MA
Instructor in Mathematics
e.reimer@usp.edu | 215.596.8822
Mr. Reimers earned his MA from the State University of New York at Binghamton and his BA from La Salle University.
Durai Sabapathi, PhD
Professor Emeritus
dsabaa@gmail.com
Lia Vas, PhD
Associate Professor of Mathematics
l.vas@usp.edu | 215.596.8547
Dr. Vas earned her PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a BSc from the University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Her research interests are algebra, ring and module theory, algebras of operators, and algebraic topology.
Carl Walasek, MS
Instructor in Statistics
c.walase@usp.edu | 215.596.8796
Mr. Walasek earned his master’s degree in applied statistics at DePaul University and his bachelor’s in mathematics at the University of Illinois, Urbana. His reaserch interest are Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods and statistics education.
Research Faculty Appointments
Tilman Baumstark, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Biophysics
Associate Professor of Biology
t.baumst@usp.edu | 215.596.7531
Dr. Baumstark holds a PhD and master’s degree from Heinrich-Heine University, Germany. His research interests are positive strand RNA viruses (assembly of the viral replication complex and the role of RNA structure and RNA-protein interactions), subviral RNA pathogens (viroids and plant satellite RNAs) and protein-based drug delivery using yeast as a model system.
Phyllis Blumberg, PhD
Research Professor in Education
Professor of Psychology
Director, Teaching and Learning Center
p.blumbe@usp.edu | 215.895.1167
Dr. Blumberg’s interests in education are curriculum development, how to use learner-centered teaching approaches, educational leadership, faculty development, innovation in education and problem-based learning. Her research interests are active learning, learning centered-teaching, program evaluation, self-directed learning and student evaluation.
Zhijun Li, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Biophysics
Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics
zli@usp.edu | 215.596.7539
Dr. Li holds a doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He performed his postdoctoral work at Vanderbilt and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of molecular modeling and proteomics. Dr. Li’s research interests include the development of new tools to aid in the quantitative description of the membrane protein 3D structures currently available in databases, and the construction of protein and protein-complex models designed to help elucidate biological mechanisms.
Branimir Vasilic, PhD
215.985.9173
Dr. Vasilic received his PhD and MS degrees from the University of Maryland , College Park , and a BSc from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. His research interests are in structural magnetic resonance imaging.
Randy Zauhar, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Biophysics
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Director, MS in Bioinformatics Program
r.zauhar@usp.edu | 215.596.8691
Dr. Zauhar received a PhD from Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include bioinformatics and computer modeling of drug-receptor interactions.