Meet the Newest Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Faculty

The psychological impact of discrimination, the economics of marrying your cousin, fossil fuel economies in South Asia and the Mississippi Delta, quantum algorithms, how Black intellectuals shared ideas through the British empire, the organization of political parties and more.

"Our new faculty are not only among the world's brightest minds, but they are individuals driven by a passion for enriching the lives of our students," says Dean Gary G. Bennett.

Meet Trinity's newest scholars and educators.

Four Thompson Writing Program Faculty Members

Crystallizing Identity and Connecting Through Writing

Five new faculty members in Thompson Writing Program are helping Duke students, and occasionally their faculty colleagues, examine and advance their own relationships with writing. Yan Li, Sharieka Botex, Hannah Taylor, Xiao “Katy” Tan and Ben Hojem arrived at Duke this summer. Read more.

Jingqiu Guan

The assistant professor of the practice in the Dance Program doesn’t shy from sharing her authentic self through personal narratives. Read more.

“Dance on film speaks to me. The possibilities are endless, and I can jump across dimensions — working within different locations and manipulating time.”

Mert Reisoglu

"Cinema and literature” are not often used in the same sentence as “transportation technologies,” but Assistant Professor of German Studies Mert Reisoglu sees them as intrinsically connected. Read more.

Christina León

Freedom of inquiry led Christina A. León to expand her boundaries and explore a wide swath of literary theories. The assistant professor in the Program of Literature wants to do the same for her students. Read more.

Maya Kronfeld

This new assistant professor in the Program of Literature combines studies of Kant's theory of consciousness with the novels of Virginia Woolf, Victor Hugo and Edgar Allan Poe. She's also a professional jazz pianist. Read more about Maya Kronfeld.

Christopher Ouma

For Associate Professor of English Christopher Ouma, Pan-African thinking is second nature. Read more in his profile.

"You don't just want to fill yourself up with information. You want to be able to enlarge, diversify and expand the way you interact with the world.”

$four math faculty members$

Four New Faculty Members Represent a ‘New Wave’ of Computational Thinking in Math

From computational math to networks, Di Fang, Suzanne Crifo, Alex Dunlap and Fan Wei represent a great stride toward the future of math. Read more about these new assistant professors in the Duke Department of Mathematics.

Divine Kumah

Visit Divine Kumah in his research lab and you’ll find him making what could be described as the world’s tiniest layer cakes. Read more about the new associate professor in Physics.

One of the things I tell students is, with my job, I wake up every day and I'm happy to go to work.

Danfeng Zhang

Danfeng Zhang is a new associate research professor of Computer Science. Joining Duke from Penn State, his research focuses on programming languages and on techniques that identify and correct potentially damaging software inaccuracies. Watch more.

Sara Lipshutz

Sara Lipshutz takes her excitement about genetics and evolution into the classroom, teaching students how small changes in the frequencies of genes can lead to the evolution of something different. Read more about the new assistant professor in Biology.

Arnaldo Carreira-Rosario

Combining neurobiology, behavior and genetics, new assistant professor of Biology Arnaldo Carreira-Rosario wants to understand how brains power up. Read more.

Arun Kannawadi

The new assistant research professor of Physics is part of a worldwide push to learn more about the Universe. Read more.

"These are fundamental questions that many of us may have wondered when we were kids. I certainly did."

Kelly Hogan

Kelly Hogan is making her intro classes fun, effective and equitable. Read more about the Biology professor of the practice's inclusive approach to teaching.

"Learning has to be personal, and you have to be invested."

Giovanna Invernizzi

Giovanna Invernizzi's research uses formal theory to study the organizational decisions of political parties. Read more about the new assistant professor of Political Science.

Arkadev Ghosh

Have you ever thought about the economic impact of marrying your cousin? Arkadev Ghosh has. The Assistant Professor in Economics looks at the economic benefits of interpersonal relations, from summer camps to cousin marriages. Read more.

Stephanie Li

“There is no canon of me,” says Research Professor Stephanie Li. Read more about how the Chinese-Mexican-American literary scholar found a home in African & African American Studies.

Federico Huneeus

Federico Huneeus navigates the crossroads between macroeconomics and labor interactions, offering insights that promise to reshape our understanding of domestic and global trade. Read more about the assistant professor of Economics.

Emily Lim Rogers

While the COVID-19 pandemic delayed or derailed fieldwork for many scholars, Emily Lim Rogers’ research as a medical ethnographer never slowed down. Read more about the assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology.

"Institution building is in my blood. I can't not do it."

Jon Green

After the polarizing politics of the 2016 U.S. election cycle, Green believes machine learning and causal inference are both vital to a healthy American democracy. Read more about the assistant professor in Political Science.

"Simply being able to predict voting behavior won't do — being able to explain the mechanism is more important."

Matthew Shutzer

Assistant Professor of History Matthew Shutzer has students examine the historical connection between climate change and the fossil fuel industry to understand why the global use of fossil fuels presents ethical, political and social problems. Read more.

Hannah Conway

Hannah Conway uses historical thinking to help her students talk about the environmental impacts in the South in a generous way. Read more about the assistant professor of History's dedication to the work of restorative justice for Southern communities.

Tony Cheng

Tony Cheng, assistant professor of Sociology, wants to know how police departments resist institutional reforms. Read more about his research.

Maureen Craig

Once Maureen Craig realized that being a researcher in psychology was “a thing” — that she could study processes and people as a career — it became the clear path. Read more from the associate research professor in Psychology & Neuroscience.

Khwezi Mkhize

Khwezi Mkhize’s career has followed global youth movements while his scholarship has followed the flow of Black intellectuals. Read more about the assistant professor in African & African American Studies.

Editorial direction by Marie Claire Chelini, Matt Hartman and Kathryn Kennedy

Articles by Cara August, Karl Leif Bates, Marie Claire Chelini, Matt Hartman, Kathryn Kennedy, Shaun King, Margo Lakin, Nya Lichaé McCray, Elizabeth Richardson, Mary-Russell Roberson, Robin A. Smith, Elizabeth Thompson and Haley Warren

Photography by John West and Shaun King

Special thanks to all of the new Trinity faculty and to those who contributed additional photos.