new faculty

Introducing New Members of the Faculty

To help introduce to the Cornell community the new members of the university's faculty the Cornell Chronicle is publishing brief, new-faculty profiles each week during the semester.

Michael Fara

Assistant professor, philosophy
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic focus: Metaphysics, philosophical logic, philosophy of language.
Previous position: Ph.D. candidate, Princeton University
Academic background: B.A., mathematics and philosophy, Oxford University, 1995; M.A., Ph.D. program in philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995-97, transferred; Ph.D. Princeton, philosophy, 2001.

Jayavel Shanmugasundaram

Assistant professor, computer science
College: Arts and Sciences, Engineering
Academic focus: Internet data management, database systems, and transaction processing in emerging system architectures. Recent work has centered on the use of XML to publish relational databases on the web. He is co-applicant for several patents on database technology.
Previous position: Research associate, IBM Almaden Research Center
Academic background: B.E., computer science, Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli, India, 1995; M.S., computer science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1997; Ph.D., computer science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001.

Nancy M. Wells

Assistant professor, design and environmental analysis
College: Human Ecology
Academic focus: The study of people's relationships with both built and natural elements of their residential environment through the life course. Her research includes low-income urban families transitioning to new housing through their partnership with a self-help housing program; the impact of housing quality on mental health; elderly housing options; and the effects of nearby nature on the functioning and well-being of children and adult housing occupants.
Previous position: Postdoctoral fellow, School of Social Ecology, University of California, 2000-2001; research associate, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, 2000.
Academic background: B.A., psychology, Connecticut College, 1986; M.S., design and environmental analysis, Cornell, 1994; Ph.D., psychology and architecture, University of Michigan, 2000.

October 4, 2001