Introducing new members of the faculty

Introducing New Members of the Faculty

To help introduce to the Cornell community the new members of the university's faculty -- almost 60 new tenured or tenure-track faculty members have joined Cornell since July 1 -- the Cornell Chronicle is publishing brief new-faculty profiles each week for the rest of the semester.

Yuri Berest

Assistant professor, mathematics
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic focus: Current research interests include algebraic geometry, representation theory and noncommutative algebra with a view toward applications to some classical problems in partial differential equations (lacunas for hyperbolic equations) and mathematical physics (integrable systems).
Previous position: Ch. Morrey (Jr.) Assistant Professor in Mathematics, University of California at Berkeley.
Academic background: M.A., mathematical physics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MFTI), 1993; and Ph.D., mathematics, Université de Montreal, 1997.

Sanjeev Bhojraj

Assistant professor, accounting
College: Johnson Graduate School of Management
Academic focus: Research focuses on discretionary disclosure, corporate governance and implications of international disclosure requirements.
Previous position: Ph.D., accounting, University of Florida, 1999. His business experience includes Citibank (India) and Sinar Mas Group (Indonesia).
Academic background: Bachelor of commerce, University of Madras, India, 1989; and associate member, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, 1992.

Nancy H. Chau

Assistant professor, agricultural economics
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Academic focus: Research is aimed at understanding the current dynamics of international trade. Her topics of research include efficiency impact of trade restrictions and the policies affecting the patterns of international migration.
Previous position: Assistant professor, economics, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill.
Academic background: B.A., economics, International Christian University, Tokyo, 1991; M.A., economics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1993; and Ph.D., economics, Johns Hopkins University, 1995.

David I. Schwartz

Assistant professor, computer science
Research focus: Research combines experience and background in civil engineering with computer science and applied mathematics. He is applying methods of artificial intelligence to improve structural analysis by allowing for uncertainties in the data. He published two textbooks -- Introduction to UNIX (Prentice Hall, 1999) and Introduction to Maple (Prentice Hall, 1999) -- before he received his Ph.D.
Previous position: Ph.D., civil engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1999.
Academic background: B.S., civil engineering, 1990, and M.S., civil engineering, 1994, both from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Sophie Xiofei Tian

Assistant professor, Asian studies
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic focus: Chinese poetry and classical Chinese literature, and in particular, the literature of the Southern Dynasties as the beginning of a vital counterculture that remained the critic and gadfly of orthodox literary culture. Currently working on articles on the nostalgic image of jiang-nan (the Southland) in classical Chinese poetry and the popular songs of the Southern Dynasties.
Previous position: Visiting assistant professor, Colgate University, 1998-99; Teaching associate, Columbia University, 1995-96.
Academic background: B.A., Beijing University, 1989; M.A., English literature, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1991; and Ph.D, comparative literature, Harvard University, 1998.

Arthur L. Wilson

Associate professor, education
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Academic focus: Wilson's teaching has included courses on the profession of adult and continuing education, adult learning theory and adult education program planning. Most recently Wilson collaborated on the International Dictionary of Adult and Continuing Education. He also has been an editor of the book What Really Matters in Adult Education Program Planning: Lessons in Negotiating Power and Interests.
Previous position: Assistant professor of adult education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.
Academic background: B.A., sociology, University of Virginia, 1972; M.S.Ed., adult and continuing education, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1980; and Ed.D., adult education, University of Georgia, 1991.

October 14, 1999