OBJECTIVES

Alka Sapat, Ph.D., is the Director at the School of Public Administration at Florida Atlantic University. Her expertise encompasses disaster management, public policy processes, vulnerability and resilience assessment, and methodology. She was a research fellow with the National Science Foundation's "Next Generation of Hazards Researchers" program and has been involved in a number of initiatives including NSF and DHS funded projects on building code regulations, disaster-induced population displacement, post-disaster housing, the role of the Haitian diaspora and NGOs in disaster recovery, port recovery, and critical infrastructure resilience. Her work has been published in the Natural Hazards Review, Public Administration Review, the American Review of Public Administration, Risk Analysis, Natural Hazards, the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, and other scholarly venues. Her teaching interests include disaster management and homeland security, disaster planning and public policy, research methods, and statistical analysis. She serves on the Florida State Disaster Housing Task Force and the Governor's Hurricane Conference committee, along with serving on local committees on post-disaster housing initiatives.

Russell Ivy serves as the interim provost for Academic Affairs. In this capacity, he is responsible for providing leadership in formulating and administering university policies for student learning outcomes assessment, academic program review, institutional and program-based accreditation, review of new degree proposals, and other projects related to academic programs and curriculum. He leads FAU's Team for Assurance of Student Learning (TASL).

Ivy received both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Geography from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Florida. He joined FAU in 1992, and in addition to professorial duties, served 5 years as Associate Chair and 9 years as Chair of Geosciences. During that time, he led the department in the development of a doctoral program in Geosciences. Additionally, he has served as interim Dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science since August of 2013. He holds the current rank of Professor in Geosciences.

Alka Sapat, Ph.D., Alka Sapat is the Director at the School of Public Administration at Florida Atlantic University. Her expertise encompasses disaster management, public policy processes, vulnerability and resilience assessment, and methodology. She was a research fellow with the National Science Foundation's "Next Generation of Hazards Researchers" program and has been involved in a number of initiatives including NSF and DHS funded projects on building code regulations, disaster-induced population displacement, post-disaster housing, the role of the Haitian diaspora and NGOs in disaster recovery, port recovery, and critical infrastructure resilience. Her work has been published in the Natural Hazards Review, Public Administration Review, the American Review of Public Administration, Risk Analysis, Natural Hazards, the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, and other scholarly venues. Her teaching interests include disaster management and homeland security, disaster planning and public policy, research methods, and statistical analysis. She serves on the Florida State Disaster Housing Task Force and the Governor's Hurricane Conference committee, along with serving on local committees on post-disaster housing initiatives.

Russell Ivy serves as the interim provost for Academic Affairs. In this capacity, he is responsible for providing leadership in formulating and administering university policies for student learning outcomes assessment, academic program review, institutional and program-based accreditation, review of new degree proposals, and other projects related to academic programs and curriculum. He leads FAU's Team for Assurance of Student Learning (TASL).

Ivy received both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Geography from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Florida. He joined FAU in 1992, and in addition to professorial duties, served 5 years as Associate Chair and 9 years as Chair of Geosciences. During that time, he led the department in the development of a doctoral program in Geosciences. Additionally, he has served as interim Dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science since August of 2013. He holds the current rank of Professor in Geosciences.

Chad E. Forbes, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and FAU's Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. He earned his bachelor's in psychology (minors in biology and chemistry) from Long Beach State University, followed by his master's and doctorate degree in psychology with emphases in social and cognitive neuroscience from the University of Arizona. Forbes also pursued postdoctoral training in the cognitive neuroscience section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. His research examines the tenets and dynamic modulation of self and identity as a function of biology, memory, context and time. Specifically, Forbes employs a variety of methods, including brain-based measures targeting more non-conscious and affective psychological processes (e.g., EEG, fMRI and genetics) and big data assessments targeting systemic societal factors (e.g., regional levels of bias, segregation and diversity), to better understand how priming negative stereotypes associated with stigmatized individuals in our society, e.g. ethnic minorities and women, may ironically engender situations where these individuals inadvertently reinforce the stereotype. These situations of stereotype reinforcement ultimately can bias the way stigmatized individuals perceive themselves in certain domains and bias how others perceive them to adversely affect various behavioral and health outcomes among the stigmatized. This work has resulted in a federally funded grants and publications in top-tier journals in the field, including Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and recognition from the American Psychological Association as a "Rising Star" in psychology.

Ying Liu, Ph.D., manages the development, enhancement, and maintenance of information resource data to support decision making, planning, and reporting for the entire University community. He leads the Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Analysis (IEA) and supports University executives, campus administrators, and campus committees with research, planning, and analysis for evidence-based decision making and policy formation. Prior to joining FAU in March of 2018, Dr. Liu was the Director of Institutional Research at the University of Toledo. He has also worked at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Toronto, and McMaster University. Dr. Liu earned his Ph.D. in psychology from Beijing Normal University in China and his master’s degree in statistics from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Liu’s research has focused on measuring student outcomes with advanced statistical models, as well as the cognitive processes involved in learning.

Chad E. Forbes, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and FAU's Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. He earned his bachelor's in psychology (minors in biology and chemistry) from Long Beach State University, followed by his master's and doctorate degree in psychology with emphases in social and cognitive neuroscience from the University of Arizona. Forbes also pursued postdoctoral training in the cognitive neuroscience section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. His research examines the tenets and dynamic modulation of self and identity as a function of biology, memory, context and time. Specifically, Forbes employs a variety of methods, including brain-based measures targeting more non-conscious and affective psychological processes (e.g., EEG, fMRI and genetics) and big data assessments targeting systemic societal factors (e.g., regional levels of bias, segregation and diversity), to better understand how priming negative stereotypes associated with stigmatized individuals in our society, e.g. ethnic minorities and women, may ironically engender situations where these individuals inadvertently reinforce the stereotype. These situations of stereotype reinforcement ultimately can bias the way stigmatized individuals perceive themselves in certain domains and bias how others perceive them to adversely affect various behavioral and health outcomes among the stigmatized. This work has resulted in a federally funded grants and publications in top-tier journals in the field, including Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and recognition from the American Psychological Association as a "Rising Star" in psychology.

Cammi Clark, Ph.D., senior director of Research Communications for the office of University Relations and Public Affairs, and adjunct professor with the School of Communication & Multimedia Studies in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University.

She leads a team of communication professionals responsible for discovering and sharing with the world the stories behind the research, scholarship and creative activity happening across the university. The team tells those stories through a variety of platforms from print and digital magazines to daily websites, through videos, social media, advertisements, and more.

After earning an undergraduate degree in communications from Brockport University in New York, her career journey began as a journalist for a major metropolitan daily newspaper. It was there where she cut her teeth in storytelling, bringing words to life of the people, places and things around her.

After more than a dozen years as a newspaper journalist, and briefly dipping her toe into a corporate advertising agency, she decided to build a specialty niche magazine – a content-driven, women’s lifestyle magazine where she could continue to tell stories through a platform that was a voice where sometimes there was none.

Shortly after, she was invited to expand those skills at a larger, more national publication headquartered in Florida. The move from a snowy New York landscape to a sunny Florida beach view seemed like the right choice.

Simultaneously, she spent the last decade doing research. She earned two master’s degrees, the first in narrative medicine and the second in leadership and change, as well as a doctorate degree in leadership and change, all from Antioch University. Her dissertation research focused on the psychological implications of living with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The published study is a compilation of genetic research and telling the stories of people trying to outrun their almost certain probability of getting a cancer that may never come.

It was that blended world – a world between traditional research and creatively telling stories – that led her to FAU, where she uses her experience, expertise and education to help the world see the story behind the research.

Aloha Balza is the assistant director for the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice at Florida Atlantic University. She works collaboratively to create and implement interprofessional programming for medical, nursing, and social work students. Her responsibilities include collecting and reporting IPE&P assessment data and use it to improve programming quality and reach. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from New York University and her Master of Public Administration degree from Florida Atlantic University. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the School for Public Administration at FAU.