NEW FACULTY
The latest talent on campus: Introducing four new members of the university's faculty
Christopher Batten
Christopher Batten See larger image
Assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering
College: Engineering
Academic focus: Energy-efficient parallel computer architecture for both high-performance and embedded applications; also, parallel programming models, interconnection networks, vector processing, VLSI chip design methodologies and the intersection between computer architecture and such emerging technologies as 3-D integration, silicon nanophotonics and synthetic biology.
Academic background: B.S., electrical engineering, University of Virginia, 1999; M.Phil., engineering, University of Cambridge, 2000; Ph.D., electrical engineering and computer science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009.
Last book read: "NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children" by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.
In his own time: "Spending time with my wife, Laura Batten '99, and our daughter, Fiona, who was born in January."
Samuel Kleiner
Samuel Kleiner See larger image
Assistant professor, policy analysis and management
College: Human Ecology
Academic focus: Health economics and health policy, with a focus on the study of hospitals and health care providers; measurement of firm performance in the health care sector; impact of human resource policy on firm performance; applied microeconomics.
Academic background: B.A., mathematical methods in the social sciences and economics, Northwestern University, 2001; M.A., economics, Brown University, 2004; M.Phil., public policy and management, Carnegie Mellon University, 2009; Ph.D., applied economics, and policy analysis, Carnegie Mellon University, 2010.
Last book read: "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.
In his own time: Playing music, spending time with family.
Joanie Mackowski
Joanie Mackowski See larger image
Assistant professor, English
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic focus: Creative writing; 19th- and 20th-century American poetry; and poetic theory.
Previous positions: Assistant professor, University of Cincinnati, 2004-10; Wallace Stegner fellow, Stanford University, 1998-2000.
Academic background: B.A., English, Wesleyan University, 1985; MFA, poetry, University of Washington, 1991; M.A., English, University of Washington, 1993; Ph.D., English (creative writing), University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004.
Last book read: "The Ticking Is the Bomb" by Nick Flynn.
In her own time: "When not working, I'm generally walking, riding a bike or reading books about gardening."
Verity Platt
Verity Platt See larger image
Assistant professor, classics and history of art
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic focus: Greek and Roman art, concepts of the sacred image in antiquity, ancient theories of representation, the relationship between image and text, ancient glyptics, Roman wall-painting and funerary art.
Previous positions: Assistant professor, University of Chicago, 2006-10; fellow, ancient visual and material culture, University of Exeter, 2005-06; junior research fellow in classics, University College, Oxford, 2003-05.
Academic background: B.A., classics, Christ Church, Oxford, 1999; M.A., classical and Byzantine art history, Courtauld Institute, London, 2000; Ph.D., classics, University of Oxford, 2004.
Last book read: "The Infinity of Lists" by Umberto Eco.
In her own time: "I run (so that I can cook ...)."