Faculty Research Interests

I am primarily interested in how people from Africa, the Americas, and Europe created a new world for all in the centuries following Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. 

My first book, The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity, will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in September 2025. I am now studying how familial, financial, and political considerations intersected in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. By studying the lives of several generations of the influential Martin family, “Antigua at the Center of the World: The Martin Family and a Violent Atlantic,” will offer new insights into the very personal decisions that shaped the culture and politics of Britain’s empire.

Since coming to Widener, I have also engaged in conversations with Chester community members regarding the city’s history. I research and present on topics ranging from William Penn’s landing to civil rights protests that engulfed the city (and Widener campus) in the early 1960s. 

Dr. Song’s research interests include pattern recognition and machine learning from fundamental modeling issues to multidisciplinary applications in robotic vision, artificial intelligence, brain-machine interface, biomedical imaging, multi-sensor fusion, and signal/image processing.

My research interests include organizational context issues, trauma, field supervision, and issues of deviance and stigma in mental health.

Can we predict to what extent consumers sanction brands for their transgressions? There are many factors that mediate the consumer-brand relationship before, during, and after a brand's transgression. A brand transgression is defined as a violation of consumer-brand relationship norms. This breach of trust can have serious implications for a brand.

In my research, I examine the effect of variables such as brand personality, product category, ethnocentrism, and brand-country associations on consumer response to a brand transgression. I also conduct research on automatic consumer behavior. I use implicit and indirect consumer attitude instruments to measure attitudes outside of conscious awareness. In this secondary research area, I examine the automatic components of brand relationship, brand identification, cultural identity, and consumer decision making.

My research focuses on how phones and social media play a role in the victimization and criminalization of young people in the Juvenile Justice system. I am a qualitative researcher who incorporates digital methodologies with ethnographic and youth led methods.

My research interests are in radio-frequency (RF) systems for communications and sensing.  I'm also interested in the physical principles underlying the design of these systems.

I primarily research and write about retirement and pension planning topics. I have over 100 published articles. An article I authored on calculating retirement needs helped to change how people determine the amount they need to retire.

My research interests lie in the general areas of geotechnical and infrastructure engineering. My recent work focuses on the instrumentation and monitoring of transportation infrastructure as well as characterization and effective use of new and sustainable materials for geotechnical and transportation projects.

The overall goal of my research is to address pressing issues related to the nation’s aging transportation infrastructure through innovative and practical ideas and technologies.

• Building confidence in struggling math students 
• Confidence supports learning in underserved populations

My research interests include fiction writing and narrative theory. In addition, I hear the cases of juvenile offenders in Chester, and I taught one class a day at Chester High School for the school year. I am concerned about the school-to-prison pipeline, juvenile sentencing practices, and mass incarceration.

My research interests lie in the field of algebra, geometry and topology. Mainly, I study Clifford algebras and applications of octonions and quaternions in physics and computer science. Also, interest of undergraduate research topics in the field of statistics, numerical analysis, differential equations, number theory, computational mathematics, and computer Science.

My overarching research interest concerns the nature of comprehension in general, which underlies my interests in reading comprehension and developmental psycholinguistics. My teaching duties continually push me to study current literature in educational psychology, research methods, and statistics. Misunderstanding and misuse of brain research in educational settings has led me to study brain research that is enhancing our understanding of language and reading difficulties so that my students will develop a higher level of sophistication with that literature.

My research interests include control, nonlinear systems, state estimation, system modeling, electric power systems, and microgrid power systems. I am particularly interested in the control applications in microgrid power systems, including power system modeling, power quality control, fault analysis, power data analysis, and power consumption evaluation and prediction.

My main research interests include bioheat transfer, biofluid mechanics and thermal energy storage systems.

My primary research focus is on the regulatory mechanisms that endow cancer cells with aggressive phenotypes, including metastatic potential and resistance to standard-of-care therapies. One mechanism by which cancer cells exhibit these properties is by completely or partially undergoing an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process that normally occurs in a highly controlled manner during embryonic development and wound healing. Cells that undergo EMT become invasive, resist therapy and acquire cancer stem cell-like properties. Therefore, elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which cells acquire EMT properties is of significant interest and could ultimately uncover strategies to target this phenotype, thus resulting in more effective treatments for cancer.

My research interests focus on decolonial and indigenous knowledges and practices, and sexualities through languages.  

I am trained in comparative literature and specialize in Argentine cinema produced since the late 1990s. I am particularly interested in representations of social justice, gender issues, sustainability, and the environmental humanities. I have also published pieces related to global education. I organize transdisciplinary symposia in Latin America that bring together faculty from a variety of fields to make connections with one another and work around themes of sustainability.

My area of expertise is in environmental analysis and instrumentation used for chemical analysis. As a result, my research projects cover a wide range of applications. Most recently I have focused on applications of mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy - two techniques for detecting and identifying chemicals. I am also actively engaged in the scholarship of teaching - focusing on new teaching strategies and the development of more effective ways to engage students in learning.

My research interests are eclectic and include investigation of microclimates and tree phenology in the Peruvian Amazon and the influence of environmental pollutants on aquatic organisms. I am also interested in understanding the physiology and behavior of Diamondback terrapins in order to contribute to their conservation in the salt marshes of New Jersey. I am collaborating with colleagues at Widener, The Wetlands Institute in NJ, and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina

My research interests are literature of the Middle Ages, particularly Arthurian Literature, 19th-century writers, and the correlation between literature and popular fiction and film.