College of Arts, Sciences and Education

Dear friends and alumni,

As we prepare for the new academic year, I am pleased to welcome the following faculty and staff members to their new leadership roles within our college:

- Dr. Eun Heui Kim as the Gary W. Havener Endowed Chair of Mathematics and Statistics, succeeding Dr. John Singler

- Dr. Marco Cavaglia as chair of physics, succeeding Dr. Thomas Vojta

- Lt. Col. Christopher Smith as chair of Air Force ROTC, succeeding Lt. Col. Derek Williamson

- Maj. Travis Sorensen as chair of Army ROTC, succeeding Maj. Brett Weir

- Lee Ann Mentink as principal philanthropic advisor for CASE, succeeding Michelle Shults.

Each of these individuals brings exceptional expertise, dedication and leadership to their new roles. I am confident their experience and fresh perspectives will strengthen our college and help advance our mission of excellence in teaching, research and service. I look forward to working with each of them and wish them every success as they begin these important responsibilities.

I also want to express my sincere gratitude to our outgoing department chairs and philanthropic advisor. Your leadership, professionalism and unwavering commitment have made a lasting difference in the success of your departments, our college and the university. Through your service, you have supported our students, mentored colleagues, strengthened academic programs and helped shape the future of our institution. Thank you for the time, energy and dedication you have invested. Your contributions are deeply appreciated and your impact will be felt for years to come.

Sincerely,

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Ph.D.
Vice Provost and Dean

The Child Development Center celebrated the grand opening of its new Nature Playground with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 27, marking the completion of the fence surrounding the nature-based play area. This project was a true collaborative effort, bringing together generous donors and multiple university departments to support fundraising, grant administration and project planning, ultimately making this long-envisioned space a reality. 

Emma Friedman, education, and Kylee Copeland, chemistry with an education emphasis, attended the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s (AACTE) Washington Week, held June 1-3 in Washington, D.C. They were accompanied by Dr. Beth Kania-Gosche, president of the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE). During the event, Friedman and Copeland participated in sessions on the federal budget process and education advocacy while hearing from leaders of national education organizations and members of Congress. They also visited Capitol Hill, where they met with congressional staff to discuss issues affecting educator preparation and education policy. Funding for the students’ travel was provided by MACTE and the Student Missouri State Teachers Association chapter at Missouri S&T.

Mahdi Gharehbaygloo, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics, successfully defended his dissertation titled “An Energy-Stable Mixed CG-DG Scheme for a Full Shliomis Phase Field Model of Two-Phase Ferrofluid Flows” on July 7, 2026. His advisor was Dr. Xiaoming He.

Erica Hunke, an undergraduate student in biological sciences, participated in the University of Houston’s NIIMBL eXperience this summer. During the program, she visited five pharmaceutical companies in the greater Houston area and toured the San Jacinto College laboratories, where she gained hands-on experience with laboratory procedures, current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), and full cleanroom gowning protocols.

Hunke spent the week collaborating with fellow students pursuing careers in the biomedical field and learning about the development and manufacturing of life-saving medicines. The experience provided valuable insight into the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry and helped broaden her understanding of future career opportunities in the field.

Hossein Libre, chemistry and ceramic engineering undergraduate student (part of the group pictured above), attended the 2026 NSF BioPACIFIC MIP Summer School, hosted by UC Santa Barbara and UCLA. The week-long program focused on the scalable production, automated synthesis, and advanced characterization of bio-derived monomers and polymers. As part of the program, Hossein received hands-on training in Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (MicroED).

Pablo Jara Palacios, a Ph.D. candidate in physics, successfully defended his dissertation titled “Harnessing Coherent-Wave Control for Sensing Applications in Scattering Media” on July 2, 2026. His advisor was Dr. Alexey Yamilov.

James O. Stoffer Endowed Professor or Associate Professor of Polymer Chemistry

Child Development Center Director

Erika Jacobs, assistant director of the Child Development Center, has been selected to participate in Kids Win Missouri's Early Care and Education (ECE) Leader Fellowship Program. This year-long program provides policy, advocacy and leadership training, as well as experiential learning opportunities, to support parents and child care providers in developing their leadership skills and advancing high-quality early care and education.

Lee Ann Mentink has stepped into CASE as our new development liaison and philanthropy advisor. Michelle Shults, who served in this role for the past three years, retires Aug. 4.

Mentink joined the University in January 2024 and continues to serve on the University Advancement development team. Her primary focus is to connect alumni with campus opportunities for engagement and philanthropy. Her role with CASE will continue that effort with a focus on arts, sciences and education.

"Missouri S&T has phenomenal alumni! I am amazed at the accomplishments and generosity of this amazing group of people," says Mentink. "I look forward to advancing the initiatives of the College of Arts, Sciences and Education, while connecting alumni and friends with opportunities that align with their interests."

In addition to her role in CASE, Mentink serves as S&T Advancement’s representative on the West Coast. If you’d like to inquire about engagement or philanthropic opportunities, Mentink can be reached at leeannm@mst.edu or 573-341-6050.

The biological sciences department is helping shape the future of Missouri S&T by integrating biology with engineering, computing and technology to address some of society's most pressing challenges. From biomedical innovation and human health to environmental sustainability and space exploration, the department's faculty and students are redefining what it means to be a biology program at a technological research university. Read more. 

Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, CASE Dean, was interviewed by Deutsche Welle (Germany), Die Zeit (Germany),  India Today (India), and Newsweek.

Dr. Michael Bruening, professor of history and political science, published an essay titled “500 years ago, the first New Testament in English was published – and stirred up a hornet’s nest” in The Conversation.

Dr. Richard Dawes, adjunct professor of chemistry, received a $169,727 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project titled “Methods for the Construction of Multiple Coupled Potential Energy Surfaces with Applications to Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics.”

Dr. Irina Ivliyeva, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of Russian and chair of the arts, languages, and philosophy department, presented at the International Conference, Science and Education: New Approaches and Current Research Perspectives, where she also published a paper titled, “Universal Rules of the Russian Sound Verbs’ Synthesis: Representation in a Matrix of Forms.” Ivliyeva’s research has applications for the development of next-generation electronic dictionaries, the enhancement of corpus-based digital language resources, and the refinement of methods for extracting scalable datasets used in word-formation synthesis. The paper is the eleventh in her ongoing series examining word-formation synthesis concepts and their application to the Russian language system.

Dr. Simeon Mistakidis, assistant professor of physics, published an article titled "Correlated many-body quantum dynamics of the Peregrine soliton” in the APS Physical Review Research journal with collaborators from Purdue University, University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Hamburg, Germany. This work demonstrates how quantum correlations reshape the morphology of rogue waves, setting the stage for the emergent field of quantum dispersive hydrodynamics.

Dr. Ross Channing Reed, assistant teaching professor of philosophy, was interviewed on live radio by Amy Mullins for the show "Uncommon Sense" at Triple R Radio 102.7FM in Melbourne, Australia on June 16, 2026.

Dr. Philip Whitefield, emeritus professor of chemistry, received four grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation totaling over $3.9 million dollars. The first, "Simulating the Role of Volatile Particulate Matter in Regulating Ice Crystal Number in Contrails for Diverse Fuel Types," was funded for $142,232. The second, "Understanding Changes in Aviation Emissions due to New Aviation Technologies – 2b," was funded for $700,000. The third, "Understanding Changes in Aviation Emissions due to SAF with New Combustor Engine Technology," was funded for $1,458,925. The fourth, “Understanding Changes in Aviation Exhaust due to Burning Alternative Aviation Fuels with New Combustor Engine Technology-2” was funded in for $1,612,029.

CASE is grateful for the following two gifts recently received:

- A generous alumnus and his wife contributed $25,000 to support graduate students in mathematics and statistics.

- Dr. Gerry Wilemski contributed $50,000 to the Gerald Wilemski Grad Research in Physics fund.

The generosity of our donors is essential to the continued success and growth of our college. Your support enables us to address a wide range of needs—from providing assistance to students facing financial or personal challenges to investing in faculty development, innovative programs, and research opportunities. Every gift, regardless of its size, has a meaningful impact on the educational experience we provide and helps strengthen our mission of excellence.

If you are interested in supporting the college, contact Lee Ann Mentink, principal philanthropic advisor for CASE, at leeannm@mst.edu; telephone: 573-341-6050.

Disclaimer: CASE does not endorse the arguments presented in any of the essays listed in this section of the newsletter. We share them solely as "food for thought" and encourage our enlightened audience to form their own opinions on the subjects discussed.

College of Arts, Sciences and Education

Missouri University of Science and Technology

118 Fulton Hall
301 W. 14th St., Rolla, MO 65409
573-341-4687
case@mst.edu