ROKASLAB - Key Persons


Aaron Covey

Job Titles:
  • Director of College Facilities

Addy Crosby

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Assistant

Alec Brown

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student

Alice Randall

Job Titles:
  • Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities / Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies / Writer - in - Residenc

Alissa A. Hare

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean
  • Assistant Dean / Senior Lecturer of Chemistry
  • Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Science / Principal Senior Lecturer and Chair of Faculty Senate
  • Chairman of the Vanderbilt University Faculty Senate
Alissa Hare , Assistant Dean, is senior lecturer of chemistry. She has taught courses in organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, drug development, and biochemistry research. She was the 2020 recipient of the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Awards for Excellence in Classroom Teaching from Vanderbilt University and the 2022 recipient of the Ernest A. Jones Advising Award in the Natural Sciences from the College of Arts and Science. Since joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2015 as a Senior Lecturer, Dr. Hare has taught courses in Organic Chemistry, Physical Organic Chemistry, Drug Development, and Biochemistry research. Dr. Hare was the 2020 recipient of the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Awards for Excellence in Classroom Teaching from Vanderbilt University and the 2022 recipient of the Ernest A. Jones Advising Award in the Natural Sciences from the College of Arts and Science. Dr. Hare is currently Chair of the Vanderbilt University Faculty Senate for the 2024-2025 term. She is former co-Director of the Biochemistry and Chemical Biology Program (BCB).

Allison Schachter

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Allison Schachter , Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, is Winkelried Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies and English. She is a scholar of nineteenth and twentieth century modern Jewish literature and culture and has authored two books and translated one. Allison Schachter, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Winkelried Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies and English 404N Buttrick Hall (615) 322-1172 allison.schachter@vanderbilt.edu Please direct all scheduling requests for Senior Associate Dean Schachter to Zoe Canales. Daniel Coradazzi, Program and Projects Manager 123 Buttrick Hall (615) 322-2851 daniel.w.coradazzi@vanderbilt.edu Office of Undergraduate Education 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 322-2844 arts-sci-records@vanderbilt.edu Elizabeth Meadows, Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Education Principal Senior Lecturer of English 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 343-2172 elizabeth.s.meadows@vanderbilt.edu Pavneet Aulakh, Assistant Dean Senior Lecturer of English 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 343-3186 pavneet.s.aulakh@vanderbilt.edu Alissa Hare, Assistant Dean Senior Lecturer of Chemistry 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 875-9136 alissa.a.hare@vanderbilt.edu Office of Undergraduate Education Mario Rewers, Assistant Dean Senior Lecturer of American Studies 350 Buttrick Hall mario.rewers@vanderbilt.edu Lydia Abell, Administrative Manager 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 343-5387 lydia.k.abell@vanderbilt.edu Racquel Goff, Academic Services Coordinator 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 322-7937 racquel.goff@vanderbilt.edu Gwen Ildefonso, Academic and Educational Support Program Coordinator 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 322-2844 gwen.ildefonso@vanderbilt.edu Amelia Bast, Administrative Specialist 350 Buttrick Hall (615) 343-5495 ​amelia.bast@vanderbilt.edu A&S College Core Office Paul Stob, Director of A&S College Core Professor of Communication Studies 139 Buttrick Hall (615) 322-2988 paul.stob@vanderbilt.edu Elizabeth Catania, Associate Director of A&S College Core Associate Professor of the Practice of Neuroscience 122 Buttrick Hall (615) 343-3136 elizabeth.catania@vanderbilt.edu

Allison Varble

Job Titles:
  • Grants Officer

Alton Jones

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of Philosophy

Amanda Celaya

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director of Finance

Amanda Lea

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Amelia Bast

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Specialist

Amy Cesarone

Job Titles:
  • CASPAR Adviser

Andrew Jackson

Job Titles:
  • Professor of History

Andrew Mellon

Job Titles:
  • Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities / Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies / Writer - in - Residenc

Angela Land-Dedrick - COO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Operations Officer
  • Member of the Leadership Team

Angela Sutton

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean for Graduate Education & Academic Initiatives / Research Assistant Professor of Communication of Science and Technology
  • Assistant Dean of Graduate Education
Angela Sutton , Assistant Dean of Graduate Education and Academic Initiatives, is research assistant professor of Communication of Science and Technology. She is a social and digital historian of the Atlantic World interested in the tools and methods that preserve and widen access to the sources that help refine popular understandings of American slavery and its modern consequences. She is the director of the Builders and Defenders database.

Ann Tate

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Anne Hatmaker

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Antonis Rokas

Job Titles:
  • Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences / Professor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Biomedical Informatics
  • Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Informatics, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences
Undergraduates excited about our work, especially those with computational experience, are encouraged to apply for a position in our lab. We expect a minimum commitment of 12 hours per week during academic terms (for course credit) and full-time during summers (for pay). We also expect our undergrad researchers to apply to the Vanderbilt Undergraduate Summer Research Program (for their summer stipends) and to perform research over multiple semesters. Interested candidates should email Antonis with a brief statement that explicitly states why they want to join our lab, CV and the contact details of two course instructors / evaluators. Students interested in graduate work in our lab are encouraged to apply either to the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (IGP) or to the Biological Sciences Program (BSP). Students in the IGP rotate through 4 different labs in the first year, thus gaining a diversity of research experiences and evaluating the goodness-of-fit of several different labs across the university. Students in the BSP rotate through 2 or 3 labs in the department but typically commit to joining a particular lab upon acceptance to the program. If interested, please email Antonis with a cover letter that explicitly states why you want to join our lab, statement of research interests, CV and the contact details of three evaluators. Postdoctoral candidates with relevant experience in evolutionary biology, computational biology, genomics, bioinformatics, fungal biology, and related fields interested in joining our lab should email Antonis with a cover letter that explicitly states why they want to join our lab, statement of research interests, pdf reprints of published papers, CV and the contact details of three evaluators. A track record of high-quality publications, excellent communication skills, enthusiasm for basic research, and a collaborative approach to science is expected.

April Evans

Job Titles:
  • Marketing & Communications Manager

Ashley Heaton

Job Titles:
  • Interim Director

Ashley Lemieux

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Officer for Humanities

Aubrey Smith

Job Titles:
  • Grants Coordinator

Becca Jensen

Job Titles:
  • Senior Director of Development

Beverly Moran

Job Titles:
  • Professor Emerita of Law

Bonnie J. Dow

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Distinguished Professor of Communication of Science and Technology Professor of Communication Studies
  • Distinguished Professor of the Communication of Science
  • Vice Dean and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs / Professor of Communication Studies
  • Vice Dean and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, College of Arts and Science
Bonnie J. Dow is Distinguished Professor of the Communication of Science and Technology and Professor of Communication Studies and Vice Dean and Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Arts & Science. She is the author of Watching Women's Liberation, 1970: Feminism's Pivotal Year on the Network News (University of Illinois Press, 2014) and Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women's Movement Since 1970 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996). She is co-editor (with Julia T. Wood) of The Sage Handbook of Gender and Communication (2006) and a co-editor of The Aunt Lute Anthology of U.S. Women Writers, Volume One: 17th -19th Centuries (Aunt Lute Books, 2004). Dow has received multiple awards for her scholarship. She is a recipient of the Winans-Wichelns Award for Distinguished Scholarship, the Golden Monograph Award, and the Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award, all from the National Communication Association. At Vanderbilt, she has received the Ernest A. Jones Faculty Advisor Award from the College of Arts and Science as well as the Mentoring Award presented by the Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center. Her current research and teaching interests are in science communication, and she is a member of the steering committee for the Communication of Science and Technology Program. She has received support for her science communication work from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Brandon R. Byrd

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of History

Burton J. Bogitsh

Job Titles:
  • Emeritus Faculty
  • Professor of Biological Sciences, Emeritus

Caleb Gardner

Job Titles:
  • Website Coordinator

Carl H. Johnson

Job Titles:
  • Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences

Casey Shelton

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director of Stewardship and Volunteer Engagement

Charles K. Singleton

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Biological Sciences, Emeritus

Charlotte Pierce-Baker

Job Titles:
  • Professor Emerita of Gender and Sexuality Studies

Charu Balamurugan

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Researcher

Chezare A. Warren

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Equity & Inclusion

Christina Chavez

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Claudine Taaffe

Job Titles:
  • Associate Chair of African American and Diaspora Studies / Principal Senior Lecturer of African American and Diaspora Studies / Director of Undergraduate Studies

Corey Wiseman

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of Fine Arts
  • Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences / Professor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Biomedical Informatics
  • Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences
  • Professor of History

Courtney Delahoussaye

Job Titles:
  • Grants Coordinator

Dana Lin

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant Professor

Daniel Coradazzi

Job Titles:
  • Program and Projects Manager

Daniel J. Funk

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

David Gertler

Job Titles:
  • CASPAR Adviser

David Ikard

Job Titles:
  • Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies

David Rinker

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Dean Schachter

Job Titles:
  • Senior Associate

Edwin Williamson

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Elizabeth "Ibby" Cizmar

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of Theatr

Elizabeth Catania

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director
  • Associate Professor

Elizabeth Meadows

Job Titles:
  • Assistant
  • Director
  • Principal Senior Lecturer / Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Education, College of Arts and Science
Elizabeth is the Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Education, College of Arts and Science. Originally a scholar of Victorian literature and culture, Elizabeth teaches courses ranging from surveys of 19th-century novels to seminars about how the places we live shape the people we become, to classes examining the literary history and cultural function of genres like detective novels and dystopian fiction. Representative publications Elizabeth has published in Dickens Studies Annual, The Oxford Companion to Victorian Literary Culture and has collaboratively guest edited a special issue of Victorian Review.

Eric Dye

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Officer for Sponsored Research

Frank Kelly

Job Titles:
  • Dean 's Faculty Fellow in Climate Studies

Frederick B. Rentschler II

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society

Gerald Stubbs

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Biological Sciences, Emeritus

Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt

Job Titles:
  • Distinguished Chair
  • Professor
  • Professor of English
  • Professor of History
  • Professor of Spanish & Portuguese

Gilman W. Whiting

Job Titles:
  • Associate Chair of African American and Diaspora Studies / Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies / Director of Graduate Studies

Ginger Hitts

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Officer for Capital Projects, Space Planning and Facilities

Gwen Ildefonso

Job Titles:
  • Academic and Educational Support Program Coordinator

Haley Reed

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Manager

Hans-Willi Honegger

Job Titles:
  • Research Professor of Biological Sciences, Retired

Hollis Calhoun - CCO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Communications Officer
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • COMMUNICATIONS

Hortense Spillers

Job Titles:
  • Distinguished Research Professor

Jamison Jones

Job Titles:
  • Facilities Manager

Jerry Hager

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Officer for Natural Sciences

John A. McLean

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • GRADUATE EDUCATION & RESEARCH
  • Senior Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education
  • Senior Associate Dean of Graduate Education
John A. McLean , Senior Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Research, is Stevenson Chair in Chemistry. He is an analytical chemist known for the development and construction of advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation for molecular analysis.

John Frederick Oberlin

Job Titles:
  • John Frederick Oberlin Theological School Professor of Ethics and Society / Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies / Professor of Divinity

Jonathan Metzl

Job Titles:
  • Director of Medicine, Health, and Society

Josh Brewer

Job Titles:
  • Chief Business Officer
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Julián F. Hillyer

Job Titles:
  • Centennial Professor of Biological Sciences / Director of Graduate Studies, Program in Biological Sciences

Kacy Eoff

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director of Development

Karin Steffen

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student

Kayla Liberti

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Manager
  • Finance

Kelly Morgan

Job Titles:
  • Executive Coordinator for the Dean

Kenneth C. Catania

Job Titles:
  • Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences / Professor of Biological Sciences

Kevin Fleming

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director of Development

Kim Boyer

Job Titles:
  • Senior Director of Development

Kimberley D. McKinson

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of the Department of Anthropology

Kyle David

Job Titles:
  • PostDoctoral Fellow

Larisa DeSantis

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Laura Boone

Job Titles:
  • Director of Development

Laura Carnell

Job Titles:
  • Director of Development

Lewis Baldwin

Job Titles:
  • Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies

Liz Chagnon

Job Titles:
  • Visual Communications Content Strategist

Lydia Abell

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Manager

Marie-Claire Harrison

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Mario Rewers

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean
  • Assistant Dean / Senior Lecturer of American Studies
Mario Rewers , Assistant Dean, is senior lecturer of American studies. He is a historian of modern American history, with a specialization in the history of higher education. His work focuses on the history of the disciplines, and particularly of the humanities, in the twentieth century.

Marshall Eakin

Job Titles:
  • Distinguished Professor

Mary Brenna Corr

Job Titles:
  • Senior Director of Development

Mary-Lou Watkinson

Job Titles:
  • Communications Content Specialist

Matthew Pessar Joseph

Job Titles:
  • Mellon Assistant Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies

Maulik Patel

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Meagan Artus

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Officer

Megan Behringer

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences / Steven and Bunny

Melissa Wocher

Job Titles:
  • Director of Faculty Affairs

Michael Eric Dyson

Job Titles:
  • University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies

Natasha Duncan

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Officer for Social Sciences

Nicole Creanza

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Olivia Forsythe

Job Titles:
  • Development Coordinator

Olivia Riedling

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Paul Stob

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Professor

Pavneet Aulakh

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean
  • Assistant Dean / Senior Lecturer of English
Pavneet Aulakh , Assistant Dean, is senior lecturer of English. He studies the literature of early modern England; the history and philosophy of science, particularly as it pertains to interconnections between the imaginative and proto-scientific literature of the seventeenth century; the history of the book; aesthetics and poetics; early modern and contemporary philosophy; and medieval literature.

Rachel Wierenga

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Associate Dean of Development
  • DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS

Racquel Goff

Job Titles:
  • Academic Services Coordinator

Rebecca Vandiver

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of History of Art & Architectur

Robley C. Williams

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Biological Sciences, Emeritus

Rosevelt Noble

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean of the Residential Colleges

Ryan Kim

Job Titles:
  • CASPAR Adviser

Samantha Cantrell

Job Titles:
  • Grants Manager

Sarah Richards

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Specialist

Terry L. Page

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Biological Sciences

Thodoros Danis

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student

Thomas J. S. Sauters

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Tiffany Ruby Patterson

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of African American and Diaspora Studies / Associate Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies / Associate Professor of History

Timothy P. McNamara

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean of the College of Arts and Science / Professor of Psychology

Victor Anderson

Job Titles:
  • John Frederick Oberlin Theological School Professor of Ethics and Society / Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies / Professor of Divinity

Wallace M. LeStourgeon

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Biological Sciences, Emeritus

Yolanda Pierce

Job Titles:
  • Dean of the Divinity School / Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies

Zoe Canales

Job Titles:
  • Faculty Affairs Manager