Meet UC Berkeley’s new faculty

Below, we’ll be spotlighting new faculty hires across UC Berkeley throughout the 2024-25 year. Click here if you or someone you’ve hired would like to be featured.

Courtesy Melissa Van De Werfhorst

Name: Kelsey Jack
Discipline: Economics
Degrees: AB Princeton 2003, PhD Harvard 2010
Research interests: Environmental and development economics. How do households make decisions about natural resources like energy, water and land?
Hobbies: I love to bike — road and gravel.

Courtesy Dana Miller-Cotto

Name: Dana Miller-Cotto
Discipline: Educational Psychology/Human Development
Degrees: BA Lehman College 2011, MEd Temple University 2014, PhD Temple University 2017
Research interests: I examine predictors of early math achievement and learning, with a focus on how to best support early math learning in grades kindergarten to third grade. I also design learning materials to support children’s growing cognitive skills.
Hobbies: I enjoy running, reading, and trying out new recipes.

Illustration courtesy of J. Marshall Smith

Name: Ianna Hawkins Owen
Discipline: Gender and Women’s Studies
Degrees: BA CUNY Hunter 2008, MA UC Berkeley 2010, PhD UC Berkeley 2016
Research interests: I’m interested in how black diaspora studies and asexuality studies shape our conceptions and theorizations of care, community, and capacity.
Hobbies: I’d like to join a floorball team.

Courtesy Adam Lau

Name: Daniel Siefman
Discipline: Nuclear Engineering
Degrees: PhD EPFL 2019
Research interests: I research computational methods in neutron transport and how experiments can be used to improve their accuracy. These experiments include reactor physics testing and applications in nuclear security.

Courtesy Mariam Aly

Name: Mariam Aly
Discipline: Psychology
Degrees: BSc University of Toronto 2008, MA UC Davis 2010, PhD UC Davis 2013
Research interests: I study how attention and perception affect what we remember, and how memory can in turn guide our attention, perception, and goal-directed behavior.
Hobbies: Fun fact: I flew a plane before I drove a car!

Courtesy Eleanor Tubman

Name: Eleanor (Ellie) Tubman
Discipline: Physics/Nuclear Engineering
Degrees: MPhys University of Sussex 2012, PhD 2016 University of York
Research interests: How magnetic fields are generated and affect plasmas, astrophysical collisionless shocks, and fusion research.
Hobbies: Sailing, backpacking and triathlons.

Courtesy Prof. George Bergman

Name: Christian Gaetz (he/him)
Discipline: Mathematics
Degrees: PhD MIT 2021
Research interests: Problems in the intersection of combinatorics, algebra, and geometry.
Hobbies: My hobbies include rock climbing and reading.

Courtesy Madison Douglas

Name: Madison Douglas (she/her)
Discipline: Geology
Degrees: BS MIT 2016; MS Caltech 2019; PhD Caltech 2023
Research interests: I study the processes that shape landscapes, including river erosion, landslides, and soil movement. Much of my research focuses on integrating geochemical and erosion measurements in permafrost environments, because permafrost soils contain very high carbon concentrations that are released, causing Arctic landscapes to thaw and collapse.
Hobbies: Running, hiking, and playing the flute.