2006-07 Leadership Development Program Participants

Dr. Kim Ellis, Associate Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering

Kimberly Ellis is an Associate Professor in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Associate Director of the Center for High Performance Manufacturing at Virginia Tech. She joined Virginia Tech after receiving her doctoral degree from Georgia Tech in 1996.  Dr. Ellis's research program addresses operational planning problems that arise in manufacturing and service systems.  Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Averitt Express, and Volvo.  Dr. Ellis teaches courses in Production Planning and Systems Engineering. She is also the recipient of the Ralph R. Teetor Award for Young Educators from the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Sporn Award for Teaching from the College of Engineering.

Dr. Shannon Jarrott, Associate Professor, Human Development

Shannon Jarrott is an associate professor in the department of Human Development. After completing graduate studies at Penn State, she joined Virginia Tech in 1999 as a faculty member and the first Director of Research at the department’s Adult Day Services (ADS) program. Her research focuses on dementia care and intergenerational programs. As the Director of Research at VT ADS, Dr. Jarrott introduces and assesses innovative programs, which have included intergenerational programming, therapeutic horticulture, Montessori programming, and reminiscence therapy. Other interests include international aging research, particularly in Sweden, where she has led study abroad courses. Her work has been published and presented nationally and internationally. Virginia Tech’s Neighbors Growing Together program is the oldest university-based shared site intergenerational program in the US.

Dr. Eva Marand, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering

Dr. Eva Marand received her Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1987. Following her graduate studies, Dr. Marand has worked as a research scientist for DOW Chemical for over two years and has conducted post-doctoral research on microwave processing of epoxy resins in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech before joining the Chemical Engineering faculty at Virginia Tech in 1992. Dr. Marand’s research interests focus on the development and study of polymeric and hybrid organic-inorganic membranes, particularly in understanding the role of molecular structure, morphology and molecular interactions on gas selectivity and permeability. Her primary research projects include the development of mixed matrix membranes consisting of highly gas selective zeolites, carbon nano-tubes or layered inorganic sheets in polymer matrices. Dr. Marand’s research sponsors include the National Science Foundation and Sandia National laboratories. She also serves on the board of directors for the North American Membrane Society.

Dr. Vicky Soghomonian, Associate Professor, Physics

Victoria Soghomonian, Associate Professor, Physics.
Dr. Soghomonian’s current research focuses on the synthesis, fabrication and characterization of biological, organic, and hybrid organic/inorganic nanoscale devices and assemblies. Areas of study include charge transport measurements through variously modified DNA molecules to elucidate the relationship of DNA structure to its charge transport properties, charge transport measurements in organic and bioorganic single crystal and thin film geometries to elucidate charge injection characteristics in these systems, atomic force microscopy studies of self-assembled patterns of biomolecules on various surfaces, and hydro- and solvo-thermal synthesis of novel zeolitic materials with desired functionalities.
Dr. Soghomonian joins Virginia Tech from Ohio University, where she was a faculty member. Preceding that post, she was a post-doctoral research associate at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, FL. She completed her doctoral studies at Syracuse University.

Dr. Brenda Winkel, Professor, Biological Sciences

Dr. Brenda Winkel a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech and a member of the Fralin Center for Biotechnology. She received her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Georgia in 1989, did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School with Howard Goodman, and then joined the faculty at Virginia Tech in 1992. Dr. Winkel has received
several teaching excellence awards and was elected a Diggs Teaching Scholar in 1999. Recent efforts have been focused on developing new paradigms for graduate research and training, including leading the establishment of a new cross-college Molecular Plant Sciences Graduate Program with support from an AdvanceVT Leadership Fellowship, and serving as a Co-PI on a new $3.4M NSF IGERT project, Exploring Interfaces in Graduate Education and Research.