Five Women Appointed to Tenure-Track Faculty Roles at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania

Marisa Egan has joined the Swarthmore College faculty as an assistant professor of biology. She comes to Swarthmore from the Children’s Hopsital of Philadelphia Research Institute, where she served as a Penn-Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Teaching Fellow. As a scholar, she studies microbial interactions, bacterial gene regulation, and their implications for human health and disease.

Dr. Egan is a graduate of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in cellular and microbiology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Elisa A. Mitchell has joined the Swarthmore College faculty as an assistant professor of history. Prior to her new appointment she served as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University. Her academic work centers around the early modern Black Atlantic, examining the social and political histories of embodiment, healing, disease, race, and gender in the Caribbean region.

Dr. Mitchell is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in history from New York University,

Carolyn Raithel has joined the Swarthmore College faculty as an assistant professor of physics. She previously held a joint postdoctoral fellowship with the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science and the Princeton Gravity Initiative. As a theoretical and computational astrophysicist, she studies neutron stars, dense matter physics, multi-messenger astronomy, gravitational waves, and compact object mergers.

Dr. Raithel is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she majored in physics. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Arizona.

Roseann Liu, visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College, has joined the faculty full-time as an assistant professor of educational studies and Asian American studies. Before she began teaching at Swarthmore, she served as an assistant professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Her research focuses on race, educational inequality, and social justice.

Dr. Liu earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and elementary education from New York University, a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and Ph.D. in anthropology and education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sintana Vergara will join the Swarthmore College faculty in January 2025 as an assistant professor of engineering. Earlier in her career, she was an associate professor of environmental resources and engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. As an environmental engineer, she focuses her work on developing methods for composting, carbon sequestration in soils, and life cycle assessments to promote sustainable resource management.

Dr. Vergara is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in biological and environmental engineering. She holds a master’s degree in energy and resources, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering, and a Ph.D. in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley.