Amelia Gallitano has been named the 2025-2026 Keating Family Endowed Professor for Interdisciplinary Research at the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. She has been a faculty member with the college since its inception in 2007, currently holding appointments in the departments of basic medical sciences, psychiatry, and translational neuroscience. In her research, she investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying the dual genetic and environmental risk for neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and mood disorders.
Dr. Gallitano received her medical degree and Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.
Kisha Cunningham Aites has been named to the Dr. Thelma Thomas Daley Distinguished Professor Endowed Chair at Savannah State University in Georgia. In this role, Dr. Aites, a full professor of engineering technology education and associate dean of the College of Education at Savannah State, will spearhead academic initiatives, mentor students, and lead efforts to integrate AI technology in education.
Dr. Aites is a two-time graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in technology education. She holds a Ph.D. in workforce education and training development from Pennsylvania State University.
Xi Song has been named the inaugural Schiffman Family Presidential Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. A faculty member since 2019, she currently serves as associate director of the Penn Population Studies Center. Her research interests include social mobility, occupations, Asian Americans, population studies, and quantitative methodology. Currently, she is studying shifting career patterns in the United States.
Dr. Song holds a bachelor’s degree from Renmin University of China and a master’s degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She earned a second master’s degree in statistics and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Elaine M. Liu has joined the faculty at Georgia State University in Atlanta as a professor of economics and faculty director of the Georgia Policy Labs. She holds the Bernard B. and Eugenia A. Ramsey Chair in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. She comes to her new role from the University of Houston, where she was a professor of economics and a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her scholarship centers on health, development, labor, and behavioral economics.
A graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Dr. Liu received her Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.