Rachel Weber has been named an Emily Bloomberg Professor at Harvard University, a prestigious endowed chair that supports scholars who are advancing the study and practice of city governance. At Harvard, Professor Weber is chair of the department of urban planning and design and director of the master’s degree program in urban planning. As a scholar, she explores how finance shapes the urban landscape by changing the ways cities budget, fund infrastructure, and manage their assets. Dr. Weber’s latest book is From Boom to Bubble: How Finance Built the New Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2015).
A three-time Ivy League graduate, Dr. Weber holds a bachelor’s degree in development studies from Brown University, as well as a master’s in regional planning and a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from Cornell University.
Susan Daniel was named the inaugural Lisa L. Walker 1986 Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, where she serves as the William C. Hooey Director of the R.F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. In her lab, Dr. Daniel leads a team of biomolecular engineers working to understand cell membrane functions and the biological processes that happen within them. Their research aims to develop advanced biotechnologies to improve human health. Alongside her scientific work, Dr. Daniel is currently leading a project to update her school’s undergraduate curriculum and completely overhaul how it is delivered.
Dr. Daniel earned her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. all in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Tarissa Spoonhunter is the inaugural Lilian and Christian Haub Professor at the University of Wyoming. The new professorship is designed to support early-career faculty members in the university’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. Dr. Spoonhunter teaches courses on contemporary issues facing tribal nations in resource management. She also directs the High Plains American Indian Research Institute and researches asserting treaty rights on traditional ceded lands, including Glacier National Park and Badger-Two Medicine.
Dr. Spoonhunter is a graduate of the University of Montana, where she majored in social and cultural anthropology. She earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in American Indian studies from the University of Arizona.
Gözde Göncü-Berk has been named the inaugural Maria Manetti Shrem Endowed Chair in Design, Fashion, and Textiles and founding director of the Maria Manetti Shrem Institute for Sustainable Design, Fashion, and Textiles at the University of California, Davis. An associate professor of design, Dr. Göncü-Berk is the founding director of the university’s Wearlab, where she focuses on the development of soft wearable systems that sense, respond, and adapt to the body to enhance health, well-being, and performance. She has been a faculty member at the university since 2018.
Dr. Göncü-Berk earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Istanbul Technical University and her master’s degree in clothing and textiles design from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Istanbul, Türkiye. She received her Ph.D. in design from the University of Minnesota.