FIU experts available to discuss 2023 politics and current events
FIU experts are available to discuss a wide range of topics including impeachment, foreign relations, the economy, voting and immigration.
For questions or assistance in contacting any of the following experts, please call the Office of Media Relations:
- Madeline Baró, director of media relations: 305-310-9665, mbaro@fiu.edu
- Todd Ellenberg, assistant director of communications and marketing, Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs: 305-348-5360, tellenbe@fiu.edu
- JoAnn Adkins, director of marketing & PR, College of Arts, Sciences & Education: 305-348-0398, jadkins@fiu.edu
- Ileana Varela, associate director of marketing and PR for the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine: 305-348-4926, ilvarela@fiu.edu
- Cynthia Corzo, assistant director of media relations and communications, FIU College of Business: 305-965-4709, ccorzo@fiu.edu
- Elizabeth Calzadilla, director of marketing and communications, College of Engineering & Computing: 786-338-3346, ecalzadi@fiu.edu
National Politics
Carlos Díaz-Rosillo
Director
The Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom
Díaz-Rosillo is former director of policy and interagency coordination at the White House. He also served as senior deputy chairman and chief operating officer for the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C., and acting principal deputy assistant secretary of defense. Díaz-Rosillo is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office: 305-348-2494
Email: cdiazros@fiu.edu
Brian Fonseca
Director
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Fonseca serves as the institute’s technical expert for national security and foreign policy. He has been featured in local and national media analyzing the 2016 U.S. general elections. He joined FIU after serving as the senior research manager for socio-cultural analysis at United States Southern Command. Fonseca holds degrees in international business and international relations from FIU and has attended Sichuan University in Chengdu, China and the National Defense University in Washington D.C. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps and facilitated the training of foreign military forces in both hostile theaters and during peacetime operations.
Office: 305-348-7420
Cell: 305-218-6323
Email: fonsecab@fiu.edu
Eduardo Gamarra
Professor
Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Eduardo Gamarra has conducted two polls on Hispanic voters in the United States and Florida. He also has done research on the regional dynamics of Latin America, including Cuba’s role. As an expert in Bolivia and the Andean region, he has followed closely the alliances formed by Fidel Castro, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Gamarra has also studied drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the effects of American policies in the regional dynamics. He has testified in front of the U.S. Congress several times and is the author of more than half a dozen books and more than forty academic articles on Latin America. Gamarra is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Cell: 786-253-4898
Email: Eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu
Guillermo Grenier
Chair
Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Professor of sociology and lead researcher in charge of the FIU Cuba Poll
FIU’s Cuba Poll measures the attitudes and opinions of Cuban-Americans in South Florida on issues ranging from their support for the U.S. embargo, to their party preference. In addition to the poll, he is the author of books such as “Miami Now: Immigration, Ethnicity and Social Change;” “Legacy of Exile: Cubans in the United States;” and “This Land is Our Land: Newcomers and Established Residents in Miami,” in which he is a co-author. He has also written numerous articles on labor and ethnic issues in the United States. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-3217
Cell: 305-388-6469
Email: Guillermo.Grenier@fiu.edu
Sara Moats
Instructor
Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Moats has an interest in group politics and studies group interactions from several perspectives. Her research analyzes how and why organized interests become involved with foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations, and why a group would expand beyond the domestic political arena to lobby additional venues. Moats is currently examining group involvement in several different policy areas, including environmental policy and human rights.
Office: 305-348-2226
Cell: 304-282-5159
Email: sara.moats@fiu.edu
Dario Moreno
Associate professor
Department of Politics & International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He conducts research on Miami politics, Florida politics, and Cuban-American politics. He has published over 20 scholarly articles, book chapters, and two books. Moreno is a nationally recognized expert on Florida and Miami politics and is often quoted in both the national and local media. He has been a Pew Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Fulbright scholar in Costa Rica. He teaches courses on Miami politics, Cuban politics, Florida politics and urban politics
Office: 305-349-3854
Email: dario.moreno@fiu.eduor darmrn@aol.com
Randy Pestana
Assistant director of research and strategic initiatives
Jack D. Gordon Institute
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Pestana specializes in international relations with a focus on U.S. foreign policy, electoral politics, global security and U.S.-Latin American relations. His work examines governance and security in the Western Hemisphere including U.S. national security strategy, civil-military relations and rule of law. Pestana is charged with leading the Gordon Institute’s 2016 Presidential Election coverage and has conducted numerous interviews with both local and national media. Pestana is an adjunct professor for the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs and the Honors College. He holds an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with a graduate certificate in National Security Studies from FIU.
Office: 305-348-0114
Email: rpestana@fiu.edu
Cybersecurity
Mike Asencio
Program Director
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Mike Asencio is the Program Director of Cybersecurity at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, where he manages a statewide cybersecurity program funded by Cyber Florida. His expertise lies in cybersecurity, cyber infrastructure resiliency, cyber safety, and public policy, and he has a strong commitment to fostering innovation and driving economic development in the tech industry.
Email: masencio@fiu.edu.
Brian Fonseca
Please see bio above.
Office: 305-348-7420
Cell: 305-218-6323
Email: fonsecab@fiu.edu
Randy Pestana
Please see bio above.
Office: 305-348-0114
Email: rpestana@fiu.edu
Nagarajan Prabakar
Associate professor, School of Computing and Information Sciences
Undergraduate director, Cybersecurity program
College of Engineering & Computing
Prabakar has more than 30 years in the field of computing and extensive expertise in the field of cybersecurity. Prabakar can discuss what security vulnerabilities within the U.S. network allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent future attacks.
Email:prabakar@cis.fiu.edu
Phone: 305-348-2033
Selcuk Uluagac
Associate professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering & Computing
Uluagac is a cybersecurity professor who currently leads the Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab (CSL).
His research focuses on cybersecurity and privacy with an emphasis on its practical and applied aspects.
Email: suluagac@fiu.edu
Phone: 305-348-3710
Body Language
Davina Clarke
Instructor
Department of Communication
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts
Clarke has more than 15 years of teaching experience in communication and is the director for business communication at FIU. She encourages students to engage in practical applications of the concepts for a meaningful learning experience. In addition, she facilitates debates, volunteers in her community as a public speaking coach, and as a conflict mediator. Her interests include persuasion, nonverbal communication, conflict management, and business communication.
Office: 305-348-9056
Email: daclarke@fiu.edu
Maria Ines Marino
Senior instructor and research affiliate
Department of Communication
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts
Marino’s research interests include emerging technologies that unite the fields of non-verbal communication and intercultural communication. She is currently working on two major research projects in the area of non-verbal and intercultural communication and is a faculty affiliate of the Steven Cruz Institute for Science, Media + Technology, which brings together communication experts and journalists with scientists, engineers and policymakers to ensure research and information is communicated effectively through multiple platforms. Marino is published in the area of non-verbal communication and is the coordinator for the non-verbal communication course in the Department of Communication.
Cell: 305-968-2369
Email: mmari006@fiu.edu
Hispanic Vote
Phillip M. Carter
Assistant professor
Cuban Research Institute
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Carter is a sociolinguist and a scholar of language and culture in U.S. Latino communities specializing in issues related to language in U.S. Latino communities, including Spanish in the United States, Spanish/English bilingualism, Spanish in U.S. politics, and popular discourses about language. Carter most recently published a chapter for a book titled Spanish as a Heritage and Minority Language in the United States about the use of Spanish in American politics that is set to be published in 2016. Carter teaches courses at FIU on sociolinguistics, language in U.S. Latino communities, languages and cultures and the world, gender and language, and others. Carter is affiliate faculty in FIU’s Cuban Research Institute, Latin American and Caribbean Center, African and African Diaspora Studies Program and Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
Office: 305-348-1149
Cell: 213-359-6215
Email: pmcarter@fiu.edu
Eduardo Gamarra
Please see bio above.
Cell: 786-253-4898
Email: Eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu
Economy
Deanne Butchey
Teaching professor
Department of Finance
College of Business
Before joining FIU, Butchey worked as an Investment Banker and Financial Services Stock Research Analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in their Toronto offices. Prior to this, she was a stockbroker at Scotia McLeod and Merrill Lynch in Toronto. Butchey performs research in Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing and Analysis including CEO compensation and Sustainability issues. She can discuss short and long term changes in markets and stages in investment process.
Email: butcheyd@fiu.edu
Office: (305) 348-7238
Cell: (954)257-4911
José M. Gabilondo
Professor of law
College of Law
Prior to joining FIU Law, Gabilondo worked in the financial market regulation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the World Bank. Gabilondo teaches tax and corporate finance. His scholarship focuses on debt markets and (separately) heterosexual subject formation in law. He has presented his research at the Universities of Chicago, Buffalo, Columbia, Maryland, DePaul, Emory, Florida State, Georgetown, and Wake Forest, and American University. He is co-author of Corporate Finance: Debt, Equity, and Derivative Markets and their Intermediaries in the American Casebook Series. He has been a featured speaker at meetings of the American Society for International Law, the American Association of Law Schools, the Latin American Law and Economics Association, the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, the Georgetown University Conference on Socio-Economics, Law and Society, the American Association of University Professors, LatCrit, and the Latin American Studies Association. He is a nationally recognized commentator in the Spanish-language media on financial and economic matters.
Cell: 305-710-5656
Email: jose.gabilondo@fiu.edu
Jerry Haar
Professor
Department of International Business
College of Business
Haar was Director of Washington Programs for the Council of the Americas, a New York-based business association of over 200 corporations comprising a majority of U.S. private investment in Latin America, and served as Special Assistant to two cabinet secretaries. He can address issues of international business and economics including the economies of Latin America, financial markets, and competitiveness.
Office: 305-919-4222
Cell: 786-338-5100
Email: haarj@fiu.edu
Tobias Pfutze
Assistant professor and graduate director
Department of Economics
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Pfutze is a professor of economics whose research focuses on health, labor and institutional economics, primarily in middle income countries in Latin America. His research has been published in leading academic journals in these fields. His current work is focused on Mexico’s tax financed health insurance program. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-231
Email: tpfutze@fiu.edu
Manuel Lasaga
Clinical professor
Department of Finance
College of Business
As a business economist he has more than 25 years’ experience advising entrepreneurs, multinational corporations, financial institutions, government agencies and professional services firms. He has a nationally recognized capability for independent analysis of the Florida, U.S., and Latin American economies and financial markets and is an advisor to banks in the areas of strategic planning and asset/liability management. He is also an investment advisor. He has held high-level positions with Citicorp in New York, Wharton Econometrics in Philadelphia and Southeast Bank in Miami. In addition, he has consulted for 18 years with the World Bank in Washington, DC, specializing in the evaluation of capital markets and development projects in emerging markets.
Office: 786-246-2292
Email: mlasaga@fiu.edu
Foreign Policy
Shlomi Dinar
Dean, Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Dinar’s research interests lie at the intersection of international environmental politics, security and negotiation. In particular, he has published in the area of conflict and cooperation over transboundary rivers (a field popularly known as ‘hydro-politics’) as well as the linkages between climate change and international water issues. His research includes other areas and topics, such as the nexus between political demography, technology and terrorism.
Office: 305-348-6958
Email: dinars@fiu.edu
Latin America
Brian Fonseca
Please see bio above.
Office: 305-348-7420
Cell: 305-218-6323
Email: fonsecab@fiu.edu
Eduardo Gamarra
Please see bio above.
Cell: 786-253-4898
Email: Eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu
Jerry Haar
Please see bio above.
Office: 305-919-4222
Cell: 786-338-5100
Email: haarj@fiu.edu
Leland Lazarus
Associate Director of National Security Policy Program
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Leland Lazarus is the Associate Director of National Security Policy Program at the Gordon Institute, specializing in China-Latin America relations. He leads a team of researchers and interns focused on collecting data and analysis on U.S. national security and governance in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Email: llazarus@fiu.edu.
Anthony Pereira
Director
Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Anthony Pereira, director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, was the founder and former director of the Brazilian Studies Institute at King’s College of London. He also helped create a joint Ph.D. in international relations with the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo. He has extensive teaching and research experience at universities across the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.K. Before joining King’s College in 2010, where he was also a professor of international development, Pereira held positions at the New School for Social Research in New York City, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Tulane University in New Orleans and the University of East Anglia in the UK.
Office: 305-348-2894
Email: antperei@fiu.edu
Europe and Russia
Tatiana Kostadinova
Professor
Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Kostadinova’s research and teaching interests include Central and Eastern European political institutions with a special emphasis on elections, electoral systems and electoral behavior; institutional reform; democratic transition; political corruption; comparative public policy; and public support for foreign policies. Kostadinova’s book Political Corruption in Eastern Europe: Politics After Communism(2012) analyzes the emergence of corruption as a major obstacle to successful democratic transition. Kostadinova teaches undergraduate courses in Russian and Eastern European politics, electoral behavior, and research methods, and graduate courses in institutional choice, democratic transitions, political parties, and advanced research. She has also conducted field work in Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia. Kostadinova has authored and co-authored articles, book chapters and book reviews. Kostadinova can talk about U.S. diplomatic relations with Russia. She is fluent in English, Bulgarian and Russian.
Office: 305-348-4493
Markus Thiel
Director, EU/Jean Monnet Center of Excellence
Associate professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Thiel’s areas of expertise include the politics of the European Union and Western Europe, as well as its political sociology and identity. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on international relations, comparative Western European politics, European Union Politics, international relations of Europe, and international organizations. He has published several articles and book chapters at the European Union Center of Excellence, as well as in Transatlantic Monthly, International Studies Compendium, Journal of Human Rights, Perspectives on European Politics & Society, and the Journal of European Integration. He has also published The Limits of Transnationalism: Collective Identities and EU Integration (2011) and co-edited three volumes, including Diversity and the European Union (2009), Identity Politics in the Age of Globalization (2010), and European Identity and Culture: Narratives of Transnational Belonging (2012). Thiel is a research associate at the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence and is an affiliated faculty member of the FIU European Studies Program. Thiel is available for interviews for European-Union related questions on the immigration crisis in Europe and other topics.
Office: 305-348-4493
Email: thielm@fiu.edu
Middle East
Mohamed Ghumrawi
Adjunct Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Senior Program Coordinator, Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Ghumrawi’s research interests include dynamics surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli question, the Palestinian diaspora, Islamic studies, politics of the Middle East, conflict resolution, peace studies, state formation, foreign policy and security studies. He is also the founding program director for the FIU in the Middle East study abroad program. In addition to being an academic, Mohamed’s life and career has been driven by a passion for advocating human rights and interfaith dialogue.
Office: 305-348-2226
Email: mghumraw@fiu.edu
T.J. Liguori
Adjunct Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
His areas of research interest include international political theory, international historical sociology, Kashmir, South Asia, and postcolonial and decolonial conceptions of the international.
Office: 305-348-2226
Email: tligu001@fiu.edu
Eric Lob
Assistant professor
Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Lob’s research focuses on the intersection of development and politics in the Middle East. His research specifically examines how state and non-state actors in the region use development to further their political interests domestically and internationally. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. Lob teaches courses on Middle Eastern politics and international relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and political violence and revolution. He has traveled extensively throughout the region and is proficient in Arabic, Persian, and French. Lob can speak about about the Middle East’s historical and contemporary issues, events, policies, developments, and trends, such as America’s allies and local governments, popular uprisings and regional instability (Iraq, Syria, and Yemen), the US invasion of Iraq and rise of ISIS/ISIL, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry and Iranian nuclear program, and Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace.
Cell: 914-261-3225
Email: elob@fiu.edu
Mohiaddin Mesbahi
Director, Mohsin & Fauzia Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies
Associate Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Mesbahi’s areas of expertise include Islam and politics, national security and strategic studies, Soviet/Russian foreign Policy, and international relations of Central Asia.
Office: 305-348-1857
Email: mesbahim@fiu.edu
Naisy Sarduy
Instructor, Department of Public Policy and Administration
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Sarduy specializes on the international relations of the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran, Islamic political movements and their relations with the West. She was assistant editor for American Muslim Quarterly and has published on the Muslim community of the United States.
Office: 305-348-7927
Email: nsarduy@fiu.edu
Immigration
Cyra Akila Choudhury
Professor
College of Law
Prior to joining the FIU Law faculty, Choudhury worked for The National Academies advising the federal government on international labor standards and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of the largest international law firms in the world, in their corporate finance practice. Choudhury’s expertise is in international and comparative family law; gender and postcolonial theory; subjectivity and legal theory; and international labor law and labor migration. She has written and lectured on Islamic law and Muslims as minorities and national security law. In 2012,Choudhury was awarded a grant from the Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP) at Harvard Law School to study domestic migrant workers from South Asia to the Gulf. She has served as a docent for the IGLP workshops for the past three years. She is part of a number of research groups including the Ottoman Legacies in Post-conflict societies, an initiative started at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK; a network of TWAIL scholars whose reach is global; and a critical human rights study group funded by IGLP at Harvard Law School. Choudhury’s work has appeared in the Michigan Journal of International Law, Akron Law Review, and the University of Colorado Law Review. She has appeared as an expert witness in a number of transnational family law cases and has been interviewed by national media outlets on both the Middle East and Islamic law as well as on family law matters. She is a member of the Middle East Studies faculty at FIU and is able to speak about Islamophobia and Muslims in the United States.
Office: 305-348-1153
Cell: 240-462-1603
Email: choudhuc@fiu.edu
Eduardo Gamarra
Please see bio above.
Guillermo Grenier
Please see bio above.
Ofelia Riquezes
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Associate Director, Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Democracy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Her research focuses on transitional justice processes in Latin America and international human rights law. Before moving to Miami, Dr. Riquezes was a Human Rights and Civil Law Professor at Venezuela’s Universidad Metropolitana's Faculty of Legal and Political Studies for several years.
Office: 305-348-7266
Email: oriqueze@fiu.edu
Ediberto Román
Professor
College of Law
Ediberto Román is a nationally-acclaimed scholar and an award-winning educator with broad teaching interests and an extensive scholarship portfolio. Before entering academia, he specialized in securities and antitrust litigation at several Wall Street law firms. His teaching experience includes contracts, torts, corporations, comparative corporate law, products liability, agency and partnership, antitrust, citizenship studies, law and accounting, race and the law, remedies and street law. He has written dozens of articles, essays and book chapters. He has kept a particularly hectic schedule, which has often led him to provide television and radio interviews for local, state and national media outlets. His essays, op-eds and interviews have appeared in virtually every newspaper in the state. He has been asked to testify before governmental bodies on immigration reform, and has visited the White House on several occasions to address matters related to immigration policy, and the judicial vacancy debate. His principal research interest involves analyzing the construction and interpretation of constitutional law and immigration policy. His work may be best described as traditional in its structure and use of authority, but critical in its perspective. His research necessarily deals with the intersection of, on the one hand, citizenship law, immigration law, public international law, and constitutional law and, on the other hand, theoretical perspectives based on classic philosophy, neo-liberal theory, critical race theory, post-colonial studies, diaspora literature, and social theory generally. Areas of interest and expertise include constitution law, civil rights and diversity issues.
Office: 305-348-7254
Cell: 954-326-6645
Email: romane@fiu.edu
Health Care Policy
Alejandro Arrieta
Associate Professor
Department Health Policy and Management
Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work
Arrieta is a health economist and has an active research portfolio in health policy and global health, exploring the effect of health care financing and organization on utilization and quality of care. For example, how physician incentives affect the utilization and quality of care, how the organization of hospitals and payers affect the provision of preventable care, or how health reforms have changed the role of the private sector in health systems in Latin America. Dr. Arrieta has a special interest on maternal care quality, its assessment, and how financial and non-financial incentives affect maternal care outcomes.
Office: 305-348-7803
Email: alejarri@fiu.edu
Eneida O. Roldan, MD, MPH, MBA
CEO, FIU HealthCare Network
Associate Dean for Internal Affairs
Associate Dean, Master in Physician Assistant Studies
Professor, Department of Pathology
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Dr. Roldan is the immediate past CEO and President for the Jackson Health System in Miami, one of the largest safety net health systems in the country. Prior to this role, she was court-appointed as President and CEO of Pan American Hospital, a Miami-Dade community hospital under Chapter 11 that successfully emerged from bankruptcy under her leadership. Roldan has over 30 years’ experience in the health care industry having served in multiple roles both in the private and public sector including administrative roles in the non-for-profit and for-profit sectors; private practice; consulting, and in academia (nationally and internationally). Roldan is a known national and international speaker in the areas of obesity, health policy, health care reform, health care management and systems and leadership. In addition to her medical, public health and business degrees; she has attained Wharton alumni status at the prestigious Wharton (Business) School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Please contact Ileana Varela to speak with Dr. Roldan.
Office: 305-348-4329
Email: eoroldan@fiu.edu
Reproductive Rights
Cyra Choudhury
See bio above under Middle East.
Office: 305-348-8375
Cell: 240-462-1603
Email: choudhuc@fiu.edu
José M. Gabilondo
Please see biography above.
Cell: 305-710-5656
Email: jose.gabilondo@fiu.edu
Family Planning & Women's Health
Purnima Madhivanan, M.D.
Associate professor
Department of Epidemiology
Dr. Madhivanan, an infectious disease epidemiologist, is an associate professor and the director of the Epidemiology Ph.D. Program. Madhivanan serves as an advisor to a number of state departments of public health, as well as non-profit and governmental research organizations. In 2007, she received the prestigious International Leadership Award from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation for her work on prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. Her current research focuses on women’s health across their lifespans. Her research areas include reproductive health as well as primary and secondary prevention of cervical cancer.
Office: 305-348-4907
Email: pmadhiva@fiu.edu
Environment
Stephen Leatherman
Professor
Department of Earth and Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Stephen Leatherman is a coastal scientist who is an expert in sea-level rise, storm impacts, beach erosion and rip currents. Leatherman is internationally known as “Dr. Beach” for his annual selection of the “Top 10 Beaches” in the United States.
Office: 305-348-6304 or 305-348-1339
Email: leatherm@fiu.edu
Jayantha Obeysekera
Research Professor
FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center
Institute of Environment
The center is a research, education and outreach hub designed to develop and implement solutions for the impacts caused by one of Florida’s greatest threats — sea level rise. Obeysekera previously served as chief modeler at the South Florida Water Management District, where he had a leading role in modeling of the Everglades and Kissimmee River and Everglades restoration projects . He was co-author of the sea level rise projections report published by NOAA for the National Climate Assessment. He also co-authored a report on regional sea level projections for Department of Defense facilities across the globe. Obeysekera can talk about hurricanes as they relate to sea level rise, climate change, flooding and water management. He has extensive media experience, including print and broadcast.
Office: 305-348-4493
Email: jobeysek@fiu.edu
Energy
Brian Fonseca
Please see bio above.
Eduardo Gamarra
Please see bio above.
Edward Glab
Co-Director, FIU Global Energy Security Forum
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
He has over four decades of experience in the energy field, including 25 years as an executive in the private sector. Glab is an expert on various aspects of the global energy industry, including political risk analysis and government relations, and he has conducted business and academic work in every country of Latin America and dozens of other around the world from Asia and Africa to Europe and Australia. Glab speaks Spanish and has published in the area of bilingual/bicultural education.
Office: 305-348-4203
Cell: 305-299-7155
Email: glabe@fiu.edu
Criminal Justice System
Stewart D’Allessio
Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
D'Alessio’s areas of expertise include terrorism, race and crime, criminal sentencing and criminal justice policy. He has an extensive publication record and practical experience in program evaluation. Before entering academia, he worked on a federally funded grant for the Florida Department of Corrections evaluating innovative programs established in local jails throughout the state.
Office: 305-348-6277
Email: dalessi@fiu.edu
Scott Fingerhut
Assistant Director
Trial Advocacy Program
College of Law
Fingerhut is an FIU College of Law faculty fellow and advisor to the Pre-Law Association through the Honors College. He has more than 16 years of law teaching experience and 23 years as an AV-Preeminent Peer Review Rated criminal trial and appellate litigator. In 2000, he accepted a four-year appointment in FIU’s School of Policy and Management, teaching Criminal Constitutional Law and Procedure, Criminal Law Theory, Law and Social Control, and Judicial Process and Policy in the undergraduate and Master’s Degree criminal justice programs. For the past six years, Fingerhut has served as Assistant Director of the FIU College of Law’s Trial Advocacy Program, teaching Trial Advocacy, Pretrial Litigation (criminal and civil), Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, and the Criminal and Civil Law Externship Clinic. To maintain his undergraduate ties, Fingerhut was made a Faculty Fellow in The Honors College at FIU, and, recently, was named Director of The Honors College Pre-Law Programs. A frequent lecturer and writer on criminal justice matters, Fingerhut is called upon often to pen amicus briefs on behalf of local, state, and national organizations in defense of our liberties
Office: 305-348-3182
Cell: 305-975-3837
Email: Fingerhut@fiu.edu
Tim Goddard
Associate professor
Department of Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Goddard studies criminal justice and crime policy trends in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. He can speak to the subject of releasing non-violent offenders. Although his current research focuses on youth offender interventions and community-based crime prevention, much of his research overlaps with the subject of releasing non-violent offenders. Goddard teaches courses in criminal justice and public policy, criminal justice policy analysis, and punishment and society.
Cell: 305-348-4873
Email: tgoddard@fiu.edu
Rob Guerette
Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Guerette's areas of expertise include situational crime prevention, problem and community-oriented policing, transnational crime, and program and policy evaluation. He has worked on projects in consultation or affiliation with the Department of Homeland Security - U.S. Border Patrol, the National Research Council, United States Department of Justice-Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), British Home Office Research Directorate, the Miami Police Department and the New Jersey Department of Probation and Parole.
Office: 305-348-0424
Email: guerette@fiu.edu
Besiki Luka Kutateladze
Assistant professor
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Kutateladze’s research focuses on prosecution, inequality, racial justice and LGBTQ hate crimes. Kutateladze is an internationally recognized expert in the development of performance indicators. He played a crucial role in the development of the United Nations Rule of Law Indicators, a tool developed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, for assessing the rule of law in post-conflict situations. He is currently researching the nature and scope of hate crimes against LGBTQ individuals in Miami.
Cell: 917-637-0844
Email: bkutatel@fiu.edu
Stephen Pires
Associate Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Pires studies the illegal wildlife trade with a particular focus on commonly poached species (i.e., hot products), illicit markets, and the organization of the illegal trade. In addition to his work on wildlife crime, he has published several articles on how other deviant behavior, such as kidnappings for ransom and illicit smoking, is clustered in space and time while illustrating the benefits of using GIS to inform prevention policy.
Office: 305-348-4872
Email: sfpires@fiu.edu
Melba V. Pearson
Director of Prosecutorial Policy Program
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Melba Pearson is a civil rights and criminal law attorney working at the Gordon Institute for Public Policy. She serves as the Director of Prosecution Projects, overseeing technical assistance and training efforts, and is co-manager of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Prosecutorial Performance Indicators’ project, focused on improving efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness in prosecutorial offices through data and research.
Email: mpearson@fiu.edu.
Carlene Vincent-Robinson
Assistant Dean, Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Teaching Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Her areas of expertise include domestic violence, race and ethnicity, women and crime, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. A sought-after speaker, in the past few years, she served as a panelist for a teach-in entitled "How to Understand and Deal with Gun Violence," the "I Can't Breathe" town hall moderated by NBC 6's Willard Shepard, and FIU's Social Justice Summit for a special session entitled "Educate to Elevate Justice and Equity: Creating a Brave Space in the Classroom."
Office: 305-348-1288
Email: vincentc@fiu.edu
Race, Gender and Gay and Lesbian Politics
José M. Gabilondo
Please see biography above.
Cell: 305-710-5656
Email: jose.gabilondo@fiu.edu
Suzanna Rose
Associate provost
Office to Advance Women, Equity & Diversity
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Rose is a professor of psychology and women’s and gender studies. She is the lead investigator for FIU’s NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant that is aimed at improving the recruitment, promotion and retention of women and underrepresented minority faculty at FIU. A key research project associated with the grant includes the development of an evidence-based Bystander Leadership Program to reduce gender and race bias in faculty hiring, promotion, and retention. Her previous administrative roles included serving at FIU within the College of Arts, Sciences & Education as Executive Director of the School of Integrated Science and Humanity, Senior Associate Dean for the Sciences, Chair of Psychology, and Director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. Prior to that she served as Women’s Studies Director and Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Dr Rose has published extensively on issues related to gender, race, and sexual orientation, including professional networks, career development, leadership, friendship, and personal relationships. She has consulted with many universities both nationally and internationally concerning strategies for recruiting and retaining women faculty in science and engineering.
Email: srose@fiu.edu
Baby Boomers & Aging
Elena Bastida
Professor and chair
Department of Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work
Bastida’s research focus is gerontology; specifically behavior, expectation, aging norms and aging stereotypes. She led the 12-year Border Epidemiologic Study on Aging (NIH-BESA). Bastida also conducts NIH supported community based participatory research on Latino health. Her teaching has received statewide and national recognition with two national role model awards for research mentoring of minority students. She works closely with Pan American Health and Latin American universities in advancing research and training throughout the region. In 2009 she received the Public Health Hero Award from Research America.
Office: 305-348-7789
Email: elena.bastida@fiu.edu
Housing Market
Eli Beracha
Director, Tibor and Sheila Hollo School of Real Estate
College of Business
Beracha conducts empirical research in the areas of real estate and finance. He has years of practical experience in real estate investments and has served as a consultant for real estate development projects. He is the co-creator of the Beracha and Johnson Housing Market Ranking report which ranks the most overvalued housing markets of America’s 100 largest metros as well as the Beracha, Hardin & Johnson Buy vs. Rent Index, which looks at market conditions as bellwethers for whether renting or buying in a specific market is most financially favorable.
Office: 785-841-4470
Email:eberacha@fiu.edu
Forensics and Justice
Kenneth G. Furton
Director, FIU Global Forensic and Justice Center
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Furton is the executive director of the Global Forensic and Justice Center and the chief scientific officer of FIU. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors as well as the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has received significant attention in recent years for ground-breaking work using dogs and sensors to detect humans, drugs, currency, accelerants, explosives, mass storage devices, invasive species and medical conditions. His expertise includes forensic policy and standards, and global forensic justice issues.
Office: 727-395-2511
Email:Furtonk@fiu.edu
Max Houck
Research assistant professor and graduate program director, FIU Global Forensic and Justice Center
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
An international expert in the forensic sciences, Houck has nearly 30 years of expertise in casework, research, speaking, and writing. His committee work includes the White House, the National Academies of Science, the Royal Society, and Interpol. Houck is one of the most published professionals in his field. He is Editor-in-Chief of Forensic Science International: Synergy, a Gold Open Access journal. His expertise covers forensic policy including ghost guns and cold cases, science education, and forensic intelligence.
Office: 727-395-2511
Email:mhouck@fiu.edu
Gerald LaPorte
Director of Research Innovation, FIU Global Forensic and Justice Center
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
LaPorte is a forensic scientist and researcher with 27 years of experience in the forensic and law enforcement communities. LaPorte oversees forensic initiatives related to education, training, research, and cyber. He further liaises with faculty from computer science and engineering, nursing, law, and criminal justice to collaborate on forensic science related research and technology innovation. One of his primary responsibilities is to bridge the gap between academic research and operationalization of technology-based tools to enhance criminal justice applications that are usable in the field. His expertise covers forensic policy, forensic practice, and global forensic justice issues.
Office: 727-395-2511
Email:glaporte@fiu.edu
Kevin Lothridge
Deputy executive director, FIU Global Forensic and Justice Center
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Lothridge is a well-respected forensic scientist and business leader with more than with 28 years of experience in the international forensic community. His science and technical background, coupled with his business acumen and natural leadership abilities has enabled his rise from drug chemist to laboratory director to executive roles in both the National Forensic Science Technology Center and FIU’s Global Forensic and Justice Center. His expertise covers multiple areas of forensic science, including global forensic justice issues, forensic policy, and forensic intelligence and practice.
Office: 727-395-2511
Email: klothrid@fiu.edu
Political and Crisis Communications
Aileen Izquierdo
Chair, Communication Department
Associate teaching professor and faculty director, M.S. in Global Strategic Communications
College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts
Izquierdo is a communications professional with more than 20 years of strategic communications, branding and crisis communications experience, having held executive, management positions as vice president for communications at Broward College and Florida Atlantic University. Izquierdo was the first vice president for communications and marketing at both of these institutions. She also was the first Hispanic vice president in FAU’s history. Izquierdo is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office: 305-919-4429
Hugo Ottolenghi
Assistant teaching professor
College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts
Ottolenghi has taught public relations, mass communications and journalism classes at the undergraduate and graduate level at FIU as an adjunct for 12 years. He is certified in online and hybrid instruction. He has worked in public relations for nearly a decade, serving businesses and professionals, and consulting with public relations firms.
Office: 305-919-4411
Education
Laura Dinehart
Associate Professor; Dean for the School of Education and Human Development
School of Education and Human Development; Office of the Dean
Laura Dinehart is the Dean of the School of Education and Human Development. She is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education whose research focuses on contexts that affect the school readiness and developmental outcomes of young children. As dean, Dr. Dinehart oversees the work of three departments, led by three chairs and home to 85 faculty members. She is responsible for supporting instruction, ensuring efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion, research productivity, student recruitment, and academic progress. Dr. Dinehart has strong relationships with community stakeholders and our local LEA.
Office: 305-348-3790
Cell: 305-710-3410
Geography
Benjamin Smith
Associate Professor, Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Smith’s areas of expertise include cultural economy, Middle East, urban geography and landscapes. Most of his research is on how landscape mattered in shaping the cultural economy of Arab Gulf Cities, particularly Dubai.
Office: 305-348-2074
Email: bsmith@fiu.edu
Religion
Dan Alvarez
Associate Teaching Professor, Mohsin & Fauzia Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Teaching and research interests have been primarily in the areas of Christian theology and World Religions, with emphasis on Protestantism, Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, 19th-century liberal theology, and comparative religious world views.
Office: 305-348-2354
Email: alvarezd@fiu.edu
Saiyad Nizamuddin Ahmad
Prophet Muhammad Visiting Professor of Shi'a Islam Studies, Mohsin & Fauzia Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
A specialist in Shia’ Islam, Ahmad has extensive training in traditional Islamic sciences from some of the world’s major Islamic centers of learning, including the Al Azhar University in Cairo, where he completed his intensive Arabic training, as well as Quranic memorization and exegesis, Ḥadīth, Islamic theology, logic, mysticism, and specialization in Islamic Law in the Sunni Islam Maleki School.
Phone: 305-348-2186
Email: sahmad@fiu.edu