Jay Barclay has been appointed the post-award director of Research Administration and Finance. He comes to Rensselaer from the Research Foundation of SUNY, where he had been director of business operations and the accounting director of the Sponsored Programs Office of SUNY System Administration since 2008. He began his career at State Street Bank. Barclay earned his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Union College.
Deva Chan has joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering as an assistant professor. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Rush University Medical Center from 2013 to 2015, and more recently as a research fellow in the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine. Chan received her B.S. degree in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2004, an M.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of California, Davis, in 2008, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Purdue University in 2012.
Jade Felder has been named undergraduate class dean for the Class of 2019. In this role, she serves as the administrative support system to assist students in crafting a holistic, personal experience spanning their tenure at Rensselaer. Felder received her master of science in higher education administration with a concentration in enrollment management and a certificate in student life development from the University of Miami in Coral Gables. She has professional experience working in the K-12 sector as well as higher education. In her recent professional career, she has worked in enrollment management, research, and student affairs.
Ashley Ferro-Murray has been named curator of theater and dance for the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC). With a background in choreography and critical theory, Ferro-Murray comes to EMPAC following the completion of a Ph.D. in performance studies from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on new media. EMPAC curators are tasked with the development of new projects situated at the confluence of art, science, and technology. EMPAC-commissioned work responds to contemporary advances in art and media by facilitating a collaborative environment for international artists, researchers, and theorists to work with an infrastructure unavailable elsewhere.
BreLynn Nasypany has been appointed head women’s soccer coach at Rensselaer. Since 2014 she had served as head coach at Mount Saint Mary College, where she earned the league’s Coach of the Year. Before taking the head job at Mount Saint Mary, Nasypany was an assistant at her alma mater, William Smith College, from 2011 to 2014, which included an NCAA National Championship in 2013. Nasypany graduated from William Smith in 2011 with a bachelor of arts in psychology with a minor in child advocacy. She earned her master’s degree from United States Sports Academy in sports science.
Jaiman Patel has joined the Lighting Research Center (LRC), where he will be part of the center’s horticultural lighting and plant pathology program, as a research scientist. Prior to joining the LRC, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Tropical Research and Education Center at the University of Florida. Patel earned his doctorate in plant pathology/phytopathology at North Dakota State University. He is the author of more than 40 scientific articles, and serves as associate editor of Plant Health Progress.
Andrew White joined Rensselaer as director of the Rensselaer Libraries this summer. He most recently served as associate chief information officer for health sciences at Stony Brook University. Previously he held positions of increasing responsibility in various Stony Brook libraries, including interim dean and director of university libraries. White holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Stony Brook University, a master’s in library science from Queens College, and a doctorate in historical musicology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.