School of Science & Health Faculty

Gregory Keller

Professor of Biology
Dean, School of Science and Health

Dr. Keller joined Gordon College in 2007 after teaching for five years at Eastern New Mexico University, where he was an Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology.

Essays written by Keller for a general audience include: "Denizens of the Autumn Air" and "A Sense of Shared (Avian) Presence." ... more ➔

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Liza Abraham

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Dr. Liza Abraham is an educator and researcher specializing in Organic Chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, and has post-doctoral research experience at the University of Toronto, Canada, the University of Southern Mississippi, USA, and the University of Sherbrook, Canada. She has worked in industries as a medicinal chemist at Dalton Pharma Services in Toronto, Canada, and as a research chemist at ... more ➔

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Russell Bjork

Professor of Computer Science

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Dorothy Boorse

Professor of Biology

Dr. Boorse joined Gordon College in 1999 and has worked to bring a greater understanding of the complex interactions among wildlife and the environment to the Gordon Community and the wider world. Her primary research interests are in aquatic community ecology and invasive species. Dorothy also spends a great deal of time studying the integration of faith and science, particularly in the realm of environmental ethics. In the past several years ... more ➔

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Rachelle Chiang, Dr.PH., M.P.H.

Course Instructor

Dr. Rachelle Johnsson Chiang joined Gordon College in 2022 with over twenty years of experience in public health at the national, state, and community levels. She brings a wealth of expertise in program evaluation, health policy, chronic disease prevention, social determinants of health, school health, and substance abuse and mental health. Her experience includes serving as Director of a national school health initiative at the National ... more ➔

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Donna Clark

Adjunct in Kinesiology

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Sean Clark

Professor of Kinesiology
Director, Health Professions

Dr. Clark joined the kinesiology faculty at Gordon College in 2000 and serves as the department chair. Dr. Clark teaches courses that focus on the neurophysiological and mechanical basis of human movement. He also serves as the Director for the Gordon College Center for Balance Mobility and Wellness.  

Dr. Clark’s research interests focus broadly on the coordination and multisensory control of posture and orientation. His ... more ➔

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Karl-Dieter Crisman

Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science

Karl-Dieter Crisman's main research interests lie in applications of mathematics to analysis of election procedures.  Other interests include connections with music, the abstract world of invariants on hyperplane arrangements, and the 17th century scientist and priest Marin Mersenne. He is passionate about open ... more ➔

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Melanie Gwynn, Ph.D., M.P.H./M.H.A.

Course Developer, Course Instructor

Dr. Gwynn joined Gordon College in 2023 with over a decade of experience as a health services researcher. She has served as faculty at other universities and has public health experience at the national, state, and academic levels. Dr. Gwynn’s research interests include HIV/AIDS/STIs, healthcare service utilization, healthcare guideline/policy development and evaluation, and project management in public health. She has published and presented ... more ➔

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Casey Hughes, M.A., MCHES

Course Developer, Course Instructor

Casey Hughes, MA MCHES joined Gordon College in 2023 bringing over 15 years of experience designing and evaluating evidence-based behavioral interventions for the prevention and management of chronic disease. Casey has faithfully served at the intersection of behavioral medicine, public health, and well-being science across healthcare and health technology sectors. She has spearheaded the creation of numerous health apps, disease management protocols, ... more ➔

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Peter Iltis

Professor of Kinesiology

Peter Iltis joined the faculty of Gordon College in 1983 and holds a variety of scholarly interests both within the discipline of kinesiology and in music. His research projects have included such diverse interests as reliability and validity in the measurement of bioenergetics, movement disorders such as focal task specific dystonia (in musicians), body composition assessment techniques, the use of computer-assisted visual feedback in French ... more ➔

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Irvin J. Levy

Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Computer Science

Irv joined the Department of Chemistry at Gordon College in 1985. His interests in chemistry are primarily related to the development of educational resources for green chemistry, chemistry that is inherently safer for human health and the environment. Current projects involve the creation of green organic chemistry laboratory experiments, the introduction of toxicology into the chemistry curriculum, and community outreach via green chemistry. ... more ➔

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Mina Lim

Assistant Professor of Physics

I am originally from South Korea. After graduating Texas A&M University with my B.S in Chemical Engineering, I worked at Samsung Electronics in South Korea as a semiconductor engineer for 6 years. I came back to the states and received my Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2020. 

My research interest includes atomistic simulations of the structure and the properties of the high ... more ➔

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Li Chieh Lu

Assistant Professor of Biology

Dr. Li Chieh Lu's research interests stem from his graduate education which was focused on synthetic biology and, particularly, the engineering of bacteria to detect chemicals and changes in different environments such as various types of soils. Dr. Lu seeks to design novel whole-cell microbial biosensors that can produce indicator gases in response to the presence of potentially polluting chemicals in soils.

Prior to starting at ... more ➔

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Sam Mason

Instructor of Data Science

With a background in ecology and biostatistics, Professor Mason is most interested in using bespoke probabilistic models to inform animal conservation. His current research focuses on the Monarch butterfly, combining large spatial datasets with greenhouse experiments to understand how habitat loss and pesticide use are driving population declines. Professor Mason is an R enthusiast and loves introducing students to the fundamentals of programming, ... more ➔

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Marshae McNeal, Ph.D., M.P.H. CHES

Course Developer, Part-time Instructor

Dr. McNeal worked in community mental health for 11 years serving as Prevention Coordinator for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention related activities. In this position, she supervised the implementation of several grants, taught science-based curriculums, and actively served on several coalitions. Dr. McNeal’s passion for mental health and the effects it has on the community, especially the African American community, grew during ... more ➔

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Christine Palmer, Ed.D., M.P.H., MCHES

Course Developer, Course Instructor

Dr. Christine Palmer joined Gordon College in 2023 with experience in teaching, leadership, and healthcare policy and management. She has over a decade of experience in academia, teaching in and leading public health and healthcare management programs. In addition to teaching in both higher education and secondary education settings, Dr. Palmer has previously worked in health policy and healthcare management overseeing the education and outreach ... more ➔

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Michael Ritter, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Professor of Public Health

Dr. Ritter joined Gordon College in 2022 with experience in management, research, and teaching.  He co-founded and managed a non-profit organization that provides safe water through a social enterprise in rural Haiti. After scaling the program through partnerships with governmental, non-governmental, faith-based, and academic partners, he transitioned leadership of the organization to local staff. Dr. Ritter’s research has ... more ➔

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LaReisha Robinson, Dr. P.H., M.P.H.

Course Developer, Course Instructor

Dr. LaReisha Robinson joined Gordon College in 2023 with experience in health policy, program management, health and human services, and grant writing. Her dissertation research focused on examining the relationship between medication adherence and socioeconomic status among adults with cardiovascular disease. Currently, Dr. Robinson is working with the Department of Health in Mississippi, where she is involved in program evaluation, health policy, ... more ➔

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Jonathan Senning

Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science

Dr. Senning combines an interest in applying mathematics to real-world problems with a love for computer technology and finding ways to use computers in a variety of applications. His current interests include high-performance computing, computational solutions to network queueing problems, and machine learning. He has been an active member of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences (ACMS) since joining in 1993.

Dissertation: High Performance Computing, Computer Applications of Mathematics

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Kristen Siaw

Assistant Professor

Dr. Siaw received her B.S in Biochemistry from Biola University and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Santa Barbara in 2013 where her research was focused on inorganic materials synthesis of ZnO thin films. She combines her love of materials science with her biochemistry and inorganic chemistry academic backgrounds to encourage interdisciplinary learning, and applies her diverse scientific training to the field of biomimetic synthesis. Aside from loving to nurture and encourage the passions of future scientists and engineers, she enjoys baking, painting and playing with her two sons.  

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Heather Sipsma, Ph.D.

Master of Public Health Program Director
Associate Professor of Public Health

Dr. Sipsma joined Gordon College in 2021 with experience in both academia and consulting. She oversees the MPH program and conducts research related to maternal and child health. Her dissertation focused on analyzing patterns of risk behaviors among adolescents, and her post-doctoral experiences focused on health systems strengthening, with a particular emphasis in global health. Her more recent research seeks to evaluate the implementation and ... more ➔

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Craig Story

Professor of Biology
Health Professions Advisor (Premed Advisor)

My research interests have centered around immunology and molecular biology. In graduate school at Brandeis University, I cloned and studied the transporter protein, called FcRn, that carries IgG antibodies across the human placenta under Dr. Neil E. Simister.

Subsequent to my graduate work, new roles the antibody transporter have been discovered—it extends the serum ... more ➔

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Yi Sun

Assistant Professor of Kinesiology

Dr. Sun joined Gordon College in 2021. Her research interests focus on preserving the health and independence of older adults by conducting translational and interdisciplinary research broadly related to the prevention of age-associated physical and cognitive disability. Her research projects involve the principles of exercise physiology, biological aging, gut microbiome, and pharmacology. Incorporating both human and pre-clinical rodent models, ... more ➔

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Oleksiy Svitelskiy

Professor of Physics

A condensed matter physicist by training, Dr. Svitelskiy's research includes the propagation of acoustic waves through ferroelectric materials, as well as optical interferometry using NEMS sensors for mass spectrometry. He has also studied the elastic constant of materials in high magnetic fields and low temperatures. 

A native of Ukraine, Professor Svitelskiy speaks Ukrainian, Russian, and English. He enjoys fishing in ... more ➔

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Russ Tuck

Professor of Computer Science
Program Director of Mathematical, Computer, and Data Sciences

Dr. Russell Tuck, an award-winning software engineering manager, brings extensive experience to his role as professor of computer science. Dr. Tuck led the productionization and launch of Gmail and built and managed Gmail’s Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) group. During his 11 years at Google, he also led teams developing some of the infrastructure systems for Google’s vast web services and helped facilitate the company ... more ➔

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Michael Veatch

Professor of Mathematics

Dr. Veatch uses the methods of operations research, particularly probability models and optimization, in a variety of areas. He is currently studying humanitarian logistics and the effective delivery of aid. He is also interested in the control of queueing networks, with applications to supply chains and manufacturing systems, and approximate dynamic programming. Prior to coming to Gordon, he worked for six years in the industry ... more ➔

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Gregory Walker, DPT

Lecturer in Kinesiology
Physical Therapist

Dr. Gregory Walker ’11 is a physical therapist and clinic manager for the Harmeling Physical Therapy location on Gordon College’s campus. He has been an adjunct faculty member of Gordon’s kinesiology department since 2017. He’s a Gordon graduate and former member of the Men’s Basketball team. His areas of expertise include sports rehabilitation and rehabilitation for the cervical spine.

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Shelley Zhang

Professor of Computer Science

Dr. Zhang is enthusiastic about computer science education and eager to share the wonders of this ever-evolving discipline with students. She has extensive experience in teaching, mentoring,  advising students, and also in curriculum development. 

Her major research focus is on intelligent agent technologies and multi-agent systems, with potential application domains such as cooperative team missions, social networks, health ... more ➔

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Ming Zheng

Professor of Biology

Dr. Yuanming Zheng joined Gordon College in 2002 with experiences in both academia and industry. His research focuses on plant biotechnology and crop breeding. He uses an immature pollen system he established to study the cellular and developmental events associated with somatic embryogenesis of plant cells. He has published numerous journal papers and book chapters on the subject. His more recent interests include the ethical, legal, social, ... more ➔

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