Faculty Research

Dr. Jonathan Graubart Dr. Graubart specializes in the areas of international relations, international law, and human rights. His recent publications include Legalizing Transnational Activism: The Struggle to Gain Social Change From NAFTA’s Citizen Petitions (Penn State University Press, 2008), "Rendering Global Criminal Law an Instrument of Power: Pragmatic Legalism and Global Tribunals" (Journal of Human Rights, 2010), and a book chapter, "NGOs and the Security Council: Authority All Around But For Whose Benefit?" in an edited volume, The UN Security Council and the Politics of International Authority (Routledge, 2008). He is presently working on new projects that critique, respectively, the new generation of international criminal tribunals and the "Responsibility to Protect" global initiative.

Dr. Allen Greb Dr. Greb's research and teaching interests are in the areas of nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and science and public policy. He has coordinated and managed international research projects on nuclear issues, organized a major workshop on the history of the American nuclear weapon design laboratories, and helped plan and carry out global security teaching seminars in both the United States and Europe.

Dr. Mikhail Alexseev Mikhail Alexseev is internationally recognized as an authority on threat assessment in interstate and internal conflicts, with an emphasis on migration, ethnic group relations, and post-Soviet Russia. He is currently the principal investigator of a multiyear international research project on migration and ethnoreligious violence in the Russian Federation funded by the National Science Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

 

Mark Freeman Mark Freeman is a documentary film and videomaker with over 25 years of experience. One of his most recent projects is called Talking Peace, which focuses on the cycle of violence in the Middle East that seems to have no end. In San Diego Jews and Palestinians have united despite the odds. Talking Peace takes viewers inside the Jewish Palestinian Living Room Dialogue and tells a compelling story of two sides coming together through the simple act of listening. For more information, visit http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/%7Emfreeman/films.php?id=6

 

Dr. Eric G. Frost Dr. Frost is the director of the Central Asia Research and Remediation Exchange, which has three broad goals: 1) Acquiring and assembling imagery and spatially based data sets of Central Asia to be used as a framework for synthesis, planning, and decision making for a spectrum of humanitarian and development projects. 2) Integrating the results of these computer studies with efforts of the US and Central Asian governments and numerous private volunteer groups to identify and begin solving major environmental, health, and economic problems. 3) Participating in the education of the peoples of Central Asia by developing learning opportunities at SDSU and other campuses of the CSU system, such as those where practical learning experiences using agricultural and environmental planning can be done in conjunction with the imagery and GIS analysis.

Dr. Huma Ahmed-Ghosh Professor Ghosh has 10 years experience in teaching graduate and undergraduate level Anthropology, Women Studies, and Asian Studies courses pertaining to gender relations in Asia and international development. She conducted research in India on the impact of agricultural development on rural women and the status of women in the handicraft industry. Her current research is on cultural adaptation strategies of immigrant Muslim women in Southern California and on Islam and feminism. More recently, she has been traveling to Afghanistan to do research on the role of women-run NGOs in the reconstruction of the country.

Dr. Lei Guang Though housed in political science, he is interested in interdisciplinary perspectives on the study of politics. His research interests are in the areas of Chinese politics, agrarian studies, migration, the political economy and post-socialist transition. His scholarly publications fall under the following three categories: (1) contemporary Chinese political discourse; (2) the politics of internal migration and emerging new social classes in China; and (3) China's external relations. He is currently working on a series of projects related to the above areas, including labor market transformation in China, the institutional development of the Chinese state, the Overseas Chinese and foreign investment in China.

 

Dr. Dipak K. Gupta Dr. Gupta's current research interests include: A) Water Resources in South Asia: An Assessment of Climate Change and Vulnerability B) A Proposal for Generalizing Individual Choice Model (with Professor Taradas Banyopadhayay, University of California, Riverside) C) Rationality of Suicide Bombing For more information on Dr. Gupta's research, go to http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~dgupta/research.html

Dr. Gerald Monk Dr. Monk has an international reputation for the development of an innovative approach to conflict resolution known as narrative mediation. His co-authored text with Dr. John Winslade, Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution (2000) outlines the application of narrative mediation approaches to conflict situations. Most recently, he was a recipient of the Fred J. Hansen Grant for Peace Studies where he conducted bi-communal workshops in the buffer zone in Nicosia and trained former Turkish and Greek Cypriot enemies in conflict resolution processes. Gerald is involved in a range of professional domains utilizing conflict resolution and mediation approaches.

 

Dr. Roger Sabbadini Dr. Sabbadini has been interested in the role of sphingolipid second messengers in disease, including cancer inflammation and heart disease. Animal and human studies of heart disease and cancer are explored. Dr. Sabbadini’s lab is focused on developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of sphingolipid-related diseases. Sphingolipids are structural and multifunctional lipid mediators largely involved in signaling activities required for normal cellular function. However, sphingolipids can become dysfunctional and directly contribute to the pathophysiology of cancer, inflammation, angiogenesis and cardiovascular diseases. Sabbadini is developing assays, inhibitors, and activators in order to identify and develop therapeutics that act upon sphingolipids involved in disease pathways.

 

Dr. Brian Spitzberg Dr. Spitzberg has published extensively in the area of the theory and assessment of interpersonal skills and communication competence. His other areas of expertise include conflict management, courtship violence, sexual communication and coercion, stalking, loneliness, and philosophy of science.

 

Dr. Alan Sweedler Professor Sweedler's current research interests are in the field of environmental science with a focus on understanding the use of energy in society and its impact on the environment. He has investigated the impact of energy use specifically in the US-Mexico border region and has developed computer-based models to better understand the complex interactions between energy, the environment and the economy. Another area of research interest for Dr. Sweedler is in the field of international security and arms control, with a focus on developing a framework to consider new security structures in Europe. This work involves understanding the impact of technology on military strategy and doctrine and providing a technical and political rational for security architectures in Europe.

 

D. Rick Van Schoik Mr. Van Schoik is the Managing Director of the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP), which is a consortium of five U.S. and five Mexican Universities. Since 1998, Mr. Van Schoik has served as the first Managing Director of SCERP. His experience in developing, funding, and managing environmental programs enables SCERP to pursue complex, interdisciplinary, binational research and policy programs and projects.

 

Dr. Latha Varadarajan Dr. Varadarajan research is located at the intersection of international relations theory, international political economy, international security and South Asian Politics. Some of her research questions include: the politics of transnationalism (specifically state-diaspora relations); the connections between neoliberal economic restructuring and national security policies; the meaning and relevance of postcolonial struggles; and the debates surrounding the contemporary manifestations of imperialism.