New assistant professors appointed to the faculty

Princeton NJ -- The Board of Trustees has appointed these new assistant professors to the faculty:

In French and Italian:

André Benhaïm, who studies 19th- and 20th-century French and Francophone literature. He was educated at the Université Paris and Université Lille and earned his Ph.D. in 2001 from Emory University. He was a visiting instructor at Agnes Scott College in 2000-01.

In English:

Charles Blanton, who studies poetry, modernism and 19th- and 20th-century British and American literature. He earned a B.A. in 1990 from Rice University and a Ph.D. in 2000 from Duke University.

Daphne Brooks, who specializes in African-American literature. An assistant professor at the University of California-San Diego in 2000-01, she earned a B.A. in 1990 from the University of California-Berkeley and an M.A. in 1994 and a Ph.D. in 1997, both from the University of California-Los Angeles. From 1997 to 1999, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Berkeley.

Kathleen Davis, who was an assistant professor at Bucknell University from 1997-2001. A specialist in medieval literature, she earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1973 and 1977, respectively, from Villanova University and a Ph.D. in 1997 from Rutgers University.

Jeff Dolven, who studies Renaissance literature. A lecturer at Brandeis University in 2000-01, he earned a B.A. and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1990 and 2000, respectively. He also received a B.A. in 1993 from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Tamsen Wolff, who is interested in modern drama. The recipient of a 1992 B.A. from Smith College, she earned her M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University in 1998 and 2001, respectively.

In philosophy:

Adam Elga, who specializes in the philosophy of science, decision theory and philosophy of mind. A 1996 Princeton graduate, he earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001.

In Spanish and Portuguese languages and cultures:

Paul Firbas, who earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton in 1997 and 2001, respectively. A specialist in colonial Latin American literature, he received a B.A. from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in 1992 and an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1995.

In physics:

Nissan Itzhaki, who studies high-energy theory and has been conducting postdoctoral research at the University of California-Santa Barbara since 1998. He earned his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Tel Aviv University in 1992 and 1998, respectively.

James Olsen, who has been engaged in postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland since 1998. A specialist in high-energy physics, he earned his B.S. degree from the University of California-Davis in 1992 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998.

Michael Romalis, whose field of specialization is experimental atomic physics. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1997 and has since served as a postdoctoral research associate and assistant professor at the University of Washington. He earned his B.S. degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1993.

In mechanical and aerospace engineering:

Yiguang Ju, who has served on Princeton's research staff since 1999. A specialist in the field of combustion, he was a faculty member at Tohoku University in Japan for four years after earning his Ph.D. there in 1994. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1986 and 1988, respectively from Tsinghua University in China, where he taught last year as the Yangzi River Professor.

Maria Pino Martin, whose field of research is computational fluid dynamics. She earned her B.Eng. from Boston University in 1994 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota in 1995 and 1999, respectively. She served as a postdoctoral fellow for a year at Minnesota and was a research associate at Stanford University in 2000-01.

Clarence Rowley, who is interested in dynamics and control. The recipient of a 1995 B.S.E. from Princeton, he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1996 and 2001, respectively, from the California Institute of Technology.

In economics and public affairs:

Guido Lorenzoni, who studies macroeconomics and monetary economics. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Rome in 1994, his M.A. from the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona in 1997 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001.

In chemistry:

Wolfgang Richter, who is interested in magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. He earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton in 1992 and 1995, respectively. He has spent two years conducting postdoctoral research at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research in Minneapolis. Since 1998, he has been a research officer at the Institute for Biodiagnostics in Winnepeg, Manitoba. He also has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Winnepeg. Educated at the Technische Universität Berlin, he also earned an M.S. degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1989.

In computer science:

Szymon Rusinkiewicz, who specializes in computer graphics. The recipient of a 1995 B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1997 and 2001, respectively, from Stanford University.

David Walker, who studies programming languages. He earned his B.Sc. from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1995 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in 1999 and 2001, respectively. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University for the last year.

In chemical engineering:

Stanislav Shvartsman, who has served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1999, when he earned his Ph.D. from Princeton. A specialist in bioengineering, he completed his undergraduate program at Moscow State University in 1991 and earned his M.Sc. from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, in 1993.

In sociology:

Mario Small, who studies urban poverty, culture and inequality, social theory and higher education. He earned his B.A. degree from Carleton College in 1996 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1998 and 2001, respectively.

In electrical engineering:

Li-Shiuan Peh, who specializes in computer engineering. She earned her B.Sc. from the National University of Singapore in 1995 and her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2001.

Ron Weiss, who also specializes in computer engineering. He earned his B.A. from Brandeis University in 1992 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994 and 2001, respectively.

In economics:

Noah Williams, who is interested in macroeconomics and economic theory. He earned his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago in 1994 and 2001, respectively.

All appointments are for three years starting Sept. 1, 2001, except those of: Dolven, Firbas, Lorenzoni and Williams, which began July 1, 2001; Ju and Martin, which began Aug. 1, 2001; Richter, which began Nov. 1, 2001; Romalis, which is for three and a half years and began Jan. 1, 2002; and Itzhaki, Olsen, Peh and Walker, which are for three and a half years and began Feb. 1, 2002.