Parastoo Delgoshaei (PhD '17, Civil Engineering) is a National Research Council (NRC) postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Parastoo received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Software Engineering from Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, Iran. Her research centers on building energy systems viewed from a Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) perspective. She has always been fascinated by the nature of multidisciplinary research where knowledge of computer science intersects problems in the engineering domains. In her Ph.D. research, she studied the role of semantic web technologies in the control and operation of intelligent buildings. This work was supported in part by a prestigious National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC) fellowship.
Travis Dietz (PhD '17, Materials Science) is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the extraction of uranium from seawater through the use of radiation grafted fabrics. During his doctoral work at Maryland, Travis volunteered with the University’s radiation facilities, where he still holds a senior reactor operator license for the 250 kW Maryland University Training Reactor. Outside of the University, he has also volunteered with the American Nuclear Society, serving as the membership chair of the local section and as the student co-chair for both the 2015 and 2017 Winter Meetings. Travis has a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and has remained active with his local alumni chapter by serving as their communications chair. He is an avid squash player and is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, serving as the faculty advisor for the University of Maryland chapter.
Man Li's (PhD '17, Second Language Acquisition) research focuses on understanding the cognitive processes and mechanisms underlying adult second language learning and processing. These areas include instructed SLA, L2 skill acquisition and retention, individual differences in cognitive aptitudes, Aptitude-Treatment Interaction, psycholinguistics, and L2 learning of Mandarin Chinese. While at Maryland, she secured the Language Learning Dissertation Grant and was awarded the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship to support the completion of her dissertation entitled the Temporal Distribution of Practice and Individual Differences in the Acquisition and Retention of L2 Mandarin Tonal Word Production. Her publications have appeared in journals such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, and Journal of Second Language Writing, among others.
Oliver Brearey (PhD '17, English) is currently studying how out-of-work professionals learn to write persuasively during their time in employer and state sponsored job-search training programs. He is especially interested in understanding how these job seekers learn to use writing to convince their prospective new employers of their professional capabilities, even while they are contending with difficult transitions through unemployment. Oliver is also writing a journal article about knowledge transfer in job-search programs. In January, he presented a paper at the Modern Language Association annual conference in New York about employer sponsored job-search providers' strategic appeals to gender difference in their promotional discourse. This June, he will present a paper at the 7th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference on such concepts as they relate to job-search programs. Threshold concepts are ideas that, once learned, reorganize learners' thinking in transformative ways. Oliver is also teaching courses in composition, literature, and professional writing. He also serves as copyeditor for an academic journal and a member of a developmental writing curriculum committee.