CHINA
Dr. Weiming Wu
Academic: Research Associate Professor
Department: National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering
Weiming Wu earned his Ph.D in Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electric Engineering, China in 1991. He was a Research Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Institute for Hydromechanics, University of Karlsruhe, Germany in 1995-97.
He joined the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Mississippi in March 1997 as a Visiting Research Scientist. Now he is a Research Associate Professor in this Center. He has over eighty publications including journal articles, technical papers and reports.
GERMANY
Dr. Natascha Techen
Academic: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department: National Center for the Development of Natural Products Research
Languages: German and English
Area of Study: Biology and DNA fingerprinting of medicinal plants
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Cat Rescue (F.U.R.R.), photography, fantasy rule playing games
What I like most about the University of Mississippi is the diversity and the freedom of research.
GHANA
Dr. George Dor
Academic: McDonnell-Barksdale Chair in Ethnomusic and Assistant Professor of Music
Department: Music
INDIA
Dr. Rama Sarma Gadepalli
Academic: Associate Research Scientist
Department: Medicinal Chemistry
Languages: English
Interest/Hobbies/Sports:
Favorite Music:
INDIA
Arvinder Singh Kang
Academic: Manager of Media Technology
Department: Student Media Center
Languages English, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu
Academic Level: Graduate
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Entrepreneurship, Digital Arts, Technology, Studying cultures, Writing, Weight training
Favorite Music: Bhangra, Sufi, New Age/Celtic fusions, Jazz, Bollywood
Being born in a small village on Indo-Pak border in a farmer family, for Arvinder studying in an American University was a distant dream. However, he says, by the grace of God, he got the chance to attend Ole Miss on full assistantship for MS program. He has served within the university on many exciting positions such as the President of India Association, Multimedia Director of thedmonline.com, Graduate Instructor and Teaching Assistant for Computer Science Department, Graduate Assistant in Office of Information Technology, and as designer and programmer of many websites including this one.
Arvinder has been chosen for Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities at the University of Mississippi award for the year 2007.
He believes strong faith in God, respect of one's elders, a mind open to new ideas as well as to different cultures and religions, and fierce dreams are the key that can take you places, as he quotes Anon, " To those who can dream there is no such place as faraway."
INDONESIA
Mr. Joko Sumiyanto
Academic: Associate Research and Development Staff Agronomist
Department: National Center for the Development of Natural Products Research
Languages: Bahasa Indonesia and English
Area of Study: Civil Engineering
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Soccer
Favorite Music: classic
One thing I enjoy about the University of Mississippi is that it is located on a beautiful, quiet campus.
ITALY
Dr. Luca Bombelli
Academic: Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Languages: Italian, Spanish, French, English, Catalan, and some Swedish, German and Greek
Interest/Hobbies/sports: reading and traveling
Favorite Music: I enjoy all good music, and lots of it!
The thing that I like most about the University of Mississippi is the atmosphere and the people.
JORDAN
Dr. Ahmed Al-Ostaz
Academic:Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
Department:Civil Engineering
Languages:
JORDAN / USA
Dr. Mustafa M. Matalgah
Academic: Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering
Department: Electrical Engineering
Languages: English and Arabic
Dr. Mustafa M. Matalgah is a Telecommunications Systems Engineer and a Teaching Instructor with several years of academic and industrial experiences. He has a broad background in applied and academic research, strategic planning, and project management. From 1996 to 2002, he was with Sprint and led several projects in the digital and optical network transmission systems, and third-generation (3G) wireless communication technologies. Since August 2002, he has been with The University of Mississippi where he is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Dr. Matalgah received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Missouri, Columbia, and both M.S. and B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology.
JORDAN
Ghaith Matalkah
Languages: Arabic, English and French
Area of Study: Electrical Engineering
Academic Level: Graduate
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Soccer and table tennis
Favorite Music:
I grew up in the suburbs of Irbid, a northern city of Jordan. There, I got my B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology. During my studies, I joined an 8-month internship program in France.
I speak Arabic, English, and a little French. I enjoy traveling, hiking and playing soccer. I am pursuing a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and hoping to get an internship in hardware industry before continuing towards the PhD.
LAOS
Mr. Nome Munxayaphom
Academic: Network Administrator
Department:School of Engineering
Languages: Laos and English
Area of Study: Management Information Systems
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Taekwondo
What I like most about the University of Mississippi is having the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.
SRI LANKA
Dr. Aruna Weerasooriya
Academic: Research Scientist
Department: National Center for the Development of Natural Products Research
Languages: English and Sinhala
Area of Study: Plant Systematics
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Reading and Music
I am from Sri Lanka, the most beautiful Island in the Indian Ocean. I completed my bachelor's degree in biology in the University of Peradeniya, which is the country's oldest and most prestigious university. Then I completed my PhD research at the University of Hong Kong on Plant Systematics. During my PhD research, I discovered fifteen plants species from Java, Borneo, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia that are new to the science. I have traveled a lot in botanical expeditions and my research on plant systematics enabled me to produce many peer reviewed publications and several chapters in Flora of Sri Lanka and Flora of Thailand.
I joined Ole Miss in mid 2002 as a postdoctoral researcher in the Thad Cochran National Center for Natural Products Research. Currently I am a Research Scientist at the NCNPR and also the Director of the Medicinal Plant Garden of NCNPR. At the Medicinal Plant Garden, we grow medicinally important plants from all over the world to investigate their biology and chemistry leading to the development of novel drugs and to investigate the safety and efficacy of herbal dietary supplements available in the US market.
I love nature, music and reading very much.
UKRAINE
Dr. Valeriy A. Bacherikov
Academic: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department: Medicinal Chemistry
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian and English
Area of Study: Chemistry
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Reading and Fishing
Favorite Music: Classic and Rock 'n' Roll
Organic and Medicinal Chemistry are the subject areas of my of research interest.
USA
Dr. John O'Haver
Academic: Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Department: Chemical Engineering
Area of Specialty: Interfacial Chemistry and K-12 Science, Engineering, and Mathematics outreach
Schools Attended: University of Oklahoma
Degree Earned:
M.S. Secondary Education Mathematics; Ph.D. Chemical Engineering
Years at Institution: Taught mathematics and science for twelve years at Del City High School, Oklahoma; Taught chemical engineering ten years at the University of Mississippi
Working with students brings me the most joy and satisfaction. Whether in the formal classroom setting, through course work, research, and student organizations, or in casual conversation at a local coffee shop or under the trees on a beautiful day, I revel in the interaction with students. I love the classroom, helping to facilitate the growth and development of excellent young minds and helping them prepare to be successful in all areas of life. The process may include sharing good recipes, favorite books, intramural football, sports, insights into life, nerd-jokes, thoughts on current events, theology, or whatever topic comes up. I enjoy sharing life's journey with my students. Undergraduate or graduate school, not to mention life itself, can be stressful and difficult. I make myself available to share the burden, and my life, with them. Going through it together, sharing each others loads, pursuing goals together, makes the path much more enjoyable. I have former students---whom I consider friends---around the country and the globe. Several have gone on to achieve success in top graduate schools, medical, dental and law schools. I currently work with two universities in Thailand. I even had the privilege of giving the "Father Speech" at a former student's wedding in Penang, Malaysia. I love getting their career updates, wedding invitations, and pictures of children. When I receive the occasional email that says "Hey, you made an impact in my life," it makes the hours and occasional hard times very worthwhile. It is difficult for me to imagine doing anything else.
USA
Dr. John Holleman
Academic: Clinical Assistant Professor of Leadership and Counselor Education
Department: School of Education
Languages: English
Interest/Hobbies/Sports: Teaching English to speakers of other languages.
Favorite Music: Rock and Blues
John Holleman, Ed.D. is Clinical Assistant Professor of
Leadership and Counselor Education and Practicum Director
for the Higher Education/Student Personnel program. Dr.
Holleman previously served the Ole Miss School of Business
as Director of Corporate Relations from 2007 to 2008 and
Director of MBA Program Administration from 1998 to 2007. A
licensed professional counselor, Holleman served as a
professional counselor for over 10 years in a combination of
private practice and community agency settings.
John has an
undergraduate degree from Stephen F. Austin State
University, an educational specialist degree from University
of Memphis, a master's degree in ESL from the University of
Mississippi, a master's in counseling and doctorate in
education from Texas A&M University at Commerce.
Holleman is the author of two books, "American English Idiom Diary: A
Week-by-Week Calendar and Wordbook of 3300 English
Expression" (The Chinese University Press, 2006) and
"Understanding American Idioms Using Word Puzzles" (The
Commercial Press [Beijing], forthcoming).
USA
Dr. David W Wedge
Academic: Research Plant Pathologist and Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacognosy
Department: National Center For Natural Product Research
Languages: English
Native of West Palm Beach, Florida
David Wedge received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and Physiology from Clemson University in 1995 after a 15 years career as a Medical Technologist and Clinical Laboratory Supervisor. Dr. Wedge is currently Lead Scientist and Research Plant Pathologist with the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service at The Thad Cochran National Center for Natural Products Research on the campus of the University of Mississippi. Dr. Wedge joined the USDA ARS in 1997 to develop their fungicide discovery program and conduct research in the broad area of natural products for use as nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and biopesticides. Dr. Wedge’s primary responsibility is discovery and early assessment of natural products for pest and disease management with low toxicological and environmental risk.
David is an avid ornamental horticulturist and works daily in his Oxford, MS garden called the ‘Time Out Garden’, where one takes time out of life in order to find life. The Time Out Garden is a collection of over 200 hosta, hydrangea and rare plant cultivars built on an Asian theme after gardens in Thailand and China. David has also been an orchid grower for more than 40 years and he still grows orchids and platycerium ferns from Southeast Asia. If you can’t find Dr. Wedge in the lab you can find him in the garden and he is always available to his students. David is a member of the Oxford Church of Christ and the OCOC International Missions Committee. David and Carol have been active with international students and scholars for a several years. David is also support faculty for Office of International Programs at Olemiss.
USA
Carol Wedge, RN
Languages: English
Native of West Palm Beach, Florida
Practicing registered nurse from 1973 to present specializing in newborn care, neonatal intensive care and for the past 16 Labor and Delivery. Recently retired from the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Carol has been able to volunteer even more of her time in the community. She and David enjoy helping foreign students orient to American culture and daily living. They have served as host family to several Chinese visiting scientists and students and enjoy learning their culture as well.
Carol is a member of Oxford Church of Christ and a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, which encourages and helps support women to achieve advanced educational degrees. Presently she is serving her second year as President here in Oxford. She has had the opportunity to mentor several high school seniors here in Oxford as well as Seneca, SC. Carol’s hobbies include gardening, swimming, yoga, walking, biking and other physical activities. She spends many hours also with handcrafts, such as quilting, counted cross-stitch, and crocheting, especially baby blankets for family and friends. Since retiring, Carol has been able to travel to numerous countries with David; they both enjoy learning about the culture and history of exotic places. Carol’s favorite port-of-call is Bristol, England to visit her grandson, Noah, and his parents.