As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, The Office for the Advancement of Research (OAR) takes great pride in recognizing the invaluable contributions of our AAPI faculty members here at John Jay College. Their dedication, expertise, and passion enrich our academic community and inspire us all. In this special edition of our newsletter, we spotlight some of our remarkable faculty members of AAPI descent whose groundbreaking research spans various disciplines. | Spotlight Profile: Dr. Hung-En Sung | |
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We are thrilled to highlight Dr. Hung-En Sung, the Director of International Research Partnerships in the Office for the Advancement of Research. His work in Latin America and the Caribbean has garnered him recognition and international acclaim. Dr. Sung is implementing many projects on police reform programs, violence prevention, improved governance, and capacity building throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
He recently secured a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of State to bolster Peru's National Police. Focused on enhancing operational capacity and ethnic diversity, the project aims to implement community-oriented prevention strategies in key Peruvian regions. Read more on his award here.
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Prof. Kevin Nadal Champions AAPI Empowerment and Advocacy | |
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In this video, Distinguished Professor Kevin Nadal (GC/John Jay College, Psychology) discusses the AAPI community and explains the need for a comprehensive platform for education, advocacy, and empowerment. He also raises awareness about the subtle yet impactful forms of discrimination faced by AAPI individuals on a daily basis. Dr. Nadal endeavors to combat stereotypes, foster cultural sensitivity, and promote solidarity within the AAPI community through real-life narratives, mental health resources, and community initiatives.
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Faculty Achievements and Research in Action | |
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Dr. Chitra Raghavan, Professor of Psychology, conducts research on power dynamics known as coercive control across intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, sex trafficking, cult contexts, and their related traumatic outcomes. She has written over sixty scientific articles and authored two books. In 2024, she published a study on "Predatory Helpfulness: A Replication (and Expansion) examining grooming and recruitment tactics in sex trafficking" and another study on the "Reconsecration of the Self: A Qualitative Analysis of Sex Trafficking Survivors’ Experience of the Body". In June, Dr. Raghavan will give training on Predatory Helpfulness to the specialized human trafficking courts and will speak on coercive control in the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, focusing on the DVSJA (Domestic Violence Sentencing Justice Act).
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Assistant Professor of Sociology Tarun Banerjee won the 2023 Feliks Gross Award for Outstanding Research. The Feliks Gross and Henry Wasser Awards, named after two founders of the CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, are given annually to CUNY assistant professors for their exceptional research. Read more about Dr. Banerjee and his research that delves into power dynamics, particularly focusing on how individuals in positions of power and those without power strive to achieve their objectives here.
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Dr. Shilpa Viswanath, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Management, was appointed the Book Review Editor of the Review of Public Personnel Administration (ROPPA). This recognition not only underscores her expertise but also highlights her commitment to scholarly engagement and the advancement of knowledge within her field.
Her influence extends beyond ROPPA. She recently earned appointments to the Editorial Boards of two prestigious journals: Public Personnel Management (PPM) and Administrative Theory and Praxis (ATP). Through her editorial roles, Dr. Viswanath shapes the discourse on public administration, ensuring that diverse perspectives are represented and valued.
Dr. Viswanath has contributed groundbreaking research to the field. Her co-authored article, "Who Benefits From Work-Life Balance? Lessons in Race and Gender from OPM's Federal Work-Life Survey," recently published in a top-ranked academic journal, sheds light on critical issues surrounding work-life balance, race, and gender within the public sector.
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Dr. Anru Lee, Professor and Deputy Chair, Department of Anthropology and
has published a book on Haunted Modernities: Gender, Memory, and Placemaking in Postindustrial Taiwan. Haunted Modernities brings to the fore the power of kinship and its connections to capital accumulation and supernatural belief systems in changing urban and global economies. As an interdisciplinary exploration into labor, family, religion, and placemaking, the book engages with issues that integrate the disciplinary perspectives of anthropology, cultural geography, and gender studies. It contributes to a broader scholarly discussion on the nature of public history and memory.
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Dr. Susan Kang, Associate Professor of Political Science is a trailblazer whose work in law and activism shines brightly. As an editor at Cambridge University Press's peer-reviewed journal, Global Constitutionalism, she shapes discussions on global issues. Her articles "Climate Change and the Challenge to Liberalism" and "Private Law, Private International Law, and Public Interest Law" are key readings.
Dr. Kang also writes for Truthout Magazine, discussing workplace safety and labor rights, shedding light on incidents like the Baltimore bridge collapse and safety concerns at Boeing. On NY1's "Inside City Hall," she talks politics with insight. But Kang doesn’t stop at talk. She's part of a big research project on political protests and policing in different countries. She's also researching new ways of labor organizing, aiming to improve workers' lives.
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 |  | Dr. Aftab Ahmad is a tenured Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. His current research interests include using machine learning to predict attacks on computer networks and the design of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) that can interact to generate meaningful combinations of distinct data types. He has recently published a paper on 'A protocol for monitoring network threats in real time' in which he laid down his vision of how machine learning can make it possible to generate cyber threat intelligence (CTI) and how such intelligence can be employed in a local threat database of a participating user in a community to keep attacks away on a selective basis. Dr. Ahmad also recently published original work on information privacy in which he, with the help of his students, identified various factors playing on privacy ("Information Privacy Domain") and proposed a privacy architecture ("The Privacy Triangle") in which breaches to privacy are divided into three types: person privacy, device privacy, and information privacy, and explained how a breach in one can lead to breaches in other types of privacies, and what counter-measures are possible. He also proposed a way of measuring information privacy by working on an atomic level (read, write)-tuple to ground-up. He has authored two books, Data Communications Principles: For Fixed and Wireless Networks and Wireless and Mobile Data Networks, with two book chapters and scores of peer-reviewed papers.
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Dr. Yi He, a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Science, has published a review article about onsite inorganic arsenic screening methods. There are approximately 94 to 220 million people worldwide at risk of drinking well water containing arsenic more than 10 µg/L, the WHO guideline value. To identify non-compliant domestic wells, assess health risks, and reduce exposure, accurate and rapid inorganic arsenic screening methods are highly desired. Access to affordable testing especially benefits people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. This work critically reviewed available colorimetry, electrochemistry, and biosensing methods. On-site speciation analysis and sample preservation techniques are also discussed.
Dr. Yi also serves as the President of the Chinese American Chromatography Association (CACA), dedicated to providing professional and career development and networking opportunities for students and scientists working in separation science. She has organized technical sessions at Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS), dinner events at Pittcon, a CACA virtual symposium, and many webinars.
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Honoring John Jay Scholars for Their Leadership and Academic Contributions | |
Dr. Kim Liao, a lecturer in English, was awarded the prestigious 2024 Distinguished Teaching Prize for her commitment to student-centered, justice-focused teaching through her work. She is completing her book, Where Every Ghost Has a Name, which will be published in the fall. She will also host two events at the NATSA conference this June to promote it and interrogate issues related to the last century of Taiwanese history. | |
Dr. Shreya Subramani, Assistant Professor of Law and Society, has published a special issue in the Anthropology of Work Review on Racialization and the Gig Economy and is completing a book manuscript, Carceral Transitions, through the CUNY Gittell Public Scholar Book Writing Workshop. She also presented at the Center For Place Culture and Politics Conference, Abolition and/Activism at the People's Forum. | |
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Expand your knowledge of AAPI history and culture with these recommended resources:
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__Office for the Advancement of Research
524 West 59th St., Suite 601B, New York, NY 10019
212-621-3735 | oar@jjay.cuny.edu
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