This fall, 12 new researchers and instructors join seven natural science departments and programs in Arts & Sciences. Read about our new faculty in the humanities and social sciences.
Welcome to our incoming faculty!
Department of Biology
Toby Pennington joins the Department of Biology as the inaugural David and Dorothy Kemper Professor, a joint appointment with WashU and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Previously a professor of tropical plant diversity and biogeography at the University of Exeter and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in the U.K., Pennington is a leading expert in the identification, classification, and conservation of plants in dry tropical regions, particularly in Central and South America. Pennington earned both his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Oxford.
Department of Chemistry
Matthew Kummer joins the Department of Chemistry as a lecturer and general chemistry lab director. He previously served as the academic learning program manager for the general chemistry lecture sequence at WashU. His areas of expertise include electrochemistry, biocatalysis, and computational chemistry. He is committed to chemistry education, particularly peer mentorship training and program management. He earned his bachelor's degree at Truman State University and his doctorate at the University of Utah.
Yan Yu joins the Department of Chemistry as the Art Krieg Professor, with a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Previously a professor at Indiana University Bloomington, Yu develops tools based on nanotechnology and advanced imaging to study, detect, and engineer the immune system cells that fight disease. She is especially interested in cell communication, including how cell membranes interact with the extracellular environment to determine cell function. Yu received her bachelor’s degree from Peking University in China and her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Zhiling “Zach” Zheng joins the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor. Formerly a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, Zheng is working to develop autonomous AI agents powered by large language models (LLMs) to accelerate the discovery and synthesis of new materials, particularly metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with energy, environmental, and therapeutic applications. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
Dougal Hansen joins the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences as an assistant professor and the head of the new WUSTL Glaciology group. He was previously a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Hansen’s research interests include glaciology and cold-climate geomorphology. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Portland State University and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
Scott VanBommel joins the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences as a research assistant professor. He was previously a senior research scientist in the department. A member of the Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory and fellow of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, VanBommel operates and analyzes data acquired by X-ray spectrometers on Mars and is working to develop the next generation of interplanetary X-ray science instruments. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Guelph in Canada.
Program in Environmental Studies
Katherine Bowman joins the Program in Environmental Studies as a lecturer. Trained as a wildlife biologist, public health practitioner, and epidemiologist, Bowman researches mosquito-borne disease modeling, connecting public health to environmental health. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri, her master’s degree from Saint Louis University, and her doctorate from The Ohio State University.
Department of Mathematics
Carl Lian joins the Department of Mathematics as an assistant professor. His research in algebraic geometry focuses on algebraic curves, how they vary in families, and related counting questions. He was previously a Norbert Wiener Fellow at Tufts University and an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Humboldt University of Berlin. He earned his bachelor’s degree from MIT and his doctorate from Columbia University.
Department of Physics
Trevor GrandPre joins the Department of Physics as an assistant professor. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and a Schmidt Science Fellow. GrandPre’s research focuses on biophysics, exploring how physical principles shape complex biological systems. His work ranges from protein condensation, where proteins form liquid-like compartments inside cells, to eco-evolutionary systems, where ecological and evolutionary dynamics unfold on similar timescales and influence one another. He earned his bachelor’s degree from DePaul University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
Department of Statistics and Data Science
Chao Cheng joins the Department of Statistics and Data Science as an assistant professor. He applies innovative statistical tools to health science challenges, with current research focusing on causal mediation analysis, quantile causal inference, and measurement error correction. Cheng earned his bachelor’s degree from Donghua University in China, his master’s degree from Tsinghua University in China, and his doctoral degree from Yale University.
Joe Feldman joins the Department of Statistics and Data Science as an assistant professor. He was previously a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University. Feldman focuses on Bayesian statistics, including data privacy, missing data, causal inference, and variable selection in quantile regression. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Amherst College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Rice University.
Mengxin “Maxine” Yu joins the Department of Statistics and Data Science as an assistant professor. Previously a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Yu studies human preference learning, AI safety, causal inference, and robust statistical inference. Her research has real-world applications in social science, machine learning, operations research, and public health. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China and her doctoral degree from Princeton University.
