Eilyan Bitar

Faculty In Residence

I am an Associate Professor and the David D. Croll Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University. My current research interests span optimization, control, and algorithmic game theory with applications in sustainable transportation systems and electric power networks.

A native Californian, I received my BS and PhD from UC Berkeley in 2006 and 2011. Prior to joining Cornell in 2012, I spent one year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley. In 2016, I was an invited Visiting Scientist at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing as part of a research program on Algorithms and Uncertainty. I also currently serve as a Visiting Academic at Amazon, providing scientific guidance for their transportation decarbonization efforts. I am a recipient of the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER), the John and Janet McMurtry Fellowship, the John G. Maurer Fellowship, and the Robert F. Steidel Jr. Fellowship.

As the Faculty in Residence at Hu Shih Hall, I look forward to connecting with our students to create a strong, shared community that will be a source of strength and support as they navigate the many joys and challenges of their first undergraduate year.

Adrienne B.

Faculty Fellow

Adrienne B. is a lecturer in the Program in American Studies who specializes in the history and culture of American food and health. She also serves as the co-founder of Seen Nutrition, a life sciences startup that specializes in bone health for the menopause market.

My first book, Diet and the Disease of Civilization, was published in 2018 with Rutgers University Press. The first full-length study of diet books, Diet and the Disease of Civilization reveals how 20th century diets articulated a powerful response to anxieties about the costs of modernity. At Cornell, I have taught or will be teaching "Food in America," "Consumer Culture," "The History of Health and Fitness Culture," and "Introduction to Food Studies." I am currently working on a new project on lab-grown meat and meat analogues, as well as research on the history of time management.

I received my PhD from Stanford University and my BA from University of California, Berkeley. I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. I am looking forward to my role as a Hu Shih Faculty Fellow.

Community Fellow

Aaron Rovitz

I am currently the Director of Operations and Marketing at Ithaca Coffee Company, a small local business I joined in 2012. That same year I moved to Ithaca with my wife, ultimately settling in Trumansburg which is a small village just outside of Ithaca. We are currently raising two young children who keep us very busy and full of joy.

My road to Ithaca has been a long one, with several unexpected turns along the way. It has led me through studies at several universities, and careers in public school music education, marketing, and business operations.

In my professional career here in Ithaca, I have had the opportunity to interact with several student groups connected to both Cornell and Ithaca College. These opportunities are always stimulating and rewarding, and something I seek out whenever possible. I enjoy connecting with students and sharing the opportunity to learn from one another.

Faculty Fellow

Haiyuan Yu

I am the Tisch University Professor in the Department of Computational Biology and Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. We perform research in the broad areas of Network Systems Biology, and use integrated computational-experimental systems biology approaches to determine protein interactions and complex structures on the scale of the whole cell. In particular, we focus on protein-protein and gene regulatory networks and seeks to understand how such intricate systems evolve and how their perturbations lead to human disease, especially Autism Spectrum Disorder and cancer.

I was born and raised in China, and went to Peking University for my BS (received in 2000). Upon graduation, I went to Yale University for my PhD, and then became a post-doctoral fellow at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. I started my own lab here at Cornell as an Assistant Professor in 2010.

As a faculty fellow, I am passionate about interacting with the first-year students, sharing my experience, and helping as much as I can. I am eager to learn from and about the students about their diverse backgrounds, individual challenges, and personal strengths. I also hope to explore the name sakes of the residential halls, especially Hu Shih Hall and Barbara McClintock Hall, together with the students through presentations and discussion, focusing on their life stories and scholarly achievements.

Faculty Fellow

Chris Roh

I am an assistant professor of Biological and Environmental Engineering in CALS. My research focuses on insects' interaction with the fluid around them and its ecological and agricultural implications. My favorite bug, at the moment, is a whirligig beetle, the fastest swimming insect.

I received my Batchelor's degree in biology and biological engineering from Cornell University and MS and PhD in Aeronautics from Caltech. I returned to Ithaca with my family in 2021 to join Cornell as a faculty. As a Hu Shih Hall faculty fellow, I look forward to getting to know the students. I especially want to share the beautiful parts of Ithaca that I missed out on during my experience at Cornell.

Faculty Fellow

Ricah Sardana

I am a faculty member in the Department of Molecular Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. I am a cell biologist and my research program focuses on understanding how proteins are maintained at the right place or in the right numbers in a cell, and what mechanisms check the 'quality' of the proteins to make sure they can perform their normal function. Defects in these mechanisms lead to many debilitating human diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancers.

I received my undergraduate degree from Delhi University, Masters from IIT-Bombay, and PhD from UT-Austin. I did my postdoctoral training at Stanford and at Cornell. I started my lab in CVM in November 2021. Besides doing science, I love to explore the outdoors on hikes and runs with my family. I also paint, and have painted an electrical box mural for the Ithaca Murals program.

I am looking forward to my role as a Faculty Fellow at Hu Shih Hall and getting to know the students. I'd love to engage in activities with the students through conversations and events that combine my love for nature, art, and science!

Community Fellow

Indi McCasey

Indi McCasey believes in the power of collaborative creative practice to catalyze communities. They have spent the past 20 years working at the intersection of art, education, the environment, and community wellness with non-profit organizations and school districts in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Ithaca, Juneau, Kansas City, Santa Fe, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Indi serves as the Executive Director of the Ithaca Public Education Initiative, fostering connections between the local school district and the broader Ithaca community to support legacies of learning. They also work as a Creative Education Consultant, facilitating professional learning and supporting organizational change through intergenerational collaboration, creative youth development, and educational equity.

Indi has been a faculty member of Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom for over a decade, engaging national and international educators and school leaders in Project Zero research and methodologies. Indi holds an Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where they served as an Artist in Residence at Harvard’s Project Zero. You can learn more about Indi's work at indimccasey.com.