Faculty, Staff Experts

These experts are available for on-air interviews. Uplink capabilities are provided by SIU Carbondale’s public television station, WSIU. To make arrangements, please contact Pete Rosenbery, Assistant Director, Communications and Marketing, at 618-453-1439 or via e-mail, prosen@siu.edu


Agriculture

Wanki Moon
Professor, School of Agricultural Sciences

Expertise: Global agricultural trade, global food system, political economy of international agricultural trade negotiations, WTO trade talks

Email: wmoon@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-6741

Charles Ruffner
Professor, School of Agricultural Sciences

Expertise: Forest fires, natural resource management, forest measurements, dendrochronology (tree rings), ecological restoration

Email: ruffner@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-7469


Anthropology

Mark Wagner
Professor, School of Anthropology, Political Science & Sociology  

Expertise: Archaeology, Southern Illinois History

Email: mjwagner@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-5055


Business

Steven Karau
Gregory A. Lee professor, School of Management and Marketing, College of Business

Expertise: Human resources and organizational behavior issues, including motivation, team performance, ethical issues in management, gender leadership differences and personality.

Email: skarau@business.siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-7890


Curriculum and Instruction

Peter Fadde
Professor, School of Education

Expertise: Research on training "intuitive" expertise. Consult with Major League Baseball and college baseball teams on training the perceptual component of batting, aka, Pitch Recognition. Applications of sports research to military, law enforcement, emergency response.

Email: fadde@siu.edu
Phone: 765-427-5977


Debate/Communications

Todd Graham
Director, School of Communication Studies

Expertise: Political debate analysis, effective argument preparation and style

Email: tgraham@siu.edu
Phone: 314-495-7278


Embedded Systems

Spyros Tragoudas
Director, School of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering and director of Center for Embedded Systems

Expertise: Automation and embedded systems with emphasis on temporal verification and validation, delay testing, and timing analysis.

Email: trag@siu.edu
Phone: 618-536-2364


Geology

Harvey Henson
Associate Professor, School of Education

Expertise: Earthquake and Geohazard Education and Outreach, STEM Education, Science Assessment, Applied Geophysics, Ground-penetrating Radar, Trail of Tears.

Email: henson@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-4214


Health Education 

Tina Colson

Senior lecturer, School of Human Sciences

Expertise: Planning and design of recreational facilities, facilitating therapeutic and inclusive programs for people with disabilities, training and development of leisure services employees and factors affecting employee retention.

Email: tcolson@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-1860 or 618-453-2777


Immigration Law

Cindy G. Buys
Professor, SIU School of Law

Expertise: Immigration law, International law.

Email: cbuys@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-8743


Linguistics

Jeffrey Punske
Associate Professor, School of Languages & Linguistics

Expertise: Constructed & Invented Languages, Teaching Linguistics, Games and Pedagogy, Linguistics and Space Exploration, Language Policy.

Email: punske@siu.edu
Phone: 618-536-3385


Mathematics

Wesley Calvert
School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences

Expertise: Data Science and Analytics; Logic and Computing; STEM Education

E-mail: wcalvert@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-6582; 618-534-8457


Medicine

Jacob Ribbing
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Physician Assistant Program, Doctor of Medical Science

Expertise: Physician Assistant Profession (clinical practice, leadership, advocacy, etc.), Physician Assistant Education, Entry Level and Doctorate Level, Rural Health Care, Access to care for rural / under-served communities, Medical Practice in FQHCs (Federally Qualified Health Centers), Opioid Crisis, Opioid Dependence Treatment, and related (clinician focused or community focused) 

Email: jacob.ribbing@siu.edu
Phone: (618) 697-3868

Laurie Ryznyk
Professor, FCM - Physician Assistant Program - SMC

Expertise: Human Trafficking, Problem-Based Learning

Email: lryznyk@siu.edu
Phone: 618-559-2713

Kristen Schloemann
Physician Assistant Program SIU School of Medicine

Expertise: Cardiology, Heart failure, Heart attacks, Cholesterol, Blood pressure, Cardiovascular risk reduction

Email: lschloemann54@siumed.edu
Phone: (618) 889-1791


Music

Edward Benyas
Professor, School of Music

Expertise: Orchestral Music, Classical Music, Fundraising and Marketing for not-for-profit organizations, Oboe, Operas of Mozart, Verdi and Puccini, Transcriptions for wind instruments, American art music, Chamber music

Email: benyas@siu.edu
Phone: 312-560-2094


Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

John Shaw
Director

Expertise: Illinois Politics, National Politics, Statesmanship, Leadership

Email: john.shaw@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-4009

John Jackson
Visiting Professor

Expertise: Illinois Politics, Government and Public Policy, Public opinion and political parties, especially presidential selection, primaries, and national conventions. State and local government, generically, as well as Illinois and Southern Illinois.

Email: jsjacson@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-3106


Politics

J. Tobin Grant
Interim Director, School of Anthropology, Political Science & Sociology

Expertise: Religion and politics, First Amendment issues, campaign finance

Email: grant@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-3167


Religion

Darren Sherkat
School of Anthropology, Political Science & Sociology

Expertise: American religion, religion and politics, religion and family/sexuality, religion and ethnicity, public opinion

Email: sherkat@siu.edu


Science 

Matt McCarroll
Director, Fermentation Science Institute

Expertise: Research concentrates on the application of analytical chemistry to solve complex chemical problems with an emphasis in the area of molecular spectroscopy. He also directs collaborative efforts in researching the arts of brewers, vintners and distillers for tomorrow’s industry.

Email: mmccarroll@chem.siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-7508


Transportation

Michael B. Behrman
Adjunct Associate, School of Automotive

Expertise: General automotive industry; for more specific experts, can find some among instructors.

Email: mbehr@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-4024

Samuel Pavel
Associate Professor, School of Aviation

Expertise: General Aviation, Air Traffic Control

Email: spavel@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-7269

Michael F. Robertson
Professor, School of Aviation

Expertise: Safety-related issues, accidents and human factors issues

Phone: 618-925-3589 (cell)
Email: mrobertson@siu.edu

Jose R. Ruiz
Professor, School of Aviation

Expertise: Aviation safety, aviation education, aviation career development, aviation management, and general aviation

Phone: 618-453-8898
Email: jruiz@siu.edu