Dr. Mohammad A. Alam, associate professor and Beck Professor in Chemistry, is the invited author of a newly published book chapter, “Thiazole, a privileged scaffold in drug discovery.” In the chapter, Alam discussed the evolution of thiazole-based approved drugs. A number of drugs contain the thiazole nucleus, and they are being used as antibiotics and to treat various types of cancer. The chapter is also available online.

Dr. Scott Bruce (left), associate professor, and Dr. Carlitta Moore (right), assistant professor, athletic training, made presentations at the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association (SWATA) convention. Bruce gave an update on the current literature and findings from the Sixth Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport. Moore’s presentations were “Relating to your patients – Implicit Bias” and “Overcoming Imposter Syndrome.”

Dr. Veena S. Kulkarni, associate professor of sociology, is co-author of an opinion article published in a leading media outlet in India, livemint.com. The writers examine how consistently numerous violations of constitutional provisions, under both of the two varying political regimes over the past couple of decades, have resulted in denial of justice to millions of Indians. The article is available online.

A-State welcomes new faculty member Emily Weston, assistant professor of communication disorders. With a master’s degree from Harding University, Weston has been employed the past five years as a speech-language pathologist in Dallas. She worked with children in private practice and in school, seeing pediatric patients, supervising graduate students, and leading a community assistant technology program at Callier Center, University of Texas-Dallas.

Dr. Ehsan Naderi has joined the electrical engineering faculty as assistant professor. He completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Southern Illinois, where he received the Dissertation Research Fellowship Award. His current research is focused on the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to smart grid security and operation of modern cyber-physical power systems. Naderi is author of more than 45 articles on power system operation, control and optimization.