Our Team

Current Members

Julie Zilles is a Research Assistant Professor in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She received her B.S. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Dr. Zilles develops materials that incorporate writing across the Crop Sciences curricula, teaches a graduate level scientific writing class, conducts research at the intersection of microbiology and agricultural and environmental systems, and leads this transdisciplinary collaboration between STEM and Writing Studies focused on intervention and research related to developing the writing skills of STEM undergraduates.

 

Paul Prior is a Professor of the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

John Popovics is a Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Drexel University and his Ph.D. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Penn State. His research interests include testing, sensing and imaging of infrastructure and geologic materials. He is also involved in efforts to improve writing skills in engineering students.

 

Lance Cooper is Professor and Associate Head for Graduate Programs in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his B.S. in Physics from the University of Virginia in 1982, his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois in 1988, and he was a postdoctoral research associate at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1988-1990. Cooper’s research interests include optical spectroscopic studies of novel magnetic and superconducting materials at high pressures, high magnetic fields, and low temperatures. Since 2013, Cooper has co-taught (with Celia Elliott) a graduate-level technical writing course each spring to physics and engineering graduate students.

 

Celia Elliott is a science writer and technical editor in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has  been teaching technical communications to upper-level undergraduate physics majors since 2000, and recently developed, with S. Lance Cooper, a graduate technical writing course.

 
 
 
 

John Gallagher is an assistant professor of English. He focuses on writing studies, especially digital writing technologies, audience theory, and interface design. He teaches business and technical writing, technical communication, and rhetoric.

 
 
 
 
 

Bruce Kovanen is a PhD candidate in the Department of English and the Center for Writing Studies. He works with faculty and teaching assistants across disciplines to help hone their writing pedagogy. His research and teaching focus on sociocultural perspectives of literacy and learning.

 
 
 
 

Megan Mericle is a PhD candidate in Writing Studies. Her research focuses on the construction of expertise and citizenship in literate activity surrounding citizen science. She previously served as the Assistant Director for the Center for Writing Studies. In her work with Writing Across Engineering and Science, she is conducting research on graduate student experiences in the STEM Writing Practice/Pedagogy course and on writing practices in student organizations in Physics.

 

A picture of WAES team member Rebecca Avgoustopoulos

Rebecca Avgoustopoulos is a PhD student in Writing Studies. She has taught First-Year Writing and Business Writing, and is currently focused on pursuing her research interests in writing across disciplines. She works with faculty to integrate writing into their STEM-oriented classrooms and to evaluate its influence on student learning.

 
 
 

A picture of WAES team member Patrick Carzon

Patrick Carzon is a graduate student in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He does research in Heavy-Ion Nuclear Collisions and works on constructing conserved charges in the initial conditions used by theoretical simulations.

 
 
 
 
 

A picture of WAES team member Yvaine Neyhard

Yvaine Neyhard (she/her) is a master’s student in the Department of English and the Center for Writing Studies. Yvaine’s work focuses on undergraduate student experiences of writing curricula across disciplines. Her research interests include digital composition technologies, the impacts of affect on student writing, and feminist research methods and pedagogies.

 
 
 

A picture of WAES team member Mia Renna

Mia Renna is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research focuses on transportation infrastructure repair decision optimization accounting for economic, social, cultural, historical, and political factors. Her professional passion is global development through natural disaster mitigation and recovery engineering policy. Mia served in the United States military in various capacities as an engineer from 2010-2019 completing her service as an Army Captain prior to beginning her studies at the University of Illinois.

 

Former Members

Patrick Coleman received his PhD in Physics from UIUC, and is a tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He researches synchronization in non-linear dynamical systems. He is a former member of WAES, an interdisciplinary team that studies and improves the way writing is incorporated in STEM curricula.

 
 
 
 
 

Gail Scott received her Master’s in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and is an Owner/Airfield Civil Engineer at JS Engineering, LLC. Her research focused on performance evaluation of bonded concrete overlays on asphalt pavement and accelerated pavement reconstruction of airfield pavements. She graduated form University of Washington in 2015 with B.S.C.E in Civil Engineering, B.A. in Mathematics and Minor in Chemistry. After completing her bachelor’s, she worked as an engineering consultant designing and constructing airfield pavements before returning to complete her master’s degree.

 

Nicole Turnipseed received her PhD in the Department of English and the Center for Writing Studies, and is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the University Writing Program at the University of Denver. She teaches a range of writing courses and helps teachers across disciplines hone their writing pedagogy. Her research and teaching focus on developing robust learning environments to support holistic literate development.

 
 

Ryan Ware has a PhD in Writing Studies from UIUC, and is an Assistant Professor of Writing at Landmark College in Putney, Vermont. He is primarily interested in cultural-historical theories of writing and human development. He works with STEM educators to integrate writing into their courses at varying scales, and teaches advanced writing courses in rhetorical genre studies.

John Yoritomo is a Research Physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and received his PhD in Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on diffuse field ultrasonics, with applications in non-destructive evaluation and seismology. He graduated with a B.S. in physics from the Catholic University of America where his interest in scientific writing began.