Faculty/Staff

Administrative Staff

Keith A. Bostian, Ph.D., Dean, NJCSTM and the Office of Technology Transfer; Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Life Science Entrepreneurship

Research Interests:  Human microbiome, chemogenomics; toxicology and toxicogenomics, natural products, drug discovery, antimicrobials, entrepreneurship

Office:  STEM 5-13D | E-mail:  kbostian@kean.edu

Judy April, M.A., Coordinator of Recruitment & Student Services

Office:  STEM 5-13F | E-mail:  japril@kean.edu

Marianne Gass, M.Sc., Assistant to the Dean

Office:  STEM 5-13E | E-mail:  marianng@kean.edu

Michele Smalls, Head Clerk

Office:  STEM 5-13 | E-mail:  msmalls@kean.edu

Michael J. Tocci, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Research

Research Interests:  Translational research paradigms, Pathogenic mechanisms in autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases and drug discovery & development

Office: STEM 5-13G | E-mail:  mtocci@kean.edu

Faculty

Brian Baldwin, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Science Education

Research Interests:  Professional development for in-service science teachers; educational technology integration in science teacher education; evaluation of science education programs

Office:  STEM 5-02D | E-mail:   bbaldwin@kean.edu

Salvatore Coniglio, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chemical Biology

Research Interests:  Role of the tumor microenvironment in glioblastoma (brain cancer) progression

Office:  STEM 5-18B | E-mail:   coniglsa@kean.edu

Edward Farnum, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Applied Mathematics

Research Interests:  Differential equations, mathematical modeling, nonlinear waves and solitons, optical pulse propagation, mode-locked lasers.

Office:  STEM 5-20C | E-mail:  efarnum@kean.edu

Lecturer, Microbiology & Research Methods

Research Interests: Health indicators in the environment, management of disease in agricultural settings; molecular microbiology of bacteria and fungi, global biogeochemistry, spatiotemporal dynamics of disease in the environment. 

Office: STEM 5-02C  E-mail:  mahayes@kean.edu

David Joiner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Computational Mathematics & Physics

Research Interests:  Educational technology and computational science; parallel computing education

Office:  STEM 5-20-D | E-mail:  djoiner@kean.edu

James Robert Merritt, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Organic & Medicinal Chemistry

Research Interests:  Medicinal chemistry of small-molecule inhibitors of G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs)

Office:  STEM 5-04B | E-mail:  jmerritt@kean.edu

Dil Ramanathan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Analytical Chemistry & Biotechnology

Research Interests:  Analytical chemistry methods development for environmental contaminants and human health

Office:  STEM 5-18D | E-mail:  ramanatd@kean.edu

Adjunct Faculty & Guest Scientists

Raul Cano, Ph.D., Executive Director for Microbiome Research at the ATCC Center for Translational Microbiology at the Institute for Life Science Entrepreneurship; Professor Emeritus at the Biological Sciences Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Research Interests:  Isolation & analysis of ancient microbial genomes and microorganisms, micorbiome research of ancient and modern human populations, microbial pathogens and disease resistance and antimicrobial drug resistance

Office: Willis Hall 109 | E-mail:  rcano@ilsebio.com

Rachana Bhatt, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor at NJCSTM, Research Associate at Rutgers University, former Adjunct Professor at Fairleigh Dickenson University and Visiting Research Scholar at the New Jersey Institute of Technology

Research Interests: Antimicribial drug delivery and medical devices, microbial films & biopolymers

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  rbhatt@g-mail.com

Tara Cominski, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor at NJCSTM & Assistant Professor of Biology at the College of St. Elizabeth and Research Scientist at the VA Medical Center

Research Interests:  Neurobiology, cell & molecular biology, tramatic brain injury, behavioral response mechanisms

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  tcominsk@kean.edu

Anima Ghosal, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor NJCSTM

Research Interests:  Enzymology, drug metabolism and drug interactions

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  animag@kean.edu

Laura Rokosz, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor NJCSTM & Adjunct Professor in Nutrigenomics at Rutgers University

Research Interests:  Pharmacology and food sciences, nutrition, metabolic diseases, pain & inflammation, gut health and autoimmune diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, eating disorders, food allergies, sports nutrition & women's health

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  larokosz@kean.edu

Petra Eurlings, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor NJCSTM 

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  peurling@kean.edu

Christopher Cuesta, M.A., Adjunct Professor NJCSTM 

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  cuestach@kean.edu

Kevin Jala, M.A., Adjunct Professor NJCSTM 

Office: STEM 5-13A | E-mail:  jalak@kean.edu

Research & Support Staff

Noemy Gaitan, M.P.A., Secretary

Office:  STEM 5-13 | E-mail:  ngaitan@kean.edu

Nan Perigo, M.S., Research Facilities Manager

Office:  STEM 1-18 | E-mail:  nperigo@kean.edu

Yuriko Root, M.S., Research Lab Technician

Office:  STEM 5-04C | E-mail:  rooty@kean.edu