Axe ’Em, Jacks!
Mission and Purpose
The Research Advisory Council of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies will advance the research capacity of the university. The council defines research as projects that use scholarly or creative methods and techniques within an academic discipline to produce a deeper knowledge, understanding or application of the subject studied. This includes theoretical or applied research, artistic activity and evidence-based scholarship that encompass all disciplines.
The council will elevate research volume and advance research visibility by: advocating for university resources, university-wide policies and university-wide procedures to enhance research and the visibility of research on campus; promoting faculty research collaboration and engagement; advocating for expanding student research opportunities; and advocating for expanding support for obtaining external research funding.
Join the Collaboration
Please email RAC@sfasu.edu to learn how you can be a part of this exciting initiative as a research advocate! A council member will reach out to you using the contact information you provide.
Benefits to the University
The council will support the strategic goals of the university by advocating for enhancements to the overall research climate of the university. This will support the strategic goals of attracting and retaining high-quality faculty and students; fostering curricular and cocurricular innovations; redefining university culture to include a focus on research, in addition to teaching; and increasing connections and collaborations across campus and the community through research. Additionally, by enhancing research and research visibility, the overall reputation of SFA will be elevated, positively impacting student recruitment and retention. If successful, externally funded research is expected to increase over time, adding to the financial resources of the institution.
I believe the council will help us expand our research through transdisciplinary collaboration between majors and colleges. Gina Causin, Ph.D.
My research program has improved tremendously by finding collaborators with related interests and complimentary skill sets. Until the creation of the council, there was no systematic way for faculty to find others with compatible interests. I hope that the council will facilitate research collaborations across campus and increase the profile of research on campus and within the community. Lauren E. Brewer, Ph.D.
My hope is that RAC will provide an avenue for faculty to advocate for increased research resources, research support and research collaborations across our university. The council has great potential for increasing the visibility of research on our campus and in the community, benefitting students, faculty, the university and the community. Flora Farago, Ph.D.
Scope of the Research Advisory Council
Research at SFA is supported by specialized campus groups sharing a common goal, but with distinct roles. Along with the Research Advisory Council, these entities include the University Research Council and University Graduate Council. The scope of each group is delineated as follows.
Research Advisory Council
The Research Advisory Council is an advocate of:
- University resources, university-wide policies, and university-wide procedures to enhance research and the visibility of research on campus
- Promoting faculty research collaboration and engagement
- Expanding student research opportunities
- Expanding support for obtaining external funding for research
University Research Council
The URC is responsible for:
- Developing guidelines for, and recommendations of, awards for internal university research grants
- Developing and recommending university research policies based upon state and federal laws and regulations
- Recommending policies and procedures to encourage research activities and to improve the research environment of the university
University Graduate Council
The University Graduate Council recommends policies and procedures relative to graduate student admission and programs, graduate faculty membership, graduate curriculum, graduate theses and dissertations, and other matters pertaining to graduate education at the university level.
RAC Members
Initial elected members will serve beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.
Current members
Dr. Flόra Faragό
Dr. Flόra Faragό’s teaching and research interests center around gender and ethnic-racial socialization in children, prejudice and stereotype development and anti-bias and anti-racist education. She is particularly interested in the link between research and community activism.
Faragό collaborates with colleagues and organizations nationally and internationally, including the Indigo Cultural Center, Local to Global Justice, the Jirani Project, and the Girl Child Network. She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science from the University of Texas at Dallas and holds a PhD from Arizona State University.
To learn more about Dr. Faragó's work, visit www.florafarago.com.
Reuber Antoniazzi
Dr. Reuber Antoniazzi received a Bachelor of Science in biology from the Federal University of Ouro Preto, and a Master of Science in biological sciences from the State University of Montes Claros, both in Brazil. He earned a doctorate in ecology from Instituto de Ecologia A.C., in Mexico.
Antoniazzi’s research is focused on the mechanisms and processes of biodiversity changes in space and time. Using a wide range of tools in quantitative analysis and modeling, Antoniazzi’s studies are mainly concentrated on the vertical stratification in tropical forests. Now, Antoniazzi is applying his knowledge and skills to evaluate the effect of forest management on wildlife.
Lauren Brewer
Dr. Lauren Brewer attended Florida State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Master of Science and a PhD in social psychology. Her research interests include the self, philosophical psychology and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is a member of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and the Southwestern Psychological Association.
Dr. Jason Bruck
Dr. Bruck's research interests include cognition, communication, sensory physiology and welfare in dolphins. He is also a co-lead for the PHASM project which includes the development of a next-generation drone system capable of catching a dolphin’s breath out of the air for health assessment. Bruck holds a BS in biopsychology from Long Island University: Southampton College, as well as a MA in comparative human development and PhD in behavioral biology from the University of Chicago. He was a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Dr. Gina Fe Causin
Dr. Gina Fe Causin has more than 20 years of experience in meeting, event and lodging operation and hospitality education. She is widely published in professional journals focusing on hospitality and tourism management, legal and safety issues related to hospitality and family and consumer sciences.
Causin’s research interests include accessibility for individuals with visual impairment, sustainability of cultural festivals using the triple bottom line approach, expatriation, culture and socialization, green meetings, events and lodging.
Causin earned her Bachelor of Science in hotel and restaurant management from Mindanao State University. She received her Master of Science in hospitality administration and her PhD in human environmental sciences from Oklahoma State University.
Cord Eversole
Cord Eversole holds a doctoral degree in wildlife science, as well as a Bachelor and Master of Science in wildlife and range management from Texas A&M University at Kingsville. His research is focused on understanding the dynamics between vertebrate organisms and their environment, specifically those affected by environmental change and stochasticity.
Dr. Kevin Jones
Dr. Kevin Jones’ research interests include curriculum and instruction, urban school/university partnerships, equity pedagogy and music education.
Larry King
Dr. Larry King earned his doctorate in communication from the University of Oklahoma. Research interests include public and political communication and assessment.
Dr. Matthew Kwiatkowski
Dr. Kwiatkowski’s research focuses on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of reptiles and amphibians, with particular emphasis on spatial ecology and sexual selection. He holds a BS in biology from New Mexico State University, an MA in biology from the University of South Dakota and a PhD in biology from Arizona State University. Dr. Kwiatkowski is the coordinator for the Department of Biology's graduate program.
Dr. Carmen Montaña-Schalk
Dr. Montaña-Schalk’s research interests include aquatic community ecology, fish ecology, conservation ecology, and food-web ecology in tropical and temperate freshwater ecosystems. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences and a master’s degree in wildlife and fisheries management from Universidad Nacional de los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora. She also holds a doctorate in wildlife and fisheries sciences from Texas A&M University.
Dr. Heather Olson Beal
Dr. Heather K. Olson Beal taught Spanish at the secondary and post-secondary levels and obtained a Master of Arts in modern languages at Texas A&M University before completing a PhD in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana State University. She is the faculty co-chair of the Organization for Women's Leadership and Excellence, or OWLE, a campus-based employee organization that seeks to promote women's professional advancement. Her scholarship examines the issues of school choice, second language education and the experiences of women and mothers in academia. She serves as the principal investigator, or PI, on the Project RAICES grant, a National Professional Development grant from the US Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition. She has three feisty and bighearted children who guide and shape her scholarship and teaching.
Dr. Tingting Xu
Dr. Tingting Xu holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Nanjing University of Finance and Economics and a Master of Science in early childhood education and PhD in curriculum and instruction from Florida State University. Xu has a solid research agenda, with research interests focused mainly on childhood obesity and preservice teachers’ professional development. She has published 12 peer-reviewed/refereed journals and two book chapters.
Dr. Bidisha Sengupta
Dr. Sengupta received a BS in chemistry, a MS in biophysics and a doctoral degree from the University of Calcutta in India. She completed her postdoctoral research in the biophysics division at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in India, Chalmers University in Sweden and Furman University. She previously served as an associate professor of chemistry at Tougaloo College. Sengupta has served as an assistant professor in SFA’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since 2019.
Dr. Hannah Wich
Dr. Hannah Wich received her bachelor's degree from the University of South Dakota and her doctoral degree from Iowa State University.
Her work focuses on consumer food choice decisions and ways to alleviate food insecurity. Wich's research interests include public economics, health economics and applied microeconomics.
Inga Meier
Dr. Inga Meier earned her BA with a double major in English literature and theatre arts from Rutgers College and an MFA in dramaturgy with a graduate certificate in cultural studies from Stony Brook University. She received her PhD in theatre history and performance studies from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also completed a doctoral film studies certificate.
Meier's scholarship is focused on performances of terrorism, violence and trauma and has been presented at conferences throughout the United States and in England, including:
- Association for Theatre in Higher Education
- American Society for Theatre Research
- Comparative Drama Conference
- Film and History
- Mid-America Theatre Conference
- Midwest Modern Language Association
- Southeastern Theatre Conference
- and the Shaw Society.
Meier has served as secretary and debut panel coordinator for the Theatre and Social Change Focus Group at ATHE, and on the editorial board of the Journal of American Drama and Theatre, published by the American Theatre and Drama Society.
Her writing has been published in Film and History, the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Journal, Theatre Annual and in the anthology Recovering 9/11 in New York.
Her article, "'Heroes and their Consequences:' 9/11, The War on Terror, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe " was published in The Palgrave Handbook of Artistic and Cultural Responses to War – Volume 1: Australasia, the British Isles.
As a dramaturg, Meier worked on both professional and university productions in New Jersey, New York, Pittsburgh and Nacogdoches, and her translation and adaptation of "Woyzeck" has been produced in New York and New Jersey.
She also directed numerous plays, including:
- Bert Royal's "Dog Sees God"
- Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile"
- William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker"
- Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit"
- and her own translation of Georg Büchner's "Woyzeck."
She is currently working on an interdisciplinary monograph examining the memorialization and narrativization of 9/11 through performance.
Dr. Jenna Sehmann
Dr. Jenna Sehmann is an assistant professor of oboe and music history. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in oboe performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa, Master of Music in oboe performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in music performance and music industry from Eastern Kentucky University.
Prior to joining SFA in fall 2023, she served as instructor of double reeds and music history at Southeast Missouri State University, an oboe faculty member at Cornell College and oboe faculty member at Mount Mercy University.
Sehmann performs regularly with SFA’s Stone Fort Wind Quintet, principal oboe in the Longview Symphony, and English horn and substitute oboe with the Shreveport Symphony.
Additionally, she has performed with the Quad Cities Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Dubuque Symphony, Paducah Symphony Orchestra, Ottumwa Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Evansville Philharmonic and the Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas. Sehmann has also performed in orchestral and chamber music settings at the Bay View Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Marrowstone Music Festival, Taneycomo Festival Orchestra, Trentino Music Festival, and Sault Ste. Marie Opera Orchestra.
A devoted chamber musician, Sehmann is the oboist and director of operations of the Wild Prairie Winds. The mission of the Wild Prairie Winds is to promote the performance, education and accessibility of chamber music through diverse programming and creative concert settings. In addition to performances throughout the Midwest, the group serves as artists-in-residence at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory in Milford, Iowa.
In addition to performing, Sehmann has developed and taught several musicology courses and completed her secondary area studies in musicology (ethnomusicology emphasis) during her doctoral degree. Her research focuses on literary connections and narrative in instrumental music. This research can be found in her doctoral capstone project, which features recordings of works for oboe inspired by literature. This project highlights two of Sehmann’s greatest interests: oboe performance and theatrical literature and performance. Sehmann was named the sole recipient of the 2020 Sigma Alpha Iota Doctoral Grant to further her studies on this subject. Sehmann has taught several workshops designed to help music educators incorporate female composers and musicians into their curriculum, including at the SHE Festival for Women in Music and the Sigma Alpha Iota National Convention.
Sehmann is a nationally recognized and awarded member of Sigma Alpha Iota, honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma, and is the marketing coordinator for the Midsouth Regional Chapter of the International Double Reed Society. She plays on a Howarth XL CocoJazz oboe and Loree English horn.
Dr. Kefa Onchoke
2014-15 SFASU Foundation Faculty Achievement Research Award Recipient
Dr. Onchoke holds a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of Nairobi, a Master's in analytical chemistry from Hampton University, and a PhD in analytical chemistry from The Ohio State University. His research and areas of interest are focused on food chemistry, water chemistry, environmental toxicants, mutagens and carcinogens.
Dr. Keith Hubbard
Dr. Hubbard earned his PhD in noncommutative algebra at the University of Notre Dame. Working first in vertex algebras, he has also published research in STEM student success, machine learning, STEM teacher recruiting and preparation, and mathematical economics. He serves as principal investigator of the National Science Foundation project Talented Teachers in Training for Texas eXpanded (T4X) and has previously served on five additional NSF projects. Additionally, he has served as chair of the Mathematical Association of America’s nation Committee on Articulation and Placement.
Dr. Rebecca Davis
Dr. Rebecca Davis received her Bachelor of Science in economics from West Virginia Wesleyan College and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Tennessee. Before joining the SFA faculty in 2018, Davis served as the pre-doctoral fellow on energy economics for the National Bureau of Economic Research and has conducted several reports on topics such as coal mining and tourism, electricity generation and fracking. Her research interests include energy economics, market structure, risk and uncertainty, real options analysis and public policy.
Past Members
- Dr. Jason Bruck
- Dr. Leslie Cecil
- Dr. Janice Cho
- Dr. Matt Kwiatkowski
- Dr. Kevin Jones
- Dr. Tingting Xu
Contact Grants and Sponsored Programs
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 13024, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962