Dartmouth welcomes 37 new tenured or tenure-track faculty members to the community this academic year. Embracing curiosity as a basis for their teaching and research, these new faculty bring with them a wealth of knowledge in a range of disciplines and exemplify Dartmouth's teacher-scholar model.

As Assistant Professor of Economics Apoorv Gupta, one of the new faculty, says, "Curiosity feeds and drives the thinking of a scholar. ... As a teacher, I strive to stimulate similar curiosity in my students about the things they are passionate about."

Another new faculty member, Kimberley Samkoe, an associate professor of engineering, says, "The question 'why?' is a powerful force for advancing knowledge and understanding."

Provost [and Professor of Engineering] Joseph Helble praises the flexibility of these new faculty members in joining the community during a global pandemic and their ingenuity in maintaining engaging virtual classes.

"In this challenging time, we welcome our new faculty members, who bring a passion for their work and a global perspective to this vibrant community of Dartmouth scholars. The joy they take in their creative work, in their research and their teaching, will inspire curiosity in their students, and that, in turn, will lead to discoveries that increase our understanding of the world," he says.

Learn more about Dartmouth's newest [engineering] faculty:

Geoffroy Hautier
Hodgson Family Associate Professor of Engineering

• PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• MS, Ecole Centrale Paris
• MS, Université Libre de Bruxelles
• BS, Université Libre de Bruxelles

My broad field of expertise is material science and engineering. The ultimate goal of this field is to engineer better materials from stronger alloys for airplane engines, to materials for longer lasting batteries. I specialize in computational materials science where computers, advanced physical modeling, and more and more of artificial intelligence are used to accelerate the design and discovery of new materials.

On curiosity: Curiosity is a fundamental human impulse, as anyone who has interacted with young kids can tell. I see my role as a teacher to cultivate this natural curiosity in all students and share my passion for science and technology. In research, I have been very curious and fascinated to see how computers have been revolutionizing our way of doing research, especially in the field of materials science.

Elizabeth Murnane
Charles H. Gaut and Charles H. Norberg Assistant Professor of Engineering

• PhD, Cornell University
• MS, Cornell University
• BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

My research is in human-computer interaction and people+planet-centered design, with a focus on applications in health, education, and sustainability. In my interdisciplinary lab, we engineer technologies that aim to study the human condition, positively shape human behaviors and experiences, or provoke critical reflection about how such computational systems impact upon society.

On curiosity: Humans are inherently curious beings! As a scientist, I'm incredibly fortunate to have a profession based on pursuing my own desire to continually learn through research as well as encouraging that natural passion for exploration in my students, in the lab, and in the classroom.

Kimberley Samkoe
Associate Professor of Engineering

• PhD, University of Calgary
• BSc, University of Regina

Trained as a biochemist and biophysical chemist, my research takes a biological-systems-engineering approach to medical imaging by studying how microscopic molecular information can be interpreted at a macro-scale. My current research interests involve quantitative assessment of in vivo protein expression and signaling using fluorescence molecular imaging. These methodologies have applications in cancer for improving tumor identification, surgical resection, and patient-specific therapeutic monitoring.

On curiosity: Curious observation is inherently the driving force of learning, not only in the classroom and the research lab, but also out in the world around us. The question "why?" is a powerful force for advancing knowledge and understanding.