Welcome to the newest faculty members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences–Camden!
Andrew Abeyta
Title/Rank: Assistant Professor; Tenure-track
Department: Psychology
Email: andrew.abeyta@rutgers.edu
Dr. Andrew Abeyta, who earned his MA in experimental psychology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and his Ph.D. in social health psychology at North Dakota State University, joins the Department of Psychology as an assistant professor. Dr. Abeyta’s research is focused broadly on two psychological needs that are fundamental to adaptive functioning: the need to belong and the need for meaning in life. Specifically, Dr. Abeyta’s interests lie in understanding the affective, cognitive, and motivational underpinnings of these needs with the goal of identifying psychological experiences/factors that contribute to their satisfaction. For example, Dr. Abeyta has published research on how nostalgia, a positive emotional experience that typically involves reminiscing about cherished past experiences, energizes people’s efforts to establish meaningful interpersonal relationships, and he currently pursuing research on how nostalgia can help people overcome loneliness.
Craig Agule
Title/Rank: Assistant Professor; Tenure-track
Department: Philosophy and Religion
Email: craig.agule@rutgers.edu
Dr. Craig Agule earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego, in 2017. His dissertation title was “Responsibility, Reasons-responsiveness, and History” which argues for an ahistorical account of moral responsibility. Dr. Agule, who also holds a juris doctor from the University of Virginia, studies ethics and the philosophy of law, as well as logic, professional ethics, and social and political philosophy.
Catherine Grgicak
Title/Rank: Henry Rutgers Chair in Chemistry and Associate Professor; Tenure-track
Department: Chemistry
Email: c.grgicak@rutgers.edu
Dr. Catherine Grgicak, who will serve as the Henry Rutgers Chair in Chemistry, joins us from Boston University, where she was an assistant professor in biomedical forensic sciences for the School of Medicine’s Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. Dr. Grgicak has served as a forensic DNA consultant and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Dr. Grgicak earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Ottawa in 2007.
Nathan Link
Title/Rank: Assistant Professor; Tenure-track
Department: Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice
Email: nathan.link@rutgers.edu
Dr. Nathan Link, a Rutgers University alumnus who earned his master’s degree in social work, as well as a graduate certificate from Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics, will join the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice as an assistant professor. Dr. Link earned his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Temple University in 2017. His research interests include corrections and sentencing, legal financial obligations and debt, mental illness and substance abuse, and criminological theory.
Rufan Luo
Title/Rank: Assistant Professor; Tenure-track
Department: Psychology
Email: rufan.luo@rutgers.edu
Dr. Rufan Luo joins the Department of Psychology from Temple University, where she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Temple Infant and Child Lab. In 2015, Dr. Luo earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from New York University. Dr. Luo’s research aims to understand how children’s home learning experiences and parent-child interactions influence and support early language and cognitive development, with a focus on children and families from socioeconomically, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. She is also interested in developing and evaluating early interventions for children and caregivers from at-risk families, using the framework of community-based participatory research (CBPR).
Dana Pilla
Title/Rank: Assistant Professor; Non-tenure-track
Department: World Languages and Cultures
Email: dana.pilla@rutgers.edu
Dana Pilla, formerly a teacher of Spanish at Haddonfield Middle School, joins us this year as a full-time assistant professor after serving as a part-time lecturer for the Department of World Languages and Cultures for six years. She is also serving as the coordinator for Spanish for the Health Professions. Ms. Pilla is a Rutgers alumna, earning her bachelor’s degree in Spanish at Douglass College and her two master’s degrees, one in language education and the other in Spanish, at Rutgers, as well. In 2015, Ms. Pilla was named the New Jersey World Language Teacher of the Year in 2015.