Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Research Center

DEIB Center logo

Diverse communities around SUNY Poly have undergone dynamic transformations with an increasing refugee population and ongoing economic fluctuations. The recent rise in Research and Development investments in the Mohawk Valley is expected to stimulate socioeconomic renewal and foster the growth of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) workforce in the Rust Belt area. However, rapidly evolving social and environmental conditions can exacerbate barriers to advancement among traditionally marginalized groups, including underrepresented minorities, women, low-income families, and immigrants. As a premier public research-intensive university, SUNY Poly is uniquely positioned to serve as an inclusive community hub that unlocks the full potential of its diverse student body and their families for socioeconomic innovations in the Mohawk Valley and beyond.

The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Research Center spearheads SUNY Poly’s research, teaching, and outreach efforts for DEIB excellence. As described in Figure 1, the DEIB Research Center (1) cultivates and integrates SUNY Poly’s DEIB resources and network with academic, civic, and industrial partners, and (2) empowers STEAM students, faculty, and staff to achieve DEIB excellence within the campus and surrounding communities. Eventually, the DEIB Research Center creates critical impacts on improving the representation of traditionally marginalized groups at SUNY Poly and within the US STEAM workforce by advancing SUNY Poly’s missions in three thematic areas: Healthcare & Well-being, Smart Infrastructure & Sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence & Information Technology.

deib conceptual framework research center

 

Five accomplished and dedicated faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering lay the successful foundation for the DEIB Research Center. Each of the five founding faculty members leads a multidisciplinary research project, collaborating with eight universities, three nonprofit organizations, and Wolfspeed. The five inaugural projects aim to achieve exemplary DEIB excellence and secure the sustainability of the DEIB Research Center through extramural grants.

 deib center projects

First, Dr. Oh’s CORE project collects and analyzes data from administrative records, surveys, and interviews at SUNY Poly to develop an interdisciplinary educational prototype dedicated to fostering DEIB excellence on campus. Second, Dr. Weldon’s BELONG project implements a close examination of the sense of belonging on campus and conducts psychological experiments to increase the retention rate of SUNY Poly students, faculty, and staff. Third, Dr. Ahmed’s BRIDGE project integrates DEIB concepts and practices into real classroom settings to transform SUNY Poly into a hub for developing diverse engineers with a vibrant DEIB mindset. Fourth, Dr. Karimpour’s SAFE project employs machine learning and artificial intelligence models to analyze disparities in access to emerging transportation modes, aiming to improve traffic safety across diverse populations, including SUNY Poly students and traditionally marginalized groups. Lastly, Dr. Stam’s RISE project develops extensive research and outreach programs to support STEAM workforce development among diverse populations around the refugee hub of Utica, NY.

 

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

  • Anthropology
  • Asian Studies
  • Artificial Intelligence Modeling
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computational Science
  • Engineering Technology
  • Machine Learning
  • Psychology
  • Refugee Studies
  • Sociology

Consultation/Collaboration on DEIB Research, Teaching, and Service

Founding Faculty Members

DonDr. Byeongdon Oh (Director)
Assistant Professor of Sociology – Social Justice & Change
ohb@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Byeongdon Oh (he/his/him) is a first-generation immigrant scholar from South Korea. He goes by “Don,” which is the last syllable of his first name. He is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and as the Founding Director of the DEIB Research Center at SUNY Poly. He is also serving as a Computational Social Science Research Faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley. With a diverse background that includes experiences as a journalist, military officer, and policy researcher, Dr. Oh has developed a keen sensitivity to social diversity and inclusion. His research focuses on social stratification, education, race/ethnicity, quantitative/computational methods, and mixed methods. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation for his doctoral and two postdoctoral projects. Dr. Oh’s work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Social Problems, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and Social Science Research.

Related Publications: 

  1. Oh, Byeongdon, Ned Tilbrook, and Dara Shifrer. 2024. “Shifting Tides: The Evolution of Racial/Ethnic Inequality in Higher Education from the 1980s through the 2010s” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 10: 1–13. [Open Access]
  2. Oh, Byeongdon, Danny Mackin Freeman, and Dara Shifrer. 2023. “Inequality among the Disadvantaged? Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Earnings among Young Men and Women without a College Education.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 9(3) 342–360. [Open Access] (Media Coverage: Forbes; Berkeley News; Post News Group; The Triangle Tribune; National Affairs; Giving Compass; Futurity; BET; Lipstick Alley; Agenparl)
  3. Oh, Byeongdon, and ChangHwan Kim. 2023. “Changing Undergraduate Funding Mix and Graduate Degree Attainment.” The Journal of Higher Education 94(5): 664–689. (Media Coverage: Phys.org)
  4. Oh, Byeongdon. 2022. “Do Parents Matter for Student Loan Repayment after Graduation?” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 8: 1–16. (Media Coverage: The Hill; University Business; Pressetext)
  5. Kim, ChangHwan, and Byeongdon Oh. 2021. “Taste-Based Gender Discrimination in South Korea.” Social Science Research 104(102671): 1–16.
  6. Agadjanian, Victor, Byeongdon Oh, and Cecilia Menjívar. 2021. “(Il)legality and Psychosocial Well-being: Central Asian Migrant Women in Russia.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 48(1): 53–73.
  7. Oh, Byeongdon, and ChangHwan Kim. 2020. “Broken Promise of College? New Educational Sorting Mechanisms for Intergenerational Association in the 21st Century.” Social Science Research 86(102375): 1–15. (Media Coverage: Inside Higher Ed; TUN)
  8. Rauscher, Emily, and Byeongdon Oh. 2020. “Going Places: Effects of Early U.S. Compulsory Schooling Laws on Internal Migration.” Population Research and Policy Review 40: 255–283. (Corresponding author)
  9. Menjívar, Cecilia, Victor Agadjanian, and Byeongdon Oh. 2020. “The Contradictions of Liminal Legality: Economic Attainment and Civic Engagement of Immigrants in Temporary Protected Status.” Social Problems 69(3): 678–698.
  10. Agadjanian, Victor, and Byeongdon Oh. 2020. “Continuities in Transition: Ethnicity, Language and Labour Market Inequalities in Kyrgyzstan.” Development and Change 51(6): 1579–1612.
  11. Agadjanian, Victor, Sarah R. Hayford, and Byeongdon Oh. 2019. “When Leaving is Normal and Staying is Novel: Men’s Labor Migration and Women’s Employment in Rural Mozambique.” Migration Studies 9(3): 1011–1029.

Abolfazl Karimpour, Ph.D.Dr. Abolfazl Karimpour
Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
karimpa@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Karimpour (he/his/him) is an Assistant Professor at SUNY Poly. Previously, he held positions as Manager and Assistant Research Professor at the University of Arizona’s Center for Applied Transportation Science. His research interests include Traffic Operation and Safety, Traffic Signal Optimization, Data Analytics, Public Transportation, and Smart Cities Transportation. He has published over 15 peer-reviewed research articles in various journals and presented his findings at over 20 national and international conferences. He is a PI and Co-PI for numerous national, regional, and local transportation projects. Dr. Karimpour is an active member of TRB, ASCE, and ITE. He is a member of the TRB standing committee on Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computing Applications (AED50). Also, a young member of the Street and Highway Operations and an Associate member of the Transportation Safety of the American Society of Civil Engineers committees. Dr. Karimpour also serves as a panelist on NCHRP 17-100: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to Enhance Safety Analysis. He has received several prestigious awards, including 2023 Dean's Excellence Award in Research Excellence, ITE Western District outstanding graduate student award, Jenny L. Grote Student Leadership Award, and Southern Arizona ITE Hank Warner Scholarship.

Related Publications: 

  1. P. Jalali, A. Karimpour, and Y.-J. Wu (2024). Understanding Drivers' Compliance Behavior: Data-Driven Assessment of Longer Yellow Intervals. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.

  2. A. Karimpour, A. Hosseinzadeh, and R. Kluger (2023). A Data-Driven Approach to Estimating Dockless Electric Scooter Service Areas. Journal of Transport Geography.

  3. A. Karimpour, J. Anderson, S. Kothuri, and Y.-J. Wu (2021). Estimating Pedestrian Delay at Signalized Intersections Using High-Resolution Event-based Data: As Finite Mixture Modeling Method. Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems: Technology, Planning, and Operations.

  4. A. Hosseinzadeh, A. Karimpour, R. Kluger, & Orthober, R. (2022). Data linkage for crash outcome assessment: Linking police-reported crashes, emergency response data, and trauma registry records. Journal of Safety Research, 81, 21-35.

  5. A. Hosseinzadeh, A. Karimpour, R. Kluger (2021). Factors Influencing Shared Micromobility Services: An Analysis of E-Scooters and Bikeshare. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 100 p.103047.

AhmedDr. Asif Ahmed
Assistant Professor of Engineering Technology
asif.ahmed@sunypoly.edu

Asif Ahmed, PhD, PE (he/his/him) is an Assistant Professor at the College of Engineering at SUNY Poly. His research works include but not limited to unsaturated soil mechanics, modeling soil behavior, slope stability, pavement distress, real time data analysis and finite element numerical modeling. He has also worked on different research projects on failure investigation of highway slopes and geophysical evaluation of existing highway sub-structures. He has published more than 50 articles in prestigious civil engineering journals and presented in local, national and international conferences such as Elsevier, Transportation Research Board Meeting, GSP in ASCE etc. He is very interested in working with the high school and community colleges to increase the STEM enrollment on campus. He is also affiliated with ABET, the accreditation board of engineering and technology in the USA. He is a certified program evaluator (PEV) of ABET and also a member of Civil & Related Engineering Technology Program Criteria Task Committee. He is working on sustainability, remote learning, online games and other new technology adoption, inclusion about extreme weather events into the engineering curriculum.

Related Publications: 

  1. Ahmed, A., Gubbala, R (2024). Leveraging Online Games and Apps in Geotechnical Engineering Pedagogy. ASEE Northeast Conference, Fairfield, CT, USA.
  2. Ahmed, A. (2024). Extent of Natural Disaster Education in Civil Engineering Curriculum. In Preparation
  3. Mehrjerdi, Z., M., Pagpatan, V., Ahmed, A. and Jackson, L., J. (2023). Examining Racial Equity and Social Justice Curriculum Implementation: Insights from Faculty Survey. Presented in the SUNY Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in the Curriculum Conference (DEISJ), Albany, NY.
  4. Ahmed, A. (2023). Implementation of Sustainability Concept in Capstone Projects. American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  5. Ahmed, A. (2022). Impact of COVID-19 on Capstone Projects Outcomes. American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

 

StamDr. Kathryn Stam
Professor of Anthropology
stamk@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Kathryn Stam (she/her/hers) is a cultural anthropologist with a PhD in Social Science from Syracuse University. She received her experience with applied social science and information studies doing an NSF-funded postdoctoral position at Syracuse University’s I-School. She specializes in refugee studies, Thai studies, Himalayan studies, applied anthropology, and the cultural aspects of organizations. Dr. Stam is the cofounder and volunteer at the Midtown Utica Community Center in Utica, where she connects SUNY Poly students with learning and volunteer opportunities. She is the Coordinator of the Information Design and Technology masters degree program. She is the co-author of two books and has published twenty-four scholarly articles about her research. She does a great deal of public speaking, including a local TEDx talk in 2014 about getting to know refugees in Utica, NY.  Dr. Stam’s work has appeared in publications such as the Journal of Human Rights, Journal of South Asian Studies, Information Technology and People, and Social Science and Medicine. She has received the Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching (2010) and the Chancellors Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2015).

Related Publications: 

  1. Stam, K. & Woodworth, A. (2024). “State Intervention in Family Life and its Causes and Consequences for Somali Bantu Refugee Women in the United States: A Literature Review.” In P. Berta (Ed.), Arranged Marriage: The Politics of Tradition, Resistance, and Change. Rutgers University Press.
  2. Nelson, A., Stam, K. & (2021). “Bhutanese or Nepali: The Politics of Ethnonym Ambiguity.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.
  3. Stam, K. (2020). “Building a Multicultural Community with Resettled Refugees: A case study of the Midtown Utica Community Center in Utica, NY,” in Watson, M. and Gopalan, P. (Eds.) Refugee Resettlement in the United States: Loss, Transition, and Resilience in a Post-9/11 World. Oxford, U.K.: Routledge.
  4. Stam, K. and Sunderlin, C. (2019). “Refugee Perspectives on Identity and Community” The Crux of Refugee Resettlement. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
  5. Stam, K. (2019). “Perspectives on Religious Identity, Caste, and Culture for Bhutanese-Nepali Refugee Families in the United States.” Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Nepal and the Himalayas. Summer 2018.

WeldonDr. Rebecca Weldon
Assistant Professor of Cognitive Psychology
weldonr@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Rebecca Weldon (she/her/hers) is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Psychology at SUNY Poly. She received her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the George Washington University in 2012 and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Human Development and Human Neuroscience Institute at Cornell University in 2016. Dr. Weldon’s research uses survey, behavioral, and neuroscience techniques to investigate human cognition and decision making. Dr. Weldon’s work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Memory & Cognition, Cognition & Emotion, The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education. She received the Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2023.

Related Publications: 

  1. Brust-Renck, P.G., Weldon, R.B., & Reyna, V.F. (2021). Judgment and Decision Making. In W.E. Pickren (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of Psychology.
  2. Tae, J., An, C., Lee, Y., Weldon, R. B., Almasi, R. C., & Sohn, M.-H. (2021). Cognitively demanding stimuli can acquire positive valence. Psychological Research, 86(2), 585-596.
  3. Tae, J., Weldon, R. B., Almasi, R. C., An, C., Lee, Y., & Sohn, M.-H. (2021). Stimuli with a positive valence can facilitate cognitive control. Memory & Cognition, 50(5), 911-924.
  4. Weldon, R.B., & Reyna, V.F. (2015). How to successfully incorporate undergraduate researchers into a complex research program at a large institution. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 13(3), A192-A197.

Research Assistants 

 

Maxwell WindoverMax Windover

Research Assistant 
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Byeongdon Oh
windovb@sunypoly.edu
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Maxwell Windover (he/him/his) is a committed Psychology major and research assistant at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. He holds an Associate degree in Human Services from Mohawk Valley Community College and is a certified Mandated Reporter. Maxwell is passionate about becoming a psychologist specializing in adolescent mental health and has gained extensive experience working with diverse populations, including individuals with disabilities. His professional background spans accessibility services, childcare, customer service, and advocacy for marginalized populations. Notable experiences include internships at the Office of Accessibility Resources and College Community Connections, where he provided essential support for students with disabilities, as well as those facing housing, transportation, and food insecurity. Maxwell is skilled in leadership, problem-solving, and communication, with a strong dedication to promoting inclusive and equitable environments.

 

 

Roseanna TorrezRoseanna Torrez

Research Assistant 
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Byeongdon Oh
torrezr@sunypoly.edu
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Roseanna Torrez (she/her/hers) is a third-year college student at the State University of New York at Utica. She is currently a psychology and sociology dual major with intentions to obtain a minor in criminal justice. Rosie is currently a research assistant and a resident advisor on her campus; she also tutors at the library and heads the campus newspaper, The Factory Times. With her plethora of experience, Rosie has developed skills in adaptation to diverse environments, problem-solving under pressure, and analytic thinking from multiple points of view. Her current research concerns diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging data and how these factors correlate with college student retention rates.

 

 

Summer Woo

Research Assistant  
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Byeongdon Oh
woos@sunypoly.edu
View LinkedIn

Summer Woo (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate student at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, majoring in Communications and Media Design with a minor in Criminal Justice. She currently serves as a Research Assistant at the DEIB Research Center. Summer is passionate about advancing DEIB excellence in the Oneida County community, focusing on continually evolving issues. Her research interests include immigrant rights, food deserts, and a fair justice system. Summer hopes to become a local prosecutor in the future. Summer’s experiences include internships with the Regional Program of Excellence at both the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office and Town Square Media. She has also volunteered with Compassion Coalition and Redeemer Church.

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