Stephen Maisto (left) and Jennifer Ross
College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) Associate Dean of Research (ADR) Stephen Maisto returns to his research program after serving as ADR since October 2023. The ADR’s responsibilities include advancing the College’s mission by collaborating with faculty to increase grant funding and research expenditures and ensuring that the College’s research activities align with the University’s and A&S’ Academic and Strategic Plans (ASPs).
“Professor Maisto served as associate dean of research at a critical time as I came up to speed as a new dean,” says Dean Behzad Mortazavi. “I’m very grateful for his counsel and expertise during that crucial period, and for helping to position us well as we look to operationalize A&S’ new academic strategic plan.”
Since joining the Syracuse University faculty in 1994, Maisto has focused much of his research on assessment and treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders. His cutting-edge work also extends to HIV prevention and intervention. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications and secured over $50 million in research funding.
Maisto has held several leadership positions at the University, with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) centers and other professional organizations throughout his career, including serving as director of clinical training and interim department chair of the Department of Psychology. An accomplished professor, mentor and researcher during his nearly three decades at the University, Maisto received the Chancellor’s Citation Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018 and was awarded emeritus status in 2020.
Prior to joining the University faculty, Maisto taught at Vanderbilt University, Brown University Medical School and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in experimental psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and completed a postdoctoral specialization in clinical psychology in 1985 at George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Maisto is also Board Certified in Clinical Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.
Ross, professor of physics, has assumed the role of Associate Dean for Creativity, Scholarship and Research effective Jan. 1. In this new capacity, Ross will oversee efforts to increase research productivity, applications for funding, prize and award nominations and research expenditures. She will also work to enhance communication among interdisciplinary and convergent groups of faculty, and to ensure that faculty feel more supported and connected to the research mission of their departments and the shared mission of the entire College.
Ross has been a faculty member in the Department of Physics since 2019, serving as chair from 2020 to 2024. An award-winning biophysicist, she researches how cells organize their insides without a manager. By harnessing the fundamental and autonomous physics principles of biological cells, her group is working toward designing and creating next-generation materials inspired and empowered by biology.
Grants from government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and several private foundations, have funded her research. Ross has been honored with numerous awards and professional recognitions, including being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society, a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation, a recipient of the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society and a recipient of the National Science Foundation INSPIRE Award.
Through her advocacy for diversifying STEM, Ross has been part of the EUREKA! summer program, working with middle and high school girls to teach them about science, health and self-care. She also co-leads the Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP), which offers paid science internships at the University to students and recent graduates from the Syracuse City School District.
Prior to joining Syracuse’s faculty, Ross was a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2007 to 2019. She received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
