Julian Samora Research Institute

MSU Faculty Affiliates

Genaro Andrés Contreras is an assistant professor of dairy health and wellbeing at MSU's Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, working on disease control and the training of Spanish-speaking dairy farm workers. Andés is originally from Bogotá, Colombia, where he began his career consulting for tropical cow-calf operations and grazing dairy farms. He managed a high-pedigree herd in Canada and was a veterinarian in MSU's Large Dairy Internship Program at a large dairy herd near Grand Rapids. Following the internship, Andres started a master's degree program focused on mastitis and milk quality while continuing his doctoral degree in metabolic and immune adaptations of dairy cows.

Jualynne E. Dodson is a professor in the Department of Sociology and the Graduate Program in African American and African Studies at Michigan State University. She founded and has directed the award winning African Atlantic Research Team (AART) for some 15 years and transferred with it to MSU from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dodson earned a doctoral degree in sociology of religion from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a Ford Foundation post-doctoral Fellow and a Research Fellow at Princeton University, and taught at Yale University and the University of Colorado, Boulder before Michigan State University recruited her to its faculty.

Steven J. Gold is a professor and associate chair in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. His interests include international migration, ethnic economies, qualitative methods, and visual sociology. The past chair of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association, Gold is the author, co-author or co-editor of seven books. Together with Rubén G. Rumbaut, he is the editor of The New Americans, a scholarly book series of over 70 volumes from LFB Publishers. Gold received the Charles Horton Cooley Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Sociology from the Michigan Sociology Association in 2007.

Dr. Catalina Lopez-Quintero is a Colombian physician with a PhD in public health and a senior research associate at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Michigan State University. Her main research projects focus on identifying and understanding factors associated with drug use involvement and drug dependence, and the acquisition of high risk behavior, particularly among minority populations. More recently Dr. Lopez-Quintero has become interested in the design and evaluation of preventive interventions that aim to reduce health disparities. Her other areas of research interests include e-health literacy, mental health, and HIV/AIDS.

Amber Vermeesch, PhD, MSN, FNP-C, RN, is an assistant professor of nursing at Michigan State University College of Nursing. Her research interests focus on physical activity motivators and barriers, physical activity habits, and acculturation. Predominantly her work has been with Latinas and the health disparities they face in reaching optimal health through increasing their participation in physical activity. She uses both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and has a particular interest in the use of visual methods (e.g. participatory photography). She believes that using multi-methods adds richness and depth to the understanding of Latina health behaviors not possible through singular methodology.

Mike Tapia is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, San Antonio. His research interests include race and crime, street and prison gangs, and juvenile justice. His work has been published in Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Youth and Society, and Crime & Delinquency. His latest work is a book titled Juvenile Arrest in America: Race, Social Class, and Gang Membership (2012, LFB Scholarly). His forthcoming articles deal with changes in the structure of adult Latino gangs in Texas.

Michael J. Pisani Ph.D., International Business, University of Texas - Pan American, 2000) is a professor at the Department of Management, Central Michigan University. His research interests include the informal and underground economy of the South Texas border, the analysis of a small business survey of Latino entrepreneurship in South Texas, and Latino consumer behavior. With his new base in Michigan, he hopes to extend his focus to Latino entrepreneurship in Michigan, while continuing his research with informal Latino enterprises and Latin American entrepreneurship

Sonia Acosta, PhD, is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Centro Multicultural La Familia (CMLF), an organization located in Pontiac, Michigan. CMLF's mission is to provide culturally competent support services to families using a holistic approach in order to improve their quality of life. Dr. Acosta is a fully licensed bilingual/bicultural psychologist with 26 years experience in the field of mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence. She is interested in the areas of behavioral health and community-based participatory research projects. She enjoys reading and traveling to Mexico to visit her family.

Magnus Lofstrom is a policy research fellow at PPIC. He also holds appointments as research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany; research associate at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego; and is a member of the California State Controller’s Council of Economic Advisors as well as the Editorial Board of Industrial Relations. His research focuses on entrepreneurship, immigration, public safety, and education and has been published in such journals as the Journal of Human Resources, Demography, Small Business Economics, Economics of Education Review, Journal of Population Economics and Industrial Relations. Prior to joining PPIC, he was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, San Diego.

Since 2000 Nicholas Mihailoff has specialized in assisting individuals, small businesses, and organizations with creative economic solutions through the identification, development, and implementation of ideas. His collaborations have included work with LEED qualified development, a renewable energy device, and commercial retail groups. His travels across 25 countries have shaped his cultural and economic views and experiences. He has facilitated historic renovations in Glasgow, Scotland and in Michigan (where he received a county landscape award), provided logistical planning on projects in Haiti, and helped design a micro-finance program in the Dominican Republic. He is a public school board president and has been a collegiate business mentor. He was a theatrical performer for five years, was company manager of an international theatrical production, and is a published author. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in strategic leadership.

Angela G. Reyes, MPH, is founder and executive director of the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, a nonprofit community-based organization she started in 1997. Ms. Reyes is a founding board member of the Detroit Community – Academic Urban Research Center, which involves multiple funded research and intervention projects aimed at increasing knowledge and addressing factors associated with health disparities for residents in Detroit. Ms. Reyes is actively involved in community based participatory research (CBPR) projects for policy change. Her organization focuses on youth and their families, prison release programs, gang intervention, youth development, adult education classes, HIV prevention, substance abuse, and family counseling.