Executive Committee

Winslow Burleson, PhD

Professor, School of Information, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Assistant Director and Director of Research, School of Information

Professor, Health Sciences Design

Winslow Burleson is a social inventor, scholar, researcher, artist and educator with expertise in human-computer interaction and the learning sciences. He has been recognized as a Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery, a pioneering innovator advancing the digital age. The National Academy of Engineering recognized him as one of the “nation's brightest young engineering researchers and educators.” Prior to joining University of Arizona he was an associate professor at New York University, where he served as principal investigator for the NSF “Experiential Supercomputing: A Transdisciplinary Research and Innovation Holodeck” grant, the only large-scale NSF CISE MRI awarded nationally in 2016. He earned a BA in Bio-Physics from Rice University, MSE in Product Design from Stanford University, and PhD in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT. He has authored more than 100 scholarly articles, holds 11 patents, and twice received Time magazine’s Top Inventions of the Year Awards.


Kasi Kiehlbaugh, PhD

Director, Health Sciences Design

Assistant Teaching Professor, Health Sciences Design

Kasi Kiehlbaugh is the director for Health Sciences Design. In this new Health Sciences program, Kasi develops courses that teach students how to apply design thinking principles to health and wellness challenges through experiential, project-based, collaborative learning. With a research focus on improving STEM education, her passion is teaching (and co-teaching) courses designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between peer groups from across the University. She is working to support institutional change in educational practices at the University of Arizona by advocating for the increased adoption of high-impact teaching practices, training in culturally responsive practices for undergraduate research mentors, program-level assessment as a mechanism for continuous improvement, and more comprehensive faculty and staff development. Kasi completed her BS and MS at the University of Arizona and her PhD at UC Berkeley, all in chemical engineering. She is also a Faculty Fellow at the new Honors Village and one of UArizona’s original Hispanic-Serving Institution Fellows, reflecting her deep commitment to equity and inclusion.


Kevin Bonine, PhD

Director, Education and Outreach, Biosphere 2

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources

Kevin Bonine is Director of Education & Outreach at Biosphere 2 and on the science faculty at the University of Arizona. He has taught numerous Ecology & Evolutionary Biology courses, including Herpetology, Introductory Biology, Vertebrate Physiology, Conservation Biology and Galapagos Marine Ecology. He is a strong advocate of the value of experiential field courses. Kevin received the UArizona College of Science Distinguished Early-Career Science Teaching Award in 2012. Recent research projects in Saguaro National Park focus on ecology and conservation of charismatic Gila monsters and canyon tree frogs. Kevin is a Faculty Fellow of the Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice and serves on the boards of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Friends of Saguaro National Park and the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.


Jennifer Fields, MA

Director, Office of Societal Impacts Research, Innovation & Impact

Jennifer Fields is the Director of the Office of Societal Impacts at the Office for Research, Innovation & Impact (RII). RII supports the world-class research enterprise at the University of Arizona, which is ranked among the top 20 public universities nationwide with more than $687 million in research activity. Prior to her role at RII, Jennifer was  the co-founder of the University of Arizona STEM Learning Center and served as its associate director from 2012 to 2015. A specialist in STEM education and inclusion, she has been instrumental in improving the education and career readiness of underserved and underrepresented students.


Greg Heileman, PhD

Associate Vice Provost, Academic Administration

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Greg Heileman collaborates with faculty, staff, and students across campus to ensure that academic processes related to program development, curricular changes, transfer credits, and program and course fees meet requirements. He has served in administrative positions in higher education since 2004, most recently from 2017 to 2019 as associate provost for student and academic life and chief student affairs officer at the University of Kentucky. From 2011 to 2017 he was associate provost for curriculum and vice provost for teaching learning and innovation at the University of New Mexico (UNM). He led campuswide student academic success initiatives at UNM that produced all-time-high retention and graduation rates. While serving as associate chair of electrical and computer engineering at UNM from 2005 until 2011, he received numerous honors for excellence in teaching, including the IEEE Albuquerque Section Outstanding Educator Award, ECE Lawton-Ellis Award, and Gardner Zemke Professorship. Over the course of his academic career, Heileman’s research activities have generated more than $9 million in external funding, and he has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications.


John Pollard, PhD

Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Curriculum Innovation

Professor of Practice, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

John Pollard is the Associate Dean for Academics for the W.A. Franke Honors College and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arizona. John is an award-winning educator who is the co-author of the nationally recognized Chemical Thinking curriculum and associated eBook. In addition, John has authored several popular YouTube and TedEd videos centered around fundamental ideas in general chemistry. He is an expert and advocate for evidence-based instructional practices and spearheaded the Collaborative Learning Space movement on campus where traditional spaces are transformed into classrooms that facilitate active learning. As the Associate Dean for the University of W.A. Franke Honors College, John leads the development of innovative learning experiences for students that include experiential learning opportunities at the Biosphere 2 facility, co-taught interdisciplinary courses, and the implementation of the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) methodology classes meant to promote cultural competencies with Honors students. Learning theories and practice are also at the center of John's research as he studies how metacognition, self-reported learning, and group interactions influence learning outcomes during active learning in Collaborative Learning Space environments. He also studies how learning environments can influence the development of interdisciplinary reasoning skills in students. 


Kimberly Sierra-Cajas

Director, ASEMS Program and Undergraduate Research and Inquiry

Interim Director, STEM Learning Program

Kimberly Sierra-Cajas is the Director of Undergrad Research and Inquiry at the Office for Research, Innovation & Impact (RII). In addition, she is the Interim Director of the STEM Learning Center at the University of Arizona and a co-investigator on a $4.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation that seeks to create a stronger path for Pima Community College students who transfer to the University of Arizona to pursue bachelor's degrees in STEM fields. The grant builds on the Arizona Science, Engineering and Math Scholars (ASEMS) Transfer Program, which Sierra-Cajas directs.


Amy Kimme Hea, PhD

Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Student Success, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Amy C. Kimme Hea is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Success in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS). In this role, Dr. Kimme Hea is responsible for curriculum review and assessment, student enrollment management, student recruitment and retention, undergraduate advising, and student engagement. She leads the Undergraduate Council in SBS and serves on campus-wide committees including the College Academic Administrators Council and the University-wide General Education Committee. With the support of the SBS Dean’s Office instructional team, Dr. Kimme Hea coordinates projects to support student learning, teacher development, and curriculum design and delivery in SBS and across the University of Arizona. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in writing, rhetoric, technology studies, and professional and technical communication, and she has won recognition for her excellence in teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Kimme Hea currently holds two national executive positions, Executive Board Member for the Council of Writing Program Administrators and Associate Chair of Consortium of Doctoral Programs in Rhetoric and Composition. At the University of Arizona, she served as a Faculty Fellow for Program Assessment (2011-2013) with the Office of Instruction and Assessment and participated as a Fellow with the Academic Leadership Institute (2011-2012).


Kenneth S. McAllister

Associate Dean of Research & Program Innovation, College of Humanities

Professor, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching

Professor, Institute for LGBT Studies

Professor, Rhetoric, Composition & the Teaching of English Program

Professor, School of Information

Professor, Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

Ken McAllister specializes in digital humanities, rhetorics of technology, and computer game studies. He has authored or co-authored six books, three edited collections, and dozens of articles and book chapters on media history, theory, and analysis. In his role as Co-Director of the Learning Games Initiative Research Archive — one of the largest publicly accessible collections of computer games and related material in the world — he has also published and lectured widely on the politics and processes of digital artifact archiving and preservation.

In addition to serving as the Associate Dean of Research & Program Innovation in the College of Humanities, Ken is Co-Chair of the Research Computing Governance Council's Data Visualization Committee, and is a founding partner of the UA iSpace, a campus-located maker lab accessible to all students, staff, and faculty interested in exploring immersive VR, augmented reality, 3D modeling and additive manufacturing, motion capture, Arduino and Raspberry Pi development, and other innovative tools for transdisciplinary scholars and teachers.


Ellen McMahon

Associate Dean for Research, College of Fine Arts

Professor, School of Art

Ellen McMahon's practice spans art, design and writing. She teaches interdisciplinary seminar and critique courses in the Studio Art Graduate Program as well as the seminar, “Art, Design and Environment.” Since 2005 McMahon has developed a number of interdisciplinary collaborations, providing practical experience for students, and creating significant bonds and long-term benefits to the community. In 2007 McMahon received a Fulbright Scholars Grant to contribute as a writer and graphic designer to an interdisciplinary conservation project in Mexico. In 2010 she received a grant from Confluencenter for the project, "Parallel Play: Interdisciplinary Responses to a Dry River," to collaborate with faculty and students from CAPLA, Creative Writing, Geography, and Ecology on a project addressing the aqueous ecology of the region. This work is collected in the book Ground|Water: The Art, Design and Science of a Dry River, which she edited with colleagues Beth Weinstein and Ander Monson. Released in January of 2013, it has won national and international design awards. Her latest essay is published in The Nature of the Desert, edited by Gary Nabhan, 2020.

McMahon oversees numerous ongoing student projects addressing climate change and social and environmental justice issues and is currently collaborating with forest mortality scientists on several projects related to the decline of Southwestern forests.


Director, Undergraduate Biology Research Program

Jennifer is an Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP) alumna who graduated from the University of Arizona  in 2000 with Bachelor’s degrees in biology and science education. She has been involved in science education ever since. After teaching life science at the middle school level for three years and serving as an academic advisor for UArizona’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology for 10 years, Jennifer became the Assistant Director of UBRP in 2013 and then the Director of UBRP in January 2018, where she continues to enjoy helping college students learn science through research. In her spare time, Jennifer loves to spend time with her family, cook, travel, and serve as a musician at her church.