CEHHS ADMINISTRATION UPDATES
Dr. Kris Swain
Assistant Dean
Kristine Swain, Ph.D. is starting her 20th year at UNO and has served as the Special Education and Communication Disorders department chair and special education faculty member. She completed her Ph.D. in Psychological and Cultural Studies with a focus on Special Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dr. Swain’s teaching and research have focused on assessment in special education. She was part of the leadership team that implemented the collaborative UNO/OPS Career Ladder in Special Education and the AACTE Networked Improvement Community focused on the Special Education teacher shortage. Both of these focus on addressing the critical shortage of special education teachers.
Dr. Swain currently serves on the UNO Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee and is active in the community through her roles on the Munroe-Meyer Institute Operating Board, WhyArts? Board, and Teammates mentoring. She has served on national and state accreditation site visit teams.
Dr. Alexey Kamenskiy
Chair, Department of Biomechanics
Dr. Alexey Kamenskiy joined the Department of Biomechanics in the Fall of 2019. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and advanced through the ranks of Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The research of Dr. Kamenskiy integrates Biomechanics and Medicine through the use of in vivo, ex vivo, in vitro, and in silico methods and aims at developing more efficient and practical solutions to vascular problems. His lab is particularly interested in vascular mechanophysiology and mechanobiology, aging, and the development of materials and devices for open and endovascular repair. Dr. Kamenskiy closely collaborates with vascular surgeon-scientists who share his interests in developing practical solutions to improve clinical outcomes.
His vision as the new Chair of Biomechanics is to develop a world-class research program in cardiovascular biomechanics while maintaining the Department’s reputation as the leader in human movement variability research.
Dr. Elizabeth Leader-Janssen
Chair, Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders
Dr. Elizabeth Leader-Janssen is professor in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders and in her 14th year at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dr. Leader-Janssen teaches undergraduate and graduate methods courses in special education. As a former secondary special education teacher, she devotes much of her energy into preparing preservice and inservice teachers to effectively teach reading to struggling learners. Her research interests include preservice teachers perceptions of inclusive practices, literacy instruction for struggling learners and evaluation of online teacher education programs.
Dr. Leader-Janssen is a leader in the area of distance education and has served serves on multiple distance education committees including UNO Digital Learning Directors, Innovation in Pedagogy and Technology Symposium Planning Committee, and University Committee on Technology Resources and Services. Dr. Leader-Janssen was instrumental in shifting the special education graduate program to an online medium in 2012.
Dr. David Carter
Interim Chair, Department of Counseling
Dr. David Carter is currently a Peter Kiewit Professor in Counselor Education with over thirty-five years of counseling experience working closely with military personal and their families addressing trauma issues. Dr. Carter has spent his career working in healthcare education and training at the local, state, national, and international levels.
Prior to his 30 years in academia he was the Outpatient Clinical Director at the Omaha Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Executive Director for the South Omaha Counseling Agency. He is a past president of the Nebraska Counseling Association and was the chairperson for the American Counseling Association's Professional Standards Committee.
TEACHER EDUCATION
Dr. Sara Churchill
Assistant Professor
EdD, UNO
Research Interests: School library, reading, educational technology, educational leadership
Bio: I am a former school librarian and technology teacher. I started teaching for UNO in 2006, and I’m excited to soon be leading the School Library program.
Dr. Jennifer Lemke
Assistant Professor
Ed.D, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Educational Leadership, Educational Administration, 2020
Research Interests: Multicultural Literature, Student Engagement, Literacy Integration
Bio: I am an UNO alumni having both my undergraduate and Ed.D. from the University. Being born and raised in the Omaha area, I have worked and collaborated with many local area school districts. I have been an educator for over 15 years serving as a classroom teacher, literacy interventionist, new teacher mentor and literacy instructor.
Andrea Karpf
Instructor
Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction - English as a Second Language, University of Nebraska Omaha
Research Interests: Preparing teacher candidates to support English learners in the grade level classroom; literacy; biliteracy; instructional coaching
Bio: I was born in Arizona and grew up in California yet consider Nebraska home. I started my career as a high school ESL teacher and then worked various positions in higher education. It is through these jobs that I have discovered my love of supporting English learners as well as working with teacher candidates. I am grateful for the opportunity to pursue both of these passions here at UNO! I am currently working on my dissertation toward earning my Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at UNO.
Dr. Kathleen Hinman
Instructor
Ph.D in K-12 Studies from Capella University
Research interests: Literacy, reading comprehension, writing, and adolescent literature
Bio: I am an alumni of UNO and have taught part-time for a number of years. I recently retired from OPS and am excited to join the UNO faculty full-time this year.
ACADEMIC ADVISING
Brittany Abraham
Advisor
Masters of Education in Higher Education & Student Affairs, University of Vermont
Bio: I am a Nebraska native returning from Washington D.C. to join the Academic Advising team. I am excited to support our Speech-Language Pathology and Secondary Education Students in their academic journeys. I have previously worked in student support and student activities environments, most recently at George Washington University as the program coordinator for First-Generation and Low-Income Student Support.
BIOMECHANICS
Dr. David Kingston
Assistant Professor
PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo
Research Interests: Lower limb mechanics, musculoskeletal modeling, assistive device use in clinical populations, ergonomics
Bio: My research is focused on human joint loading, mobility, and approaches to decrease injuries. I evaluate movement patterns and forces using in vivo and modeling experiments paired with muscle coordination patterns.
Dr. Aaron D. Likens
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from the Arizona State University
Research Interests: Coordination of visual and motor systems, fractal patterns in movement variability, nonlinear analysis of human performance, developing new multiscale time series analysis techniques.
Dr. Jordan Borrell
Research Associate
PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Kansas
Research Interests: Neurorehabilitation, Neural Plasticity, Assistive Devices for Rehabilitation, Neuromodulation, Motor Control, Motor Performance
Bio: I am excited to join the Biomechanics Department at the University of Nebraska Omaha! While at the University of Kansas Medical Center, I developed a closed-loop neuromodulation paradigm in a rat model of spinal cord injury. By utilizing neural activity in the motor cortex to trigger stimulation below a spinal cord contusion, I was able to improve hindlimb motor performance by strengthening undamaged motor pathways that bridge the spinal cord injury. My future research will incorporate assistive devices to further enhance motor recovery after injury and observe the neural plasticity that is associated with rehabilitation.
Dr. Yury Salkovskiy
Research Associate
Ph.D. in Engineering from University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Research Interests: Biomechanics of soft and hard tissues; nanofibrous materials for cardiovascular prosthetics; experimental characterization and optimization of electrospinning of polymer nanofibers; micromechanics modeling of elastic and transport properties of heterogeneous periodic materials, composites and non-Newtonian fluids; microfiltration of gases and liquids; nanofibrous textiles and protective equipment.
Bio: My background is in materials engineering and computational modeling. My research is focused on biomedical and environmental applications of polymer nanofibers, including vascular grafts, advanced wound dressings, scaffolds for bone and cartilage tissues, extremely breathable waterproof fabrics, and ultra-low particle air filters.
Laura Campbell Rotert
Program Coordinator
Bachelor of General Studies with concentrations in Biology, Sociology, and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Bio: I grew up in Nebraska and am a UNO alumni. I have been with University of Nebraska since 2013 and have been at UNO in the Biomechanics Department since 2016. I was part of the team that updated our undergraduate curriculum and created our master’s degree. I am excited to be in my new role as Academic Program Coordinator where I have the opportunity to focus more on our students and help grow our academic programs.
Jenny Anne Maun
Research Coordinator
In progress: Masters in Biomechanics at the University of Nebraska, Omaha
Bio: I worked as a Research Assistant in a clinical biomechanics lab analyzing walking and running in people with lower limb amputations and injuries. Currently, I'm studying foot and ankle mechanics for my master's degree and am a Research Coordinator within the Department of Biomechanics.
Cory Frederick
Laboratory Technician
MS in Health, Physical Education, & Recreation from the University of Nebraska at Omaha
Bio: I am returning to the Department of Biomechanics, from which I completed my master’s degree in 2018, after a short tenure at UNMC. I am originally from Kansas and I completed my bachelor’s degrees at Kansas State University in Kinesiology and Human Nutrition.
Brandon Perry
Laboratory Technician
In progress: MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia
Bio: I received my bachelor’s degree in Biological Systems Engineering at UNL. I have returned to Nebraska after attending graduate school at the University of Virginia to join the Biomechanics department.
Joel Sommerfeld
Laboratory Technician
MS in Biomechanics, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Bio: I graduated from UNO last year with my MS in Biomechanics. I am excited to be back in my new role and continuing to work in an exciting and growing department.