Ruslan Isaev
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2017
Ruslan Isaev is associate professor at the Renewable Energy Sources Department, Faculty of Energy, and director of the Center for Distant Educational Technologies, Kyrgyz State Technical University named after I. Razzakov, Kyrgyzstan, where he also completed his PhD on small hydropower stations. He teaches about hydropower and renewable energy, and has worked on research projects related to renewable energy technologies. He is also working on developing digital educational resources and the e-learning system at his university. His current research is on the elaboration of new types of photovoltaic cells in the framework of his postdoctoral study. Professor Isaev will visit U-M for four weeks in Winter 2017 to complete research for the project, “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Trends for Kyrgyz Republic,” in cooperation with Robyn Meeks, assistant professor of natural resources and environment.
Taida Jasarevic Hefford
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2017
Taida Jasarevic Hefford is an assistant professor of art at the Academy of Fine Arts Trebinje, University of East Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. She has exhibited in many solo and juried exhibitions around the world and has participated in conferences and symposia related to contemporary print media. She was awarded a scholarship by the Japanese government and completed her PhD in fine arts at Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2010. Her works are in the collection of Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Center, Machida International Museum of Graphic Art, National Taiwan Museum of Arts, Ino-cho Paper Museum Japan, Guanlan Printmaking Base in China, and others. Professor Jasarevic Hefford will visit U-M for four weeks in October 2017 to complete research on a project entitled “Imagined Landscapes/Sediments of Belonging: Post-Digital Plate Expression” in cooperation with Endi Poskovic, professor of art and design.
Zhenis Kembayev
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2017
Zhenis Kembayev is professor of law at KIMEP University, Kazakhstan, and a Jean Monnet Chair in European and International Law and Non-Resident Senior Fellow of the RDCY Institute of the Renmin University of China. He received his doctorate degrees in law from the Kazakh National al-Farabi University and the University of Cologne. He teaches courses on public international law, EU law, constitutional law, and legal theory; has advised both governmental and non-governmental agencies on various public law issues; and has presented papers at scores of legal conferences and public hearings around the world. He was a Fulbright scholar at the Southwestern University School of Law (Los Angeles, USA) in 2003-04 and an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg, Germany) in 2007-08. Professor Kembayev will visit U-M for four weeks in Winter 2017 to complete research on the project “Constitutional Principles of European Union External Relations,” in cooperation with Daniel Halberstam, Eric Stein Collegiate Professor of Law.
Dagmar Krocanova
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2017
Dagmar Krocanova is associate professor of Slovak literature at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, where she also earned her PhD in theory and history of Slovak literature. She was a Masaryk Scholar at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of UCL in London and a Fulbright fellow at Indiana State University. Her dissertation focused on the on the interplay of literature, philosophy, and science in the fiction of Gejza Vamos, a Slovak writer of Hungarian-Jewish origin. In 2009, she published a monograph on Slovak drama and theatre between 1945 and 1949 in which she discussed changes of ideology and aesthetics in a brief period of “phony peace.” She has edited works of numerous 20th century Slovak writers, and is currently working on an anthology of Slovak modernist and avant-garde drama. Professor Krocanova will visit U-M in September 2017 to focus on teaching and researching literature at the university level and to work on her project, “Modernism in Slovak Literature between 1900 and 1948,” in cooperation with Benjamin Paloff, associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures and comparative literature.
Nurseit Niyazbekov
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2017
Nurseit Niyazbekov as assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration at KIMEP University, Kazakhstan. He holds a PhD in politics and MSc in sociology from the University of Oxford. He has taught at other universities in Kazakhstan and has conducted research at international and non-governmental organizations. He often consults international think tanks and researchers on issues related to political risks, democratization, social welfare, and protests in Kazakhstan. His research interests revolve around post-communist transitions, Central Asian politics, social movements, social capital, and protest mobilization. Professor Niyazbekov will visit U-M for four weeks in Winter 2017 to complete research on a project entitled “Education and Authoritarianism in Kazakhstan” in cooperation with Pauline Jones, professor of political science.
Dali Osepashvili
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2017
Dali Osepashvili is professor of journalism and mass communication, and head of the Media and New Technology program at TSU, I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia. She teaches courses on news reporting and writing, magazine writing, and media and human rights; and her research interests include journalism studies, new media, media and gender, media and conflict, and social media. Her scholarships include the Marie Curie Visiting Scholar, University of Vilnius (2016), and Erasmus+ Visiting Professor, University of Wrocław (2016). She is a member of the European Communication and Research Association and the International Association for Media and Communication Research. Professor Osepashvili will spend four weeks at U-M in March, working on a project entitled “Media and Gender Violence” in collaboration with Aswin Punathambekar, associate professor of communication studies.
