Work with thought leaders and academic experts from Texas Tech University

Catherine Brockway is a linguistics scholar and nonprofit strategy consultant with over a decade of experience in education and sustainability. She earned her doctorate in Linguistics from University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2021, her master's degree in English from Texas Tech University in 2012, and her bachelor's degree in Geography from Texas Tech University in 2009. Catherine has held several positions in education and sustainability, including Senior Research Associate at Kamehameha Schools, Strategy Consultant at Kamehameha Schools, and Senior Sustainability Analyst at Chaminade University of Honolulu. She is passionate about applying her research and data background to help nonprofits create more equitable and sustainable systems. In her free time, Catherine enjoys hiking, birdwatching, and walking her dogs.

Katrina Webb is a highly educated and experienced physicist with a passion for teaching and research. She received her BS in Physics from Texas Tech University in 2022, followed by continuing in the physics PhD program at the same university in 2022. During her time at Texas Tech, she worked as a teaching assistant and student assistant, gaining valuable experience in the classroom and laboratory settings. She also conducted research in various areas, including quantum pedagogy and astronomy, and participated in the High Scholars Research Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Katrina's passion for physics and education led her to further her studies and research at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, where she worked as a Reu Student. She also gained experience as an astronomical observer at CTMO and continued her research at Texas Tech University. With a strong background in both theoretical and experimental physics, Katrina is a well-rounded and knowledgeable physicist. She is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and skills with others, and her experience in teaching and research has prepared her to effectively communicate complex concepts and ideas. Katrina is committed to making a positive impact on the field of physics and inspiring the next generation of scientists.

Dr. Olusanmi Adeniran is a highly skilled and experienced engineer with expertise in materials and energy systems. He received his Ph.D. in Systems Engineering - Materials & Manufacturing from Texas Tech University in 2022, where he focused on developing advanced materials for diverse applications ranging from aerospace to energy and automotive. Before this, he obtained his M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington in 2013. With over 16 years of industry experience under his belt, Dr. Adeniran has worked in various roles, including as a Staff Engineer at Lockheed Martin, where he was involved in various developments in defense manufacturing. He also served as a Principal Consultant at Abacoll Solutions LLC, providing engineering support services to a range of industries. His other experiences include a Principal Process Engineer role with Simens Energy, and a Senior Development Engineer with Schaeffler Group, amongst others. Dr. Adeniran's research interests include the development of advanced materials for diverse applications including, aerospace, energy, automotive, environmental, etc. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and has presented his research at various conferences and symposiums. In addition to his technical skills, Dr. Adeniran is also a skilled leader and communicator, having led teams in various engineering projects and mentored undergraduate and graduate students in their research. He is passionate about using his knowledge and experience to contribute to the advancement of materials and energy technologies.

David Blanchett, PhD, is Adjunct Professor of Wealth Management at The American College of Financial Services. A world-renowned thought leader in the fields of wealth management and retirement, Blanchett is a leading contributor to the Wealth Management Certified Professional® (WMCP®) designation program. In addition to his role with The College, Blanchett is the managing director and head of retirement research at QMA, a division of Prudential Financial, and formerly at Morningstar Investment Management, LLC. In his roles, Blanchett works to enhance consulting and investment services and conducts research primarily in the areas of financial planning, tax planning, annuities, and retirement. 

Dr. Deepak Khazanchi is Mutual of Omaha Distinguished Chair of IS&T and Professor of Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis in the [College of Information Science & Technology](http://www.ist.unomaha.edu/) (IS&T), [University of Nebraska at Omaha](http://www.unomaha.edu/) (UNO). Between 2002 and 2021, he served the College of IS&T as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Community Engagement and Internationalization Officer, and as the Chair of the Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis. Deepak is also the Executive Director of the [Center for Management of IT](https://cmit.unomaha.edu) which focusses on applied R&D, training, and community projects. He has affiliate faculty appointments in UNO’s [International Studies & Programs](http://world.unomaha.edu/) and the [Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights (GCHR)](https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/goldstein-center-for-human-rights/about-us/index.php). Dr. Khazanchi has served as a visiting professor and senior scholar with the Center for Integrated Emergency Management (CIEM) at the [University of Agder](http://www.hia.no/) (Kristiansand, Norway), [University of International Business & Economics](http://english.uibe.edu.cn/) (Beijing, China), [Mahindra University](https://www.mahindrauniversity.edu.in/) (Hyderabad, India), [Chiba University of Commerce](https://www.cuc.ac.jp/eng/) (Japan), [Management Center Innsbruck](https://www.mci.edu/en/) (Innsbruck, Austria), and [Murdoch University](https://www.murdoch.edu.au/) (Perth, Australia). Dr. Khazanchi is a Fulbright alum having received a Fulbright Core award for Austria (2022), and the Fulbright Specialist Grants for Norway (2014) and Japan (2023). Deepak has been instrumental in establishing multiple international collaborations for UNO with universities in Austria, Norway, Germany, Japan, India and China. He is also regularly involved as a thesis/dissertation committee member and/or external examiner for a number of graduate and PhD students at universities around the world. Dr. Khazanchi has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, and conferences. Over the last two decades, he has received (individually and in collaboration with others) approximately $10 million in grant funding and donations from private foundations, corporations, federal and state agencies to support his teaching, research, and community engagement activities. Deepak does applied research through a multidisciplinary lens and in the recent years has focused on areas such as applied ML in SHM, perceived fairness of AI/ML systems, Decent Work and the ICT Profession, Metaverse Technology Capabilities, Virtual Project Management, Fast Response Virtual Teams for Crisis Management, mhealth interventions, Risk analysis in extended enterprise environments, Mixed Research Methods, and the application of philosophy of science in computing disciplines.  His research has been published in both practitioner and peer-reviewed journals including the following: *International Journal of Information* *Management (IJIM), International Journal of IT Project Management (IJITPM), IEEE Access, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction (THCI), Current Opinion in Neurology, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Journal of Information Systems (JIS), The ISACA Journal*, *Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research (JITCAR)*, *Communications of the Association of Information Systems* (CAIS), *Journal of the Association of Information Systems* (JAIS), *Electronic Markets, Decision Support Systems*, *Information Systems Management*, *Journal of Information Technology Management*, *ACM’s DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems*, *Journal of Computer Information Systems*, *American Journal of Business,* and *Information Processing and Management*. He has also presented his research at a number of national/international/regional peer-reviewed conferences. Dr. Khazanchi has also given practitioner-oriented talks & conducted workshops for companies and organizations in the USA, India and Norway on a variety of topics including: “Role of Digitalization and Digital Transformation to achieve Resiliency during Supply Chain Disruptions”; “Fast Response Virtual Teams During Crisis”; “Beyond Innovation: Using Transformative Thinking as a part of our Daily Work”; “Virtual Teams & Project Management”; “Best Practices in IT Project Management”; “Politics of Project Management”; and “Patterns of Effective Virtual Project Management.” Dr. Khazanchi has been engaged in collaborative interactions with the business and nonprofit community through various R&D projects, service to the IT profession, and community service at the regional, national and international levels. Two of his community projects, [CodeCrush](https://codecrush.unomaha.edu) and iSTEM After School have celebrated their 10th year in 2024. He was one of the founding board members, served as chairman, and currently continues to serve on the board of directors of the nonprofit, [Collective for Youth](https://www.collectiveforyouth.org/) in Omaha. Deepak has also served on several other community boards including as a Trustee for the [Brownell Talbot Preparatory School](http://www.brownell.edu/), member of the Board of [Refugee Empowerment Center in Omaha](https://refugeeempowerment.org), and [Benson Theater](https://bensontheatre.org). He has served on the Board of Management for the [Sir Padmpat Singhania University](https://www.spsu.ac.in/) (Udaipur, India), the Executive Council for [Bennett University](http://www.bennettuniversity.com/) (NOIDA, India), and the Planning and Monitoring Board of the [JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research](https://jssuni.edu.in/JSSWeb/WebHome.aspx) (Mysuru, India). Deepak was one of the founding members and has served as the President/President-elect of the [Midwest Association of Information Systems, ](https://www.mwais.org)AMCIS representative member of the [Association of Information Systems](https://www.aisnet.org) Council, and the Chair of the AMCIS Site Advisory committee.  Dr. Khazanchi is the founder and first President of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) [Special Interest Group for IT Project Management](https://aisnet.org/members/group.aspx?id=89773). He has served as the conference general chair and/or co-chair of multiple international and regional conferences including hosting the [2023 Information for Crisis Response & Management Global Conference](https://iscram2023.net) (May 27-31,2023), 2022 MWAIS Conference, 2022 VINC (Vivekananda Institute National Conference), 2020 ACM SIGITE Conference, 2016 [Brain Informatics and Health (BIH 201)](https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319471020) conference, 2020 [ACM’s Special Interest Group in IT Education (SIGITE)](https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-information-science-and-technology/sigite2020/index_page.php) conference, 2015 International Conference on Advances in Management and Technology in a Global World (ICAMT-2015), 2005 [Americas Conference in Information Systems (AMCIS),](http://aisnet.org/?AMCISPage) and the 2007 IEEE [International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM)](https://dblp.org/db/conf/icdm/icdm2007.html). Deepak has also served as the VP of Programs for the [Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Heartland Chapter](https://pmiheartland.org/). Dr. Khazanchi is an [AIS Distinguished Member – Cum Laude](https://aisnet.org/page/DistinguishedMemberList#k) and a Fellow of the [IAITQM (International Academy of Information Technology and Quantitative Management)](http://iaitqm.org/fellows.html).  Deepak has been recognized as the [Nebraska Tech Collaborative as one of their 2024 PIONEERS](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nebraska-tech-collaborative_ntcpioneers-activity-7133808994401357824-gpQV) and received the 2024 [AIM Institute’s Higher Education Technology Leader Award.](https://www.aimtechawards.org/)[DAA 2024 (Khazanchi)](https://dkhazanchi.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/daa-2024-khazanchi.pdf "DAA 2024 (Khazanchi)") His undergraduate alma mater, [IIT Kharagpur](https://www.iitkgp.ac.in/), honored him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award (DAA) in its commencement held on December 30th 2024. The [DAA](https://dkhazanchi.wordpress.com/about-2/bio/_wp_link_placeholder) recognizes the “professional achievements and contributions of its alumni” ([DAA 2024 Khazanchi)](https://dkhazanchi.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/daa-2024-khazanchi.pdf "DAA 2024 (Khazanchi)"). Deepak arrived in academics after working in managerial and technical positions with responsibility for designing structures (bridges and buildings) and as a project engineer for a multinational construction project.  He received the Ph.D. degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Management Information Systems from [Texas Tech University](http://www.ttu.edu/). Prior to this, he earned the MBA degree from [Southern Illinois University at Carbondale](http://www.siuc.edu/) and obtained an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the [Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur](https://www.iitkgpfoundation.org/index.html) (India). He can be reached via e-mail at [khazanchi@unomaha.edu](mailto:%20khazanchi@unomaha.edu), his “web presence” is at [https://dkhazanchi.com/](https://dkhazanchi.com/) and @khazanchi on twitter. He is [living his dream](https://web.archive.org/web/20220701234428/https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-information-science-and-technology/news/2006/12/living-his-dream.php) as an academic and enjoys any free time he has with his family and traveling.

Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology

Marketing Strategy, Marketing Research, Brand and Product Management

Nearly 5 years of research experience focusing on machine learning and deep learning algorithm development tailored for medical and privacy-preserving applications.

Analytical and innovative scientist with a diverse research background spanning biomedical and mechanical engineering, tissue/cell biology, and biomechanics across academic and industry settings. Proven ability to lead collaborative research projects, develop and implement innovative scientific methodologies, and effectively communicate scientific findings to diverse audiences. Adept at characterizing complex biological systems, designing and analyzing tissue models, executing experiments, and translating research into practical applications. Effective at leading and collaborating within interdisciplinary teams, as well as guiding colleagues and students in various laboratory techniques.

Courtney Castler is a highly educated and experienced individual in the field of human science and nutrition. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Science from Texas Tech University in 2020. During her time at Texas Tech, she excelled in her studies and gained a deep understanding of the human body and its functions. After completing her undergraduate degree, Courtney continued her pursuit of knowledge and graduated with a Master of Science in Human Nutrition in functional medicine in March of 2024. In addition to her education, Courtney has gained valuable experience in various roles related to the healthcare industry. She started her career as a freelance medical writer at Blue Mountain Medical Writing, a company that she founded. There she utilized her strong writing skills and knowledge of human science to create informative and accurate medical content. Her passion for nutrition and promoting healthy lifestyles led her to work as a Meal Service Associate at Oregon Health and Science University, where she assisted in providing nutritious meals to patients and staff. She also worked as an Instacart Shopper at Sprouts Farmers Market, ensuring that customers received high-quality and fresh food options. Courtney's excellent customer service skills and attention to detail were honed during her time as a barista at Starbucks. She prides herself on her ability to connect with others and provide exceptional service. With her education and experience, Courtney Castler is a well-rounded and knowledgeable individual who is dedicated to promoting health and wellness through proper nutrition and education.