FACULTY Michael A. Langston, PhD Professor Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Tennessee l Knoxville, Tennessee Dr. Langston is a member of the University’s Genome Science and Technology Program faculty. He is best known for his long-standing work on combinatorial algorithms, complexity theory, and design paradigms for sequential and parallel computation. His present research efforts are primarily focused on the development, synthesis, analysis and high performance implementation of graph algorithms for the analysis of high throughput biological data. For nearly three decades, Dr. Langston has studied the theme that mathematical structure begets algorithms, beginning with well-quasi order theory, moving on to fixed-parameter tractability, and now con centrated on practical application in computational biology. Additionally, he serves as a Collaborating Scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. To complement his basic research program in the foundations of algorithmic analysis, he leads a team of students and associates in the development of portals through which the community at large may access the team’s computational tools, and in the development of mapping, scheduling and load-balancing mechanisms with which their algorithms can be realized on Altix, Cray, IBM and other supercomputer platforms. Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy, Director, Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health l Baltimore, MD Dr. LaVeist is a medical sociologist and health services researcher who specializes in health and healthcare disparities. He has developed several widely used measures including measures of patient attitudes which predispose their use of healthcare services, and most recently a measure of cultural competency of healthcare organizations. His research and writing has focused on three broad thematic research questions: 1) What are the social and behavioral factors that predict the timing of various related health outcomes (e.g. access and utilization of health services, mortality, entrance into nursing home? 2) What are the social and behavioral factors that explain race differences in health outcomes?; and 3) What has been the impact of social policy on the health and quality of life of African Americans? His work has included both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Dr. LaVeist seeks to develop an orienting framework in the development of policy and interventions to address race disparities in health-related outcomes.
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