New Faculty Join Muhlenberg College
Muhlenberg welcomes 10 new faculty members to the college this fall, teaching in the areas of chemistry and biochemistry, media and communication, art, dance, mathematics, psychology, and public health.Monday, October 6, 2025 03:51 PM
Left to right: (top row) Lyndsey Vader, Bruno Bohn, Juan Duchimaza Heredia; (bottom row) Abbey D'Ovidio, Josephine LoRicco, Ian MacKenzieThe Muhlenberg College faculty class of 2025 includes:
Bruno Bohn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Public Health
Bruno Bohn is a molecular and chronic disease epidemiologist. He completed his undergraduate studies in microbiology at the University of Minnesota. He holds a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology, with a certificate in molecular epidemiology, conferred by Columbia University during which time he was a Lemann Interschool Fellow. Bohn obtained his doctorate in epidemiology with a minor in biostatistics at the University of Minnesota, during which time he received the J. B. Hawley Student Research Award, the Lester Breslow Award, and the President’s Student Leadership and Service Award. More recently, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lifetime Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes Center, University of Colorado. Bohn’s research primarily investigates the etiology and progression of chronic diseases, with a focus on microbe- and immune-related mechanisms. His interests also include biostatistics, causal theory, and the application of epidemiologic methods to research questions across the spectra of knowledge. He is passionate about science education, particularly as it intersects with the health sciences and public health.
Abbey D'Ovidio, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Abbey D'Ovidio received her Master of Science degree and doctorate in mathematics from the University of Nebraska –Lincoln, along with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Quinnipiac University. Her research is in the area of mathematical biology. Specifically, she is interested in modeling dynamics of populations which undergo harvesting and/or stocking. D’Ovidio comes to Muhlenberg from Connecticut College, where she was a visiting assistant professor of mathematics and statistics. In graduate school, D’Ovidio was the recipient of both the Don Miller Outstanding Teaching award and Amy Bouska Leadership award for her contributions to the mathematics department.
Anthony Dalton
Digital Cultures Technologist and Visiting Lecturer of Media and Communications
A member of Muhlenberg’s staff since 2009 and an adjunct instructor at the college for more than a decade, Tony Dalton joins Muhlenberg’s faculty as a digital cultures technologist and visiting lecturer this fall. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electronic media from Kutztown University. A creative practitioner and self-described “media making generalist,” his work encompasses a broad spectrum of media technologies and practices, including video, audio, filmmaking, web and graphic design, and system design. His academic interests are the DIY ethos in filmmaking, AI media making, digital storytelling and oral histories, media preservation, branding and visual identities, and game studies. He also offers courses through Muhlenberg’s School of Graduate and Continuing Education and has collaborated with the Allentown School District on various media-making programs.
Wyatt Dawson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Media and Communication
Wyatt Dawson is a media communication scholar whose research examines how media messages shape public attitudes toward emerging technologies, including facial recognition and artificial intelligence. He earned his Ph.D. in media communication with a focus in quantitative social science from the University of Delaware. His scholarship, published in outlets such as Science Communication and AI & Society, includes applied research with the Delaware Department of Energy and civic engagement initiatives, including producing and facilitating Delaware debates and candidate conversations for U.S. House races. Dawson designs interactive, student-centered courses in media and science communication, incorporating hybrid, flipped, and multimodal teaching strategies. He has developed a certificate-based program that trains researchers to translate complex data for public audiences and organizes a professional development speaker series for STEM students to strengthen communication and writing skills across diverse professional contexts.
Juan Duchimaza Heredia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Juan Duchimaza received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University and conducted his postdoctoral training at Boston University. Prior to joining Muhlenberg, Duchimaza was a science and math teacher at Fusion Academy and an assistant professor at Emmanuel College. His research uses computational chemistry methods to investigate the optical properties of organic molecules. Currently, he serves on the executive board of the Molecular Education and Research Consortium in Undergraduate Computational Chemistry.
Josephine LoRicco, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
After completing a bachelor’s degree and doctorate in biochemistry and biophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.), LoRicco continued to study microbiology of extreme environments and algal cell biology. Using multiple techniques — from microscopy, cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics — LoRicco aims to understand the origin and evolution of land plants, and to investigate the driving forces behind the formation of membraneless compartments, particularly in plants and algae, with a goal to break down complex, interdisciplinary topics into something accessible for all, and to illustrate how biochemistry relates to everyday lives. She particularly enjoys teaching laboratory-based classes that focus on giving students practical, hands-on experience in biochemistry, and involving students in independent research projects.
Antonio McAfee, MFA
Assistant Professor of Art, Photography
Antonio McAfee is a photographer raised in Bethlehem, Pa. Shortly after receiving his BFA in fine art photography from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, he earned his MFA in photography from the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in Arts, from the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa). Across the U.S. and abroad, he has taught college courses, participated in residencies, and earned numerous grants. McAfee’s photographs and collages address the complexity of representation by appropriating and manipulating photographic portraits of African Americans in the 19th century, funk and R&B musicians, and transitioned family members. His work has been exhibited widely and featured in top news outlets.
Ian MacKenzie, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Ian MacKenzie completed his undergraduate studies at Geneva College before earning his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he explored novel reactivity in organic photocatalysis in the lab of Professor David Nicewicz. As a member of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville faculty, MacKenzie was recognized for his work in mentoring more than 30 undergraduates in research (23 of whom were included as coauthors on publications) and earning $200,000 in grants. Although his primary teaching focus is in organic chemistry, he has developed and taught courses in polymer chemistry and environmental chemistry. His current research explores organic photochemistry — specifically using light to power the development of new chemical reactions, which would be applicable to the areas of pharmaceutical and agrochemical synthesis.
Lex Pulice-Farrow, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical/Counseling Psychology
Lex Pulice-Farrow received his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research focuses on decreasing the systemic barriers that trans and nonbinary individuals experience through the population’s psycho-medical experiences and social relationships. Pulice-Farrow has served as an instructor of record at Towson University, Agnes Scott College, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where he has taught introduction to psychology, research methods, introduction to statistics, abnormal psychology, and psychology of gender. Pulice-Farrow has served as an expert reviewer for 23 peer-reviewed publications, has received the APA Division 44's Distinguished Student Contribution, and was awarded over $40,000 in grants while earning his doctorate.
Lyndsey Vader, Ph.D., MFA
Assistant Professor of Dance
Lyndsey Vader holds an MFA in dance from the College at Brockport, State University of New York, and a Ph.D. in dance studies from The Ohio State University. She previously served on the faculty at Utah Valley University and as a postdoctoral scholar at Ohio State, where she collaborated to create curricula centered on social justice education through the arts. Her research examines community-engaged art making and immersive performances that imagine new ways of being together during these politically divisive times. Vader has presented her research at national and regional conferences, with recurring participation in the Dance Studies Association annual conferences. Her writing has appeared in Dance Chronicle and was commissioned by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive essay series.
