PhD Network

Sara Wadia-Fascetti

Vice Provost for the PhD Network

Professor Wadia-Fascetti served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education in the College of Engineering between 2010 and 2017. As Associate Dean, she collaborated with the college Graduate Directors and colleagues across the University to strengthen engineering graduate programs, craft new degree & certificate pathways, and create student and faculty focused graduate support. As the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education (2010 – 2015), her leadership contributed to the tremendous growth of COE. During this period research grew 40% and engineering PIs on individual proposals increased by 30%.

As a professor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, she has led and co-led cross-college interdisciplinary initiatives resulting in advanced technologies and systems to inspect and maintain our transportation networks; doctoral training grants; and education program development. As a leader, Professor Wadia-Fascetti envisions and builds institutional initiatives that are sustained beyond her direct role. One example is Northeastern ADVANCE; initially funded by the National Science Foundation and now institutionalized as the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Development at Northeastern University.

Professor Wadia-Fascetti received a BS in Civil Engineering with a double major in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and a MS & PhD in Civil Engineering from Stanford University. She is a member of the Carnegie Mellon University Engineering & Public Policy Alumni Advisory Council and the Rochester Institute of Technology ADVANCE Institutional Transformation External Advisory Board. In 2003 she was recognized at the White House with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Thomas Vicino

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, College of Social Sciences & Humanities; Professor of Political Science, Public Policy & Urban Affairs

Professor Thomas J. Vicino is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. He is appointed as Professor in the Department of Political Science and holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Previously, from 2017-2019, he served as Chair of the Department of Political Science; and from 2011-2017, he served as the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program. In 2014, Prof. Vicino was a U.S. Fulbright Core Scholar to Brazil, where he was a visiting professor of political economy in the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at Pontificia Universidade Catolica (PUC Minas) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He teaches at the graduate level in the MPA, MPP, and MUPP Programs. At the undergraduate level, he teaches in the political science major and the urban studies minor.

Professor Vicino specializes in the political economy of cities and suburbs, focusing on issues of metropolitan development, housing, and demographic analysis. He is the author of four books, including: Suburban Crossroads: The Fight for Local Control of Immigration Policy (2013) and Transforming Race and Class in Suburbia: Decline in Metropolitan Baltimore (2008) and co-author of Global Migration: The Basics (2014) as well as the bestselling book Cities and Suburbs: New Metropolitan Realities in the US (2010). He has also published numerous book chapters and research articles in peer-reviewed journals. Currently, he serves on the Governing Board of the Urban Affairs Association, holding the elected position of Vice Chair.

Natasha Frost

Associate Dean for Graduate Studies; College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Professor Natasha A. Frost is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and currently serves as associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities where she works with colleagues to foster excellence in the college’s graduate programs and to enhance their alignment with the college’s mission in the Experiential Liberal Arts.

Professor Frost is also professor in the school of criminology and criminal justice with primary research and teaching interests in the area of punishment and social control. Specifically, she is interested in mass incareceration and the effects of incarceration on individuals, families, and communities. Professor Frost often works with non-profit and state/local agencies on issues related to her scholarly interests and involves both undergraduate and graduate students in those projects. Since arriving at Northeastern in 2005, she has completed an assessment of state-level variations in punitiveness towards women for the Women’s Prison Association in New York, served as a consultant for the Massachusetts State Parole Board, worked collaboratively with the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and conducted correctional program assessment and recidivism studies for several Massachusetts counties. More recently she has been awarded federal funding to study the effects of mass incarceration on the community and on the well-being of those who work in correctional settings.

Professor Frost recently completed study of the impact of incarceration on crime in communities funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and is currently conducting NIJ funded research on correctional officer wellbeing. Her book, The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America, co-authored with Todd R. Clear was published in 2014 by NYU Press. Other publications have appeared in Justice Quarterly, Criminology & Public Policy, Punishment & Society, Crime, Law and Social Change, and Studies in Law, Politics, and Society.

Professor Frost holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Northeastern University (1997) and a PhD in criminal justice from the City University of New York’s Graduate School and University Center (2004). She was recently elected to the executive board of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and will serve as executive officer from 2014-2017. She also serves as chair of the ASC’s Division on Corrections and Sentencing.

Thomas Sheahan

Senior Vice Provost for Curriculum and Programs

Prof. Sheahan is a professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Northeastern, where he has been on the faculty since 1991. He is also the Senior Vice Provost for Curriculum and Programs for Northeastern University, overseeing academic program development, governance and inter-college coordination, program assessment integration, and university-wide curricular initiatives, in addition to academic units including ROTC and Explorers.  His technical expertise is in geotechnical engineering, specifically experimental methods for studying the mechanical behavior of soft ground and its relationship to environmental contaminant problems. Most recently, he has been funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) program, first on a basic (R01) grant, then as Training Core Leader for a project known as PROTECT, a multi-institution effort examining the link between groundwater contamination and high preterm birth rates in Puerto Rico. He has also received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), including a current project related to coastal sustainability adaptation strategies in the U.S. and Caribbean. Prof. Sheahan is the author of over 90 publications, including a seminal textbook on geotechnical engineering. He has been recognized with outstanding teaching awards at Northeastern, and received the national Tau Beta Pi McDonald Mentoring award for his work as a faculty advisor, mentor to junior faculty, and his advising of student groups. His service activities have included national leadership positions in his discipline and as an ABET accreditation evaluator and commission member.