July 7, 2009

Contact:

Liz Babiarz, 404-413-1356
University Relations

College of Education welcomes new associate dean for research

Bryan Williams

ATLANTA — Bryan Williams, a researcher and professor with 12 years of experience in medical school environments, is the College of Education’s new associate dean for research.

Williams, 43, who most recently served as a Senior Service Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Environmental Health, took over the post at GSU on Wednesday.

His primary duties include enhancing the college’s research focus, increasing its externally funded research and serving as a liaison to other colleges, agencies and universities.

“My goal is to create studies and promote research that is collaborative and problem-based,” Williams said. “I want to pick as many brains as I possibly can and get people to work together for a common purpose, improving the well being of children in Georgia.”

Williams will also mentor faculty and students in producing strong records of research and acquiring new research funding.

“We really have a dynamic group of practitioners and researchers across the university and in this college,” Williams said. “I hope that my interdisciplinary experiences and skills will compliment that of our current group of faculty and community partners. Our college is in a unique position to become one of the nation’s best research institutions; my intent is to do just that."  

Williams holds a doctorate in public health from Penn State. Prior to working at the CDC, Williams was an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He also held appointments at Columbia University, the University of Arizona, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers University, among other institutions.

His primary research interests are the environmental causes of disease in children, which was the focus of his fellowship at the CDC and two cross disciplinary research labs he directed at the universities of Arizona and Tennessee.

Williams is married to his wife of 11 years, Ellen Williams, who is a second grade teacher at Charles Brant Chesney Elementary School in Duluth, Ga. Williams has three children, Ashley, Cole, and Trey and lives in Lawrenceville, Ga.