What is SNAS’ Mission?
Society of North American Scholars (SNAS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization initiated by an interdisciplinary network of scholars in the United States. SNAS aims to foster socially responsible scholarship by providing global mentorship, organizing academic conferences and workshops, and publishing reports, proceedings, and scholarly work. SNAS activities facilitate sustainable and ethical research practices that lead to social impact. Its broad areas of interest include:
SNAS Membership
Membership is open to academics, professionals, and government officials. Membership benefits involve access to global SNAS network and mentorship program, periodic SNAS newsletters, discounted registration fees for annual SNAS events (including Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference in October and Research Methods Workshop in June), and voting rights in executive committee elections.
Annual membership fee is $100 ($50 for students). Become a SNAS Member here!
Fellowships & Awards:
During its annual research conference, SNAS awards the Best Abstract Award for the submission that is most consistent with the conference theme.
Previous Winners:
- Dr. Zeliha Ozdogan, Penn State Harrisburg: “The Use Of Open Access Educational Resources To Enhance Student Engagement and Learning in Economics Courses“
- Dr. Nedim Durmus, New York University: “New Technologies in Cancer Care and Future Prospects“
- Dr. Mehmet Aktas, Kennesaw State University: “Why Come to Class in the AI Era? A Qualitative Investigation of Nine Students in a Large Introductory Statistics Course”
Please visit our Fellowship page for more information on the SNAS Fellowhip Program.
SNAS Doctoral Research Grant:
SNAS awards the SNAS Doctoral Research Grant designed to support travel and lodging expenses for current U.S. doctoral students. To be considered for this award, applicants must submit a separate application to info@snascholars.org in addition to their regular conference submission.
SNAS Board
Hasan T. Arslan is a Professor of Justice and Law Administration in the Ancell Business School at Western Connecticut State University. Hasan holds a law degree from Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. from the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University of Huntsville, Texas in 2008.
Dr. Arslan worked nine years at the Institute for the Study of Violent Groups (ISVG), where he contributed as a supervisor and analyst role to the development of a database capable of tracking more than 2000 global and domestic extremist groups. Dr. Arslan’s teaching interests include Criminology, terrorism, organized crime, and research methods. His primary research interests are in the field of homeland security and police use of force. Before coming to WestConn, he taught at University of New Haven, Western New England University and Pace University.
Hasan Arslan is currently involved in an ongoing comprehensive database project to define and consolidate information of police shooting incidents throughout the United States. The database is called SHOT, Statistics Help Officer Training. The primary objective of the project is to establish a repository of national data, which will enable law enforcement officials the ability to analyze this information and be better prepared to make the right judgment call during a hostile situation.
Dr. Arslan worked nine years at the Institute for the Study of Violent Groups (ISVG), where he contributed as a supervisor and analyst role to the development of a database capable of tracking more than 2000 global and domestic extremist groups. Dr. Arslan’s teaching interests include Criminology, terrorism, organized crime, and research methods. His primary research interests are in the field of homeland security and police use of force. Before coming to WestConn, he taught at University of New Haven, Western New England University and Pace University.
Hasan Arslan is currently involved in an ongoing comprehensive database project to define and consolidate information of police shooting incidents throughout the United States. The database is called SHOT, Statistics Help Officer Training. The primary objective of the project is to establish a repository of national data, which will enable law enforcement officials the ability to analyze this information and be better prepared to make the right judgment call during a hostile situation.
Dr. Omer Topaloglu is a Professor of Marketing at Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU). His expertise areas include branding, digital marketing, and nonprofit marketing. He is the founding president of SNAS and served in this capacity for three years from 2021 until 2024.
Selcuk Acar is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology. He joined UNT in 2020 following his work at two different centers on creativity research: Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development and the International Center for Studies in Creativity. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Georgia, concentrating on Gifted and Creative Education. He holds his M.A. from Istanbul University in Gifted Education and B.A. in Educational Sciences from Bogazici University. His primary research focus includes divergent thinking, assessment of creativity, creative leadership, and identification of the gifted and talented. Dr. Acar published some of his articles in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Gifted Child Quarterly, Creativity Research Journal, Thinking Skills and Creativity, and The Journal of Creative Behavior. He also contributed to several major outlets such as Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and the Encyclopedia of Creativity. He serves on the editorial or review board of The Journal of Creative Behavior, Journal of Advanced Academics, Gifted Education International, and Creativity Research Journal. Currently, Dr. Acar leads a 3-year research grant (2020-2013) funded by the Institute of Education Sciences to develop a new measure of original thinking for elementary school children named MOTES.
Dr. Umit Karabiyik (Dr. K) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue University. Prior to his appointment at Purdue, Dr. K was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Sam Houston State University from 2015 to 2018. Dr. K received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Florida State University in 2010 and 2015, respectively. His research interests broadly lie in Digital Forensics, Cybersecurity, Forensic Intelligence, User and Data Privacy, Artificial Intelligence in Security, Privacy and Forensic Applications. He has secured federal and industrial funding from the U.S. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Lockheed Martin Corporation. He is an Associate Editor-in-Chief for Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, Topic Editor for MDPI’s Electronics journal, and technical program committee (TPC) member of high-quality international conferences in Digital Forensics, Cybersecurity, and Networking.
Dr. Sabah Bushaj is an assistant professor of data analytics in the Management Information Systems and Analytics Department. Dr. Bushaj earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Prior to starting in academia, Dr. Bushaj worked as an SAP Developer at ALBtelecom (a telecommunication company in Albania), and as an SAP Consultant for Brizo Consulting G.m.b.H (a consulting company in Germany). Dr. Bushaj’s research agenda is concentrated in developing stochastic mixed-integer programming models, data-driven optimization, and integration of machine learning in optimization. His applied research focuses on invasive species management, such as emerald ash borer (EAB), and management and control of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.
Dr. Necmi Biyikli received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. Dr. Bıyıklı’s Ph.D. research concentrated on GaN/AlGaN-based ultraviolet and solar-blind photodetectors. Afterwards, during his postdoctoral research at the Virginia Commonwealth University, he worked on the MOCVD growth of AlGaN/GaN hetero-structures for various applications including high-performance transistors. Dr. Bıyıklı also worked as a research scientist at the Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) where he developed RF-MEMS integrated multifunctional reconfigurable antennas. At the end of 2008 he joined UNAM – Materials Science & Nanotechnology Institute at Bilkent University, leading the “Functional Semiconductor Materials and Devices Research Group”. After spending one year at Utah State University, in 2017 he joined the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at University of Connecticut, where he leads the Atomic Layer Engineering Laboratory within the Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2). His current research interests include atomic layer deposition of III-nitride, metal-oxide, and metal thin-films and nanostructures, selective atomic-scale processing, III-Nitride opto-electronics, piezo-electric thin-films for chemical and biological sensing, photo-voltaics, and energy conversion/storage devices. Dr. Biyikli is the recipient of EU-Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant Award in 2010 and METU-Parlar Foundation Research Incentive Award in 2013. Dr. Biyikli is a member of American Vacuum Society (AVS) and Materials Research Society (MRS) and has contributed to 350+ journal and conference publications.
Zeynep Ercan is a Professor of Education and the co-director of Early Childhood Leadership Institute, a professional development and research institute at Rowan University, New Jersey. She leads large scale research, training, and evaluation projects, writes for academic journals, and teaches and speaks on best practices for culturally and linguistically diverse children, teachers, families and communities, intellectual development, and professional development of educators and leaders. Zeynep is actively involved in local, national and global scale educational and social issues by serving as board member of CASA of NJ, Vice President for Conferences of National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators, and as a volunteer of multiple non-profit and community organizations. She is the recipient of 2014 The Indiana Early Care and Education Award, 2017 Wall of Fame Award for Teaching/Advising at Rowan University and 2020 Excellence in Engagement Award at Rowan University.
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