2000
Charity Billingsley
Charity is in graduate school in chemistry at the University of South Carolina. She is defending her thesis on Nov. 17, 2005 and expects to graduate on Dec. 12.
Michael Johnson
Michael is teaching high school chemistry in the Little Rock area.
Scott Miller
Scott is working on a Ph.D. in boichemistry at the University of Texas - Austin.
Andrea Phelps Hamilton
After graduating from UCA Andrea completed a Ph.D. at Texas A&M in August, 2005. She worked under the direction of Dr. Donald J. Darensbourg and studied the copolymerization of epoxides and CO2 to produce polycarbonates and the copolymerization of aziridines and CO to produce poly-b-peptides. The work involved organometallic synthesis of metal-based catalysts and kinetic and mechanistic studies utilizing in situ ReactIR.
Upon completion of her Ph.D. she accepted up a job with BASF in their PDP program. The PDP program involves working at two different plant sites for nine months apiece, and after this time getting a permanent position. She ultimately was located with BASF in Charlotte, NC.
Andrea married Patrick Hamilton, who she met in the chemistry department at Texas A&M. They were married on October 15th, 2005 in Conway, AR at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Upon completion of his Ph.D. Patrick also obtained a position with BASF. In September, 2010 Andrea resigned her position with BASF to be a full-time mother to her young son, Owen. She hopes one day to teach at the high school or college level.
Pamela Seamans
Taimur Shaikh
After I graduated from UCA, I got married to Marcy Major, spent a year at the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, and continued working with YoungLife. I was employed at CTEH as an analytical chemist but I also worked on GIS projects and emergency response. I then moved to Lexington, KY in July of 2001 to work on my Ph.D. in main group chemistry with Dr. David Atwood at the University of Kentucky. My primary focus has been heavier group 15 chemistry with principle focus on the synthesis of arsenic dithiolate systems with a perview towards biological mimics and future drug use. I hope to defend in August or September of 2006. My wife and I have a son and I am still involved with YoungLife.
2001
Micah Abrams
Micah received his Ph.D. dissertation from the Georgia Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral work with Dr. T. Daniel Crawford at Virginia Tech. He joined the UCA chemistry faculty as a theoretical chemist beginning in the fall, 2006.
Nick Alsbrook
Michael Arvin
Michael is currently a graduate student at the University of Arizona
Ryan Dossey
Ryan completed a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Arkansas and is currently employed by Rineco Chemical Industries in Haskell, Arkansas.
Kim Flora
Jody May
After graduating from UCA with my chemistry BS (December 2000), Jody took a brief internship at Tokusen USA in Conway, AR then enrolled at Texas A&M joining the analytical chemistry research group of Dr. David Russell. In that capacity he worked on six different analytical instruments, two of which he built from the ground up. His hobbies include machining, small electronics, photography, graphic design, and furniture restoration. Jody completed his Ph.D. at Texas A&M in the summer, 2009 and accepted a postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt working with John McLean (who presented a seminar at UCA in the spring of 2009). Jody hopes to continue to be in the laboratory, and to disign and build analytical instrumentation.
Jody was also married in June, 2009
Brendan McAuley
Brendan is completing his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Missouri - Rolla.
Robert Pemberton
Michelle Settle
Michelle has completed the coursework for a Ph.D. in pharmacology at UT-Memphis. She will be doing an internship in Knoxville.
McLane Simpson
McLane received his M.D. degree from UAMS in 2005. He is currently a Family Practice Resident in Texarkana. Upon completion of his residency he will begin a practice in Arkadlephia. McLane and his wife, Laura, have two children: Gavin and Laney.
Lisa Sullinger
Brandi Thompson
2002
Raymond Dinnan
Since working at the Arkansas State Department of Health, R-2 is now with the Texas Department of State Health Services. He is also currently enrolled in a masters program in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. He is accomplishing all of this in spite of suffering from keratoconus which has dramatically affected his vision to the point that he was recently declared legally blind.
Amy Dixon
Gary Dobbs
Gary is a graduate student at Georgia Tech University. Gary recently gave a seminar at UCA. His work at Georgia Tech has been supported by a natural gas hydrates consortium. He has designed and build an apparatus to use IR spectroscopy to study these natural gas hydrates on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
Vincent Dunlap
Vincent has completed his Ph.D at the University of Rochester. He is currently a faculty member at Henderson State University where he teaches physical chemistry.
Michelle McGowan
Jeremy Moix
Jeremy received his PhD from Georgia Tech in 2007. He did post-doctoral research at postdoc at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel until 2010 and has been on a post-doctoral appointment at MIT since that time.
David Nutt
David graduated with a Master's Degree in College Student Personnel Administration from Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, MO and has been employed for the past two years by Arizona State University.
Gary Myrick
Krista Reynolds
James Rucker
James is enrolled in the PhD program in chemistry at Lousiana State University.
Shane Sparks
Shane is enrolled in medical school at UAMS.
David St. John
In 2005 I joined Labcorp in their Occupational Testing Section. We perform testing of Drugs of abuse for the DOT and other contracts. I work in the confirmation lab as a GC/MS Analyst, However my main duty is maintaining 18 instruments with ages ranging form the early 80's to this year's new model. Our sample volume has more than doubled in the last year and I have been asked to assist in designing the confirmation lab at our new site in Southaven MS.
Jason Thessing
Jason expects to complete his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in the spring of 2007.
"I am currently working for a materials chemist that specializes in semiconductor nanocrystal synthesis. My current research efforts are mostly focused on crystallization theory. I am working on improving the gibbs thompson equation that describes Ostwald Ripening. My research has led to the development of a variation of the gibbs thompson equation that takes into account crystal concentration and explains nearest neighbor effects (diffusion sphere). The major selling point of my research is that we are able to probe the formation and dissolution of crystals in the ultra small size range (i.e. 1-5nm)".
Jason plans to obtain a position in industry upon graduation. He hopes to work in the area of nanotechnology.
Nathan Twaddle
Nathan is a bioanalytical chemist with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicological Research located in Jefferson, AR. He received a full-time position with the NCTR in March 2002 (after an internship with them beginning February 2000). His primary duties are to perform method development, sample preparation, and sample analysis using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. His laboratory works primarily small molecules and pharmaceutical drugs and other genetic and developmental toxicants.
2003
Lindsay Lewis
Carson (Alex) McDonald
After working for his family in the rental property business in Dallas for 3 years, Alex moved back to Central Arkansas in June 2006. He took a job at the L'Oreal plant in North Little Rock as an Analytical Chemist. In December, 2006 he moved to the Lipsticks & Nail Enamel Division and took the position of Quality Assurance Technologist. In this role, he handles final release of finshed goods, oversees all component testing, and acts as the liason between the FDA and the production division.
Candice Means
Candice is enrolled in pharmacy school at UAMS.
2004
Devin Brannon
Daniel Edwards
Stacey Lelievre
Warren Lieblong
Pamela Lockyer
Pamela is employed in a laboratory at UAMS.
Julie Maris
Jeanette Morin
Jeanette and her four children moved to northern Virginia. She is currently teaching junior high science at St. Ambrose Catholic School there. She plans to take the MCAT in August, 2006 with plans to attend medical school beginning Fall, 2007.
Kristin Parkhill Dooley
Kristin received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Texas A&M University in 2009. After a year's post-doc at Arkansas State University she joined the UCA chemistry faculty as a temporary instructor in the fall of 2010. In Fall, 2012 Kristin accepted a permanent, tenure-track position in the UCA Chemistry Department where she will teach physical chemistry and freshman chemistry courses. Her research is in the area of laser spectroscopy.
She is married to Todd Dooley and they have two daughters.
Charity Washam
After graduating from UCA, Charity spent one year working at UAMS in the Endocrinology department as a Research Technician. Then she attended the University of South Carolina, where she graduated with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in December of 2005. Her work at USC was done under Dr. James Sodetz. The laboratory focused on the structure and function of the terminal complement components. They used cloning, protein expression and purification, and functional assays as well as protein crystallography to determine the nature of the interactions of these proteins. Charity did her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) under Dr. Malak Kotb. Dr. Kotb's laboratory is focused on studying the genetics of susceptibility to diseases. Her primary project was to determine the genetic factors that are involved in host resistance to two different pathogens, *Francisella tularensis Live Vaccine Strain* and Cowpox virus. She is currently working at UTHSC for Dr. Maria Gomes-Solecki, who developed an oral vaccine for Lyme's Disease while in New York. Charity will be following the same model to develop a vaccine for Avian Flu. She lives in Memphis, TN, is married and currently has no children.
Misty Williams
Upon graduation Misty enrolled in medical school at UAMS.
2005
Josh Brown
Josh graduated with his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis in May 2010. Upon graduating he and his family moved to Searcy, AR where he will serve as an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at Harding University. He will be teaching Medicinal Chemistry and conduct research into the design and synthesis of novel antibacterial agents.
Erin Beth Davis
Upon graduation from UCA Erin Beth attended pharmacy school at UAMS.
Melissa Choate
Melissa works as an Analytical Chemist at the L'Oreal (Maybelline) manufacturing plant in North Little Rock. Her lab uses HPLC, UV-VIS, and AA (Atomic Absorption) to test liquid, powder, and solid make-up for the amount of preservatives and OTC products.
Blake Richardson
Blake attended pharmacy school at UAMS.
Amber Rochelle
Ryan Thurman
After working for a short time at the Arkansas State Crime Lab Ryan entered graduate study in biochemistry at the University of Arkansas - Fayetteville. His research group uses NMR to determined the three dimensional structure of proteins. They also use a large number of biophysical techniques to characterize proteins. The aim of the project is understanding mutations in fibroblast growth factor receptors that are linked to tumor growth and craniofacial disorders. The project has expanded to include the interactions of the intrinsically disordered juxtamembrane of fibroblast growth factor receptors. He hopes to complete the program and be in search of a job by the Summer of 2010. .
Regan West
Regan is employed at the Arkansas State Crime Lab where she says "I work in the drug section at the crime lab. We analyze evidence for controlled substances. The main ones are marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine, plus several kinds of abused prescription drugs. About 60% of our time is spent doing paperwork, sampling the evidence, and taking notes. To do the analysis, we run the samples on GC-MS and use TLC as a confirmatory test. We use IR mainly to tell cocaine HCl from its base form, because the legal charge is different for the different forms. Most of the time it's fairly routine, but every once in a while we get weird stuff." Regan moved into the public school classroom as a science teacher after a couple of years and is scheduled to be married in the spring of 2013.
Cullen Matthews
Cullen graduated with honors in chemistry in December, 2005. His thesis was based on three years of research that he did with Dr. Bill Taylor produced three publications in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. He commissioned into the US Navy through Officer Candidate School after graduating from UCA. After completion of Nuclear Power School, Submarine Officer Basic Course, then Nuclear Prototype training, he joined the crew on board the submarine USS Michigan out of Bremerton, Washington. The first half of his tour was spent supervising the operations of the nuclear reactor and engine room. During the second half he supervised the day-to-day operations of the entire submarine and crew to include conning (driving) the billion dollar, 17,000 ton ship. After becoming Navy Nuclear Engineer qualified he spent two years teaching and advising NROTC at Virginia Tech while working on his Masters in Mechanical Engineering. He joined a research group that studies Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Dynamics with the goal of improving vehicle system performance by studying the interactions between the vehicle and the terrain. His research has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He expects to finish his degree by May, 2013. In January, 2013 he began a job as a Technical Manager at Reliant Technologies in east Texas, close to his home in Texarkana. Relian designs, fabricates, installs and operates non-destructive testing equipment for other manufacturing companies. He married his high school sweetheart, Caseh\y, in September, 2008 and their son Sawyer was born in 2011.
2006
Brandon Ayers
Brandon is enrolled in the PhD program in chemistry at the University of Arkansas
Andres Chang
Andres is enrolled in the MD/PhD program at the University of Kentucky. He has joined the research lab of Dr. Becky Duch where he is studying mechanisms of viral entry of the human metapneumovirus, which causes respiratory diseases. His first paper will appear in the February, 2009 issue of the Journal of Virology and he has received a travel award to present his work at the Experimental Biology/ASBMB meeting in April, 2009. Andre was awarded an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship to support his studies for the 2010/11 and 2011/12 academic years.
Garren Holman
Garren enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin, where is am working on a PhD in organic chemisty. His research work under Dr. Brent L. Iverson is focused on DNA intercalators. Upon completion of his Ph.D. he plans to find a postdoctoral research program and then seek an academic position.
Elizabeth (Blake) Robinson
Blake is working in an orthodontics office in San Antonio, TX and is in the process of applying to dental school.
Jeff Shearer
Jeff is pursuing a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Colorado State University under the direction of Dr. Ellen R. Fisher. His work focuses onthe plasma deposition and characterization of thin films on free and supported nanoparticles. In his time away from chemistry, Jeff enjoys nature and landscape photography. A selection of his work can be found athttp://fineart.carbonartphoto.com
Clint Smith
Clint is currently enrolled in a PhD program in biochemistry in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Ryon Willingham
Ben Willis
Ben attended pharmacy school at UAMS.
2007
Tamara Binyon
Tamara is working in a local pharmacy and is in the process of applying to medical school.
Ashley Brown
Jacquelyn DuPriest
Davis Duong
Davis was a biology major who did research for Dr. Desrochers for a number of years. Upon graduation he enrolled in medical school at UAMS and expects to receive his M.D. in May of 2011.
Ashley Evans
Ashley is enrolled in a graduate program in chemistry at the University of Mississippi,
Nick Gleason
Nick is in graduate school in biochemistry at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. He is studying transmembrane proteins under the direction of Dr. Roger Koeppe II
Bethany Glover
Bethany entered pharmacy school at UAMS, but dropped out. She was employed for a time by the UCA Department of Chemistry as Laboratory Coordinator.
Austin Jones
Nicole Jones
Nicole entered the nuclear medicine program at Baptist Health.
Vi-Huyen Le
Sang Lee
Emily Malcolm
Emily received an M.S. in Chemistry from Georgia Tech in May, 2010. She is currently assisting her mother who is convalescing from hip replacement and Emily will apply to medical for the fall, 2012 entering class.
Akhil Mehta
Kimberly Morrison
Tori O'Bannon
Tori is enrolled in a graduate program in biochemistry at the University of Kentucky.
Lindsay Pack
After graduation from UCA with her BS in Chemistry in spring 2007 Lindsay spent the summer interning at Baxter Healthcare before attending UAMS in the fall. As an environmental health fellow for the Association of Public Health Laboratories, she completed her thesis, “Developing Greener Technology for Cotinine Biomonitoring Programs,” while working at the Arkansas Public Health Laboratory. In 2009, she received an MS in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences and accepted a chemist position with the Arkansas Department of Health. While there, she worked in their Chemical Terrorism and Food Emergency Response Network labs utilizing a variety of methodologies involving SPE, ICP-MS, GC-MS, and LC-MS/MS. In 2011, Lindsay accepted a position with the National Center for Toxicological Research to be their in-house ICP-MS expert for the newly emerging Nanotechnology Core Facility and in 2013 accepted a permanent chemist position with the FDA’s Arkansas Regional Laboratory. Currently she works under the Food Chemistry Branch in the Filth and Decomposition Lab where she is involved in analyzing domestic and imported food products for ‘filth’ and color or additional additives as well as go on facility inspections. She resides in Sherwood, AR.
Adam Phelan
Adam is a graduate student in chemistry at LSU in Baton Rouge.
Lindsay Read
Jacob Smith
Tara Sterrenberg
Mikaela Stewart
2008
Tim Bartley
Immediately upon graduation Tim began work with an electroplating firm in Heber Springs
Rachel Grandon
Rachel moved to East Tennessee after graduation.
Tori Green Endres
Tori moved to Portland, OR with her husband where he had a career opportunity. Since that time, she has been employed by Chrome Systems, Inc. which provides data services to the automotive industry. She is currently a lead person in content development. She hopes to begin medical school in the fall of 2013.
David Holland
David is studying boichemistry/biophysics at Texas A & M.
Tiffany Linz
James (Zach) Little
Zach is employed for a student mobilization group in Conway.
Josh Loewen
After graduation Josh began working in the laboratory at L'Oreal Cosmetics in Lonoke.
Amanda MacMillan
Erin Mangum
Aerial Marshall
Ariel followed her research with Dr. Desrochers and her graduation from UCA with graduate school in chemistry at Georgia Tech. She sent this update in October, 2010.
Michelle McClain
Adam Morrow
In March, 2012 Adam successfully defended his PhD dissertation in basic biomedical sciences with an emphasis in cancer biology at the University of South Alabama at the Mitchell Cancer Institute. This is a significant achievement since he reached this point in only 3 years and 9 months and the national average to complete a PhD in biomedical PhD programs is well above 5 years.
Rebecca Morrow
Rebecca entered graduate study in medical sciences at the University of South Alabama.
Chris Sutton
Chris enrolled in graduate school at Georgia Tech in the fall of 2009. In the fall of 2010 he had just finished one of his qualifiers: a seminar to his peers discussing a few references in a subject that is out of his area of expertise. Ariel Marshall reports that he did a really good job.
Leah Thomson
Leah is in graduate school at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. She is currently in the research group of Dr. Dave Berkowitz studying mechanisms of inhibition of PLP dependent enzymes.
Thi Trinh
Tri entered graduate study in chemistry at Ohio State University.
2009
Steve Baker
Seth Byers
Seth as employed for the summer following graduation as an analytical lab intern with FutureFuel Chemical Co. in his hometown, Batesville, AR. He performed a lot of GC and titration experiments to determine the quality of product development samples focusing on new methods for biodiesel refinement. He is currently pursuing a chemistry doctorate at Vanderbilt with an emphasis on physical/ analytical chemistry.
Seth reports, I recently joined Dr. McLean's lab for Mass Spectrometry study and application as of last March ( http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/Chemistry/groups/mcleanlab/ ). I'll be working with another UCA alum, Jody May, on instrument development and simulation projects until I can lock in on a dissertation-quality project. Classes went very well for me, as the education I received from all of you at UCA was, truly, above and beyond excellent. I was able to integrate the knowledge learned in my undergraduate career seamlessly with new material presented in my studies here at Vanderbilt. Not lacking in knowledge allowed me to focus a large portion of my time on my research rotations, and for that I am very grateful to all of you that worked so hard to prepare me for a future in chemistry."
Michelle Griffin
Katie Hoppert Ward
Katie was married shortly after graduation. She and her husband are now living in Granger, IN which is close to Notre Dame where she is enrolled as a chemistry graduate student. In the fall of 2012 notice was received from Dr. Kenneth Henderson, Chair of the Notre Dame Chemistry Department, that Katie had passed her doctoral "in very convincing fashion". He said, "We are extremely pleased that she decided to attend Notre Dame for her graduate studies. Students like Katie have notably strengthened the quality of our program. I hope you will continue to recommend your outstanding students to our graduate program."
Joshuah Lingo
Josh is currently working at UAMS as a research technologist for Dr. Van Rhee’s Immunotherapy Lab in the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy. Currently they are collecting, activating, and expanding natural killer cells from patients so they can began human clinical research in October. The lab is excited about the upcoming study because they have been able to reverse both tumor development and bone destruction associated with myeloma, in an immuno-compromised mouse model that has a grafted human fetal bone infected with human myeloma using this type of immunotherapy in which natural killer B-cells are activated to recognize the cancer.
Latasha Moore
Scott Musial
Charles Nichols
Charles is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in chemistry at the University of Colorado. (1/1/11)
Laquita Robinson
Lam Tram