2024 Departmental News
Rajendra Joshi, Ejoke Akatugba, Bibek Bhattarai, and Ezekiel Branch from Prof. Gamez’group
received Graduate Student Travel Awards from the TTU Graduate School to attend the
Great Scientific Exchange (SciX) Conference, Raleigh, North Carolina, October 20-25,
2024.
Congratulations to our fall graduates!
Dr. John Ducilon
Dr. Dylan Tharp-Eralie
Dr. Olivia Villanueva
Dr. Yihui Yuan
H. Garza, A. Perry, R. Posey, J. Tropp "Standardizing the Characterization of Conductive
Hydrogels" Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SWRM), Waco,
TX, October 2024. Awarded 1st Place Poster at the Undergraduate Poster Session
Dr. Joshua Tropp was awarded the Apple Polishing Award from the Texas Tech Mortar
Board for 2024.
Dr. Ruibin Liang won a poster award in the Laboratory Heads category at the Welch
Foundation Conference 2024. https://welch1.org/conference/conferenceoverview/2024-poster-session
Student Highlights
Arvin Saffarian Delkhosh from the Georgieva Research Group has received the Graduate
Student Research Support Award for the fall 2024 semester for the project, “Structural
and fluorescence-based approaches to assess the ionconductance mechanisms of viral
membrane proteins in liposomes”.
Dr. Hui Chen has been accepted as an associate member of the Center of Excellence
for Translational Neuroscience and Therapeutics at TTUHSC.
Tan Nguyen, a graduate student in the Kristufek Research Lab, won 3rd place at the
2024 3-minute Thesis Competition.
Congratulations To the WInners Of the 2024 Graduate Student Poster Session!
Grand Prize
Vishal Sandilya
Analytical
Akeem Sanni
Oluwatosin Daramola
Biochemistry
Maryam Bello-Hassan
Joy Solomon
Moyinoluwa Adeniyi
Inorganic
Biswash Guragain/Pooja Dogra
Organic
Mariano Guagliardo
Physical
Jhonatas R. Carvalho
Luan G. F. dos Santos
Prof. Josh Tropp and colleagues at UT-Austin and UH, have received a Welch-X Grant
entitled "Unraveling the Role of Iron in the Gut Microbiome using Iron-Selective Organic
Electrochemical Transistors.” The one-year grant is for $100k, with $34k coming to
Josh’s lab.
Prof. Josh Tropp and colleagues at UT-Austin and UH, have received a Welch-X Grant
entitled "Unraveling the Role of Iron in the Gut Microbiome using Iron-Selective Organic
Electrochemical Transistors.” The one-year grant is for $100k, with $34k coming to
Josh’s lab.
Prof. Mechref received $75,000 in funding from USDA-Foreign Agriculture Service OCBD
for Understanding Wheat Varietal Resistance to the Hessian Fly; Insights from Genomics
and Transcriptomics.
An article from Prof. Gamez’ group is the winner of the internationally competitive
2023 Edward Steers Memorial Award for the Best Paper in Glow Discharge Spectroscopy
from the European Working Group on Glow Discharge Spectroscopy: + More - Finch, K.; Hernandez, A.; Gamez, G.* High Throughput Nanoparticle Characterization
via Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy Elemental Mapping. Anal. Chem., 2023,
95, 4, 2269–2277. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c03940
Several articles authored by Prof. Gamez and his lab are featured in the compilation
“Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry” (G.C.-Y. Chan, et al., Appl.
Spectrosc., 2024, DOI: 10.1177/00037028241263567), which contains 1055 articles spanning
almost two centuries and considered “the most impactful publications in the area”.
Prof. Joshua Tropp received an ACS PRF grant for Nanoconfinement Enabled Synthetic
Control of Conjugated Polymers in the amount of $110,000 that begins on 09/01/2024.
Congratulations To the WInners Of the 2024 Graduate Student Poster Session!
Grand Prize
Vishal Sandilya
Analytical
Akeem Sanni
Oluwatosin Daramola
Biochemistry
Maryam Bello-Hassan
Joy Solomon
Moyinoluwa Adeniyi
Inorganic
Biswash Guragain/Pooja Dogra
Organic
Mariano Guagliardo
Physical
Jhonatas R. Carvalho
Luan G. F. dos Santos
Robert Posey, graduate student in the Tropp Research Group, was selected as a recipient
of the C.B. and Fran Carter Foundation Scholarship.
Peilin Jiang (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of 2024 Ginny
Shen Lin and CGSO Scholarship Analytical Division.
Prof. Mechref received $75,000 in funding from USDA-Foreign Agriculture Service OCBD
for Understanding Wheat Varietal Resistance to the Hessian Fly; Insights from Genomics
and Transcriptomics.
An article from Prof. Gamez’ group is the winner of the internationally competitive
2023 Edward Steers Memorial Award for the Best Paper in Glow Discharge Spectroscopy
from the European Working Group on Glow Discharge Spectroscopy: + More - Finch, K.; Hernandez, A.; Gamez, G.* High Throughput Nanoparticle Characterization
via Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy Elemental Mapping. Anal. Chem., 2023,
95, 4, 2269–2277. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c03940
Several articles authored by Prof. Gamez and his lab are featured in the compilation
“Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry” (G.C.-Y. Chan, et al., Appl.
Spectrosc., 2024, DOI: 10.1177/00037028241263567), which contains 1055 articles spanning
almost two centuries and considered “the most impactful publications in the area”.
Robert Posey, graduate student in the Tropp Research Group, was selected as a recipient
of the C.B. and Fran Carter Foundation Scholarship.
Prof. Joshua Tropp received an ACS PRF grant for Nanoconfinement Enabled Synthetic
Control of Conjugated Polymers in the amount of $110,000 that begins on 09/01/2024.
Heather Higgins has been elected to TTU Staff Senate and will serve a 3-year term.
Prof. Mechref is the recipient of the 2024 Global Vision Lifetime Achievement Award
for his outstanding contributions to furthering Texas Tech University's internationalization
efforts. The Office of the Provost International Affairs bestows the Global Vision
Lifetime Achievement Award + Moreupon an exceptional individual whose enduring commitment to advancing international
scholarship and teaching has profoundly contributed to Texas Tech's global presence
over many years. The Global Vision Lifetime Achievement Award is a distinguished component
of the esteemed Global Vision Awards. These awards are a tribute to the remarkable
endeavors of Texas Tech University faculty, staff, and community partners who have
demonstrated exceptional commitment to enhancing our global connections and elevating
the university's international reputation.
Peilin Jiang (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of 2024 Ginny
Shen Lin and CGSO Scholarship Analytical Division.
Sherifdeen Onigbinde (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of
the 2024 Ming Sun Family Graduate Research Award, Ginny Shen Lin Award, and CGSO Scholarship
Biochemistry Division
Oluwatosin Daramola (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of
the 2024 Ming Sun Family Graduate Research Award
Mojibola Fowowe (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of the
2024 Ming Sun Family Graduate Research Award
Akeem Sanni (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of the 2024
Ming Sun Family Graduate Research Award
Judith I. Nwaiwu (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of the
2024 P.E.O International Peace Scholarship and is inducted into the Honor Society
of Phi Kappa Phi
Joy Solomon (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of the 2024
Helen DeVitt Jones Graduate Fellowship and is inducted into the Honor Society of Phi
Kappa Phi
Moyinoluwa Adeniyi (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is inducted into the
Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
Esther Oji (a member of the Mechref Omics Laboratory) is the recipient of the 2024
James D. and Mary Hazelwood Memorial Graduate Fellowship
Hammed Faleke, a student in the Pappas Group, won a travel award for the May meeting
of the Electrochemical Society for his presentation Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant
Pathogens: Disrupting Pseudomonas Aeruginosa."
Heather Higgins received the Phenomenal Women of Texas Tech University Award for 2024.
Dr. Elka Georgieva become a 2024 Honored Listee of Marquis Who's Who.
Olamide Ishola, a graduate student in the Georgieva lab, received a travel award to
attend DiscoverBMB 2024 in San Antonio, TX (March 23-27).
Mr. Juan C. Dominguez, a student of the Morales group, earned an award for his poster
presentation "Electron nuclear dynamics of ion cancer therapy reactions on prototype
systems C6+ + C4H4N2O2 (uracil) at ELab = 1.47 keV" at the 63rd Sanibel Symposium,
Saint Augustine, Florida, February 27, 2024.
Dylan M. T. Eralie - a graduate student in the Gorden group - has been awarded the
College of Arts and Sciences student award in Excellence in Engagement and Outreach
Award.
The Park Group has received a Max Planck Partner Group award for the project titled,
"Fundamental Chemical Processes at Model Catalyst Surfaces." The grant provides a
total of 100k EUR over the 2024-2029 period to support experiments at the Dalian Coherent
Light Source.
Sara Strickland, a Student in Prof. Pappas’ Group, presented her talk at the Texas
Microscopy Society and won Best Talk.
Sara Strickland also won the small grant competition at the Texas Microscopy Society
to fund reagents on her project.
Sara Strickland received a Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate
School.
The Park Group has been awarded an NSF CAREER grant for the project titled, "CAREER:
Tiny Drops of Acid: Microwave spectroscopy and isomer-resolved IR spectroscopy of
hydrohalic acid-water clusters." The award is for a total funding of $569,970 over
the 2024-2029 period.
Prof. Georgieva was selected as a recipient of a Gilead Research Scholars Program
(HIV) Award to advance her studies in HIV-1 Vpu complexes with host proteins.
Prof. Korzeniewski’s lab is part of the new Center for Ionomer-based Water Electrolysis
(CIWE) led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in connect with the DOE Energy
Earthshot Research Center program+ More(https://science.osti.gov/Initiatives/SCEarthshots/EERCs). The Center aims to improve
hydrogen generation by analyzing the use of ion-conducting polymers (ionomers) for
low-temperature electrolysis. CIWE partners are Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Colorado
School of Mines, Texas Tech University, University of Oregon, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine,
and UC Merced. Texas Tech will receive $670,000 over the four-year project period
beginning Jan 1, 2024.
