Our graduate students move on to a variety of career paths. Some have opted for Academia, either at research or teaching Universities, while others have ventured into the
growing biotechnology sector, while other have opted for service in the public sector. Some students move to further their education in either law school or medical school. Whichever the path, the training they received at the
Department of Biological Sciences has prepared them well. Here are a few of our recent graduates.
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Dr. Heather Hendrickson
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence
Thesis title : "Chromosome Architecture and Evolution in Bacteria"
Defended thesis in August 2007
Career path : Dr. Hendrickson is performing her postdoctoral research with David Sherratt at Oxford University |
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Dr. Mick Yoder
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Hildebrand
Thesis title : "Characterization of the Shroom Protein Family Member, Shroom4, and its Role in Cytoskeletal Rearrangements"
Defended thesis in July 2007
Career path : Dr. Yoder went on to perform his post-doctoral research at the University of Virginia in Dr. Barry Gumbiner's lab. |
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Dr. Maggie Braun
Laboratory of Dr. Karen Arndt
Thesis title : ""
Defended thesis in June 2007
Career path : Dr. Braun went on to perform her post-doctoral research at the National Cancer Institute. |
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Dr. Craig Scott
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky
Thesis title : ""
Defended thesis in June 2007
Career path : Dr. Scott went on to an Assistant Professor position at Clarion University. |
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Dr. Jason Hoverman
Laboratory of Dr. Rick Relyea
Thesis title : "The ecology and evolution of inducible defenses in the freshwater snail Helisoma trivolvis"
Defended thesis in May 2007
Career path : Dr. Hoverman went on to perform his post-doctoral research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. |
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Dr. Christine Wright
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky
Thesis title : "The Role of Molecular Chaperones in Yeast Cell Wall Integrity and Identification of Chaperone Modulators that Interfere with Simian Virus 40 Replication"
Defended thesis in April 2007
Career path : Dr. Wright went on to perform her postdoctoral research with Dr. Mary-Ann Bjornsti at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. |
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Dr. Ceyda Acilan
Laboratory of Dr. William Saunders
Thesis title : "DNA Repair Pathways Involved in the Formation of Anaphase Bridges"
Defended thesis in December 2006
Career path : Dr. Acilan went on to a post-doctoral position with Leona Samson at MIT. |
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Dr. Phillip White
Laboratory of Dr. Deborah Chapman
Thesis title : "Molecular studies to understand the role of Tbx6 in somitogenesis"
Defended thesis in October 2006
Career path : Dr. White is currently pursuing his post-doctoral studies.
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Dr. Lisa Sproul
Laboratory of Dr. Susan Gilbert
Thesis title : "The Other One: Dead Head Vik1 Modulates Different Kinesin Kar3 Microtubule Interactions from Cik1"
Defended thesis in August 2006
Career path : Dr. Sproul went on to perform her postdoctoral research with Dr. Stephen J. Benkovic at The Pennsylvania State University.
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Dr. Hans Wildschutte
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence
Thesis title : "Protozoan predation and the maintenance of O-antigen diversity in Salmonella"
Defended thesis in August 2006
Career path : Dr. Wildschutte became a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Martin Polz at MIT.
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Dr. James Cronin
Laboratory of Dr. Walter Carson
Thesis title : "Explaining variation in herbivore control over plant communities"
Defended thesis in August 2006
Career path : Dr. Cronin became a post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
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Dr. Nancy Schoeppner
Laboratory of Dr. Rick Relyea
Thesis title : "Eavesdropping on the enemy: The importance of chemical cues for inducible defenses"
Defended thesis in April 2006
Career path : Dr. Schoeppner went on to do her postdoctoral research with Dr. Martin Hay at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Dr. Jennifer Markovics
Laboratory of Dr. James M. Pipas
Thesis title : "The roles of the RB and p53 tumor suppressor pathways in an intestinal tumorigenesis model system"
Defended thesis in November 2005
Career path : Dr. Markovics became a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Tia Tilsty at the University of California, San Francisco.
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Dr. Kathryn Kumer
Laboratory of Dr. Karen Arndt
Thesis title : "Involvement of the RNA polymerase II-associated Paf1 complex in transcriptional regulation and 3'-end formation of snoRNAs"
Defended thesis in November 2005
Career path : Dr. Kumer joined the laboratory of Dr. Paula Grabowski, University of Pittsburgh, for her post-doctoral research.
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Dr. Jared Cochran
Laboratory of Dr. Susan Gilbert
Thesis title : "Investigation of the Mechanochemical Cycle of the Mitotic Kinesin Eg5"
Defended thesis in November 2005
Career path : Dr. Cochran performed his post-doctoral research with Dr. F. Jon Kull at Dartmouth College.
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Dr. Li Luo
Laboratory of Dr. William Saunders
Thesis title : "Chromosome segregational defects: their origin, fate and contribution to genomic instability"
Defended thesis in September 2005
Career path : Dr. Luo went on to a position in the Department of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School.
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Dr. Robert Youker
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky
Thesis title : "The role of molecular chaperones in the ER associated degradation of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator in the budding yeast S. cerevisiae"
Defended thesis in September 2005
Career path : Dr. Youker is a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Thomas at the Oregon Health Sciences Center, Portland
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Dr. Alejandro Royo
Laboratory of Dr. Walter Carson
Thesis title : "Mammal-plant dynamics in forests: Interactions and implications for understory plant diversity"
Defended thesis in August 2005
Career path : Dr. Royo is currently employed as a Research Ecologist for the USDA Forest
Service, Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Irvine, PA.
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Dr. Stephanie Winter
Laboratory of Dr. Gerard Campbell
Thesis title : "Repression of Dpp targets in the Drosophila wing by Brinker"
Defended thesis in July 2005
Career path : Dr. Winter is currently working as a content architect with Thermo Fisher Scientific.
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Dr. Janette Steets
Laboratory of Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman
Thesis title : "Consequences for the demography of Impatiens capensis (Balsaminaceae)."
Defended thesis in June 2005
Career path : Dr. Steets obtained a post doctoral fellowship at the University of Alaska, and then joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany.
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Dr. Annette Ahner
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky
Thesis title : "The role of cytoplasmic chaperones in the biogenesis, maturation and degradation of cytoplasmic and integral membrane proteins"
Defended thesis in June 2005
Career path : Dr. Ahner went on to a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Raymond Frizzell at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
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Dr. Paul Sapienza
Laboratory of Dr. Linda Jen-Jacobson
Thesis title : "Promiscuous mutant of the EcoRI endonuclease"
Defended thesis in March 2005
Career path : Dr. Sapeinza obtained a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Dr. Daniel Bunker
Laboratory of Dr. Walter Carson
Thesis title : "The application of competition theory to invaders and biological control in wetland ecosystems"
Defended his thesis in July 2004
Career path : Dr. Bunker furthered his training as a post-doctoral associate in the laboratory of
Shahid Naeem at Columbia University.
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Dr. Lisa Klumpp
Laboratory of Dr. Susan Gilbert
Thesis title : "Mechanistic and Structural Analysis of Kinesin Mutants"
Defended her thesis in March 2003
Career path : Dr. Klumpp was a Post-Doctoral Associate with Dr. Paul H. Axelsen
at the Department of Pharmacology, University of Pennsylvania. She joined Scientific Connexions in Newtown, Pennsylvania
as a science writer in August 2004. |
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Dr. Kyoungha Han
Laboratory of Dr. Paula Grabowski
Thesis title : "Alternative splicing of the grin1 CI cassette : Silencing mechanism"
Defended her thesis in August 2004
Career path : Dr. Han went on to perform her post-doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Dr. Lori Bibb
Laboratory of Dr. Graham Hatfull
Thesis title : "Site-Specific recombination of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis prophage-like element fRv1"
Defended her thesis in March 2004
Career path : Dr. Bibb took a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Food and Drug Administration
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Dr. Kevin Davis
Laboratory of Dr. Sandra Murray
Thesis title : "The role of gap junctions in adrenal gland function"
Defended his thesis in November 2003
Career path : Dr. Davis went on to perform his post-doctoral research with Dr. Gail Martin at the University of California, San Francisco.
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Dr. Rachel Collins
Laboratory of Dr. Walter Carson
Thesis title : "The Effects of prescribed fire, canopy gaps and deer herbivory on forest regeneration: Implications for succession theory"
Defended her thesis in August 2003
Career path : Dr. Collins was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison before joining the faculty Frostburg State University as an Assistant Professor.
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Dr. Bonnie Reinhart
Laboratory of Dr. Richard Chaillet
Thesis title : "Maintenance of germ line and somatic DNA methylation during mouse development"
Defended her thesis in August 2003
Career path : Dr. Reinhart is currently a post-doctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh and
also an Instructor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
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Dr. Arabela Grigorescu
Laboratories of Dr. Linda Jen-Jacobson and Dr. John Rosenberg
Thesis title : "Structural and energetic determinants of the DNA binding specificity of EcoRI endonuclease"
Defended her thesis in May 2003
Career path : Dr. Grigorescu is currently continuing her research as a Post-Doctoral
associate at the University of Chicago, working with Dr. Phoebe Rice.
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Dr. Brandi Baros
Laboratory of Dr. Roger Hendrix
Thesis title : "Mutational analysis of bateriophage HK97 cpasid structure and assembly"
Defended her thesis in July 2002
Career path : Dr. Baros is now an Assistant Professor at Allegheny College,
Meadville PA, pursuing her ambition to teach Biology at the University level.
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Dr. Andrew Mackey
Laboratory of Dr. Susan Gilbert
Thesis title : "Comparative Analysis of the Kinesin, Ncd, and Kar3 Molecular Motors"
Defended his thesis in July 2002
Career path : Dr. Mackey is currently a Post-Doctoral Associate with Dr. Mark S. Mooseker in the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental
Biology at Yale University.
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Dr. Nathaniel Szewczyk
Laboratory of Dr. Lewis Jacobson
Thesis title : "Control of protein degradation in muscle by the Ras signaling pathway and upstream growth factor receptors"
Defended his thesis in June 2002
Career path : Dr. Szewczyk moved on to become a postdoctoral research associate in the lab of Dr. Catharine Conley at
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. He then joined the faculty as an Associate professor at the University of Nottingham, UK.
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Dr. Tiffany Knight
Laboratory of Dr. Susan Kalisz
Thesis title : "The effects of herbivory and pollen limitation on the population dynamics of Trillium grandiflorum"
Defended her thesis in April 2002
Career path : After spending time as a post-doctoral associate with Dr. Robert Holt at the Univerity of Florida,
Dr. Knight is current an Assistant Professor at Washington University.
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Dr. Dengfeng Cao
Laboratory of Dr. Linda Jen-Jacobson
Thesis title : "The role of water in protein-DNA interactions"
Defended his thesis in February 2002
Career path : Dr. Cao is moving from biological research to practicing medicine. Already armed with an MD, Dr. Cao is a resident in
pathology at Johns Hopkins' University.
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Dr. John Lewis
Laboratory of Dr. Graham Hatfull
Thesis title : "Control of Directionality in Mycobacteriophage L5 Integrase-Mediated Site-Specific Recombination"
Defended his thesis in October 2001
Career path : Dr. Lewis is currently a Research Associate at the US Army Center for Environmental Health Research, Fort Detrick, MD
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Dr. J. Vaughn Spencer
Laboratory of Dr. Karen Arndt
Thesis title : "Analysis of Yeast TBP binding polarity and helices H1 + H1' Using Genetics and Biochemical Apporoaches"
Defended his thesis in September 2001
Career path : Dr. Spencer performed his post-doctoral research in Paul Robbins' lab in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry
at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He then went on to pursue a law degree and a career in patent law.
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Dr. Lucy Xu
Laboratory of Dr. Richard Carthew
Thesis title : "Muiltiple signals integrate with cell-specific factors to regulate transcription of the Drosophila prospero gene"
Defended her thesis in August 2001
Career path : Moving into bioinformatics, Dr. Xu began as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Ivet Bahar at the
Center in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Pittsburgh. She then
took a post-doctoral position with Dr. Michael Karin at the University of California, San Diego and is current working in the biotechnology sector
at Wyeth Research Oncology, New York.
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Dr. Patrick Costa
Laboratory of Dr. Karen Arndt
Thesis title : "Characterization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Transcription Factor Rtf1"
Defended his thesis in July 2001
Career path : Dr. Costa decided to augment his education by pursuing a medical degree at the Temple University School of Medicine after completing his Ph.D.
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Dr. Michael Morrow
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky
Thesis title : "Characterization of high affinity ribosome binding to the endoplasmic reticulum of Saccharomyces cerevisiae"
Defended his thesis in June 2001
Career path : Dr. Morrow has started as a Post-Doctoral Teaching Associate at Juniata College and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Montana-Western.
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Dr. Xuemei Zeng
Laboratory of Dr. William Saunders
Thesis title : "Function of S. cerevisae kinetochore protein Slk19p in regulating spindle integrity, mitotic exit and meiotic chromosome segregation"
Defended her thesis in March 2001
Career path : Dr. Zeng is currently a postdoctoral scientist with Sequelgenetics.
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Dr. Jun Xu
Laboratory of Dr. Roger Hendrix
Thesis title : "A conserved framshift strategy in dsDNA long tailed bacteriophages"
Defended his thesis in February 2001
Career path : Dr. Xu is currently a Staff Scientist at the pharmaceutical giant Procter and Gamble, Cincinnati, OH.
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Dr. George Deng
Laboratory of Dr. William Saunders
Thesis title : ""
Defended his thesis in December 2000
Career path : Dr. Deng is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Martin Brown at Stanford University.
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Dr. Chris Sullivan
Laboratory of Dr. James M. Pipas
Thesis title : "SV40 T Antigen: A Molecular Machine that Disrupts Rb-E2F Complexes"
Defended his thesis in December 2000
Career path : Dr. Sullivan performed his postdoctoral studies with Don Ganem at the UCSF before joining the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin
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Dr. Stefan Schnitzer
Laboratory of Dr. Walter Carson
Thesis title : "Treefall gaps and the maintenance of species diversity: Redefining and expanding the gap hypothesis"
Defended his thesis in November 2000
Career path : Dr. Schnitzer joined the faculty of the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin as an Assistant Professor.
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Dr. Amie McClellan
Laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky
Thesis title : "The role of molecular chaperones in protein translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum"
Defended her thesis in June 2000
Career path : Dr. McClellan performed her postdoctoral studies with Dr. Judith Frydman at Stanford University, then joined the faculty of Bennington College as an Assistant Professor in 2006.
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Dr. M. H. Henry Stevens
Laboratory of Dr. Walter Carson
Thesis title : "Explaining why plant species richness declines as resource availability increases: Tests of the important hypotheses"
Defended his thesis in April 1999
Career path : Dr. Stevens is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany at Miami University.
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Dr. Feng Ding
Laboratory of Dr. Paula Grabowski
Thesis title : "Cloning and characterization of a novel RNA-binding protein that associates with selenocysteine tRNA"
Defended her thesis in August 1998
Career path : Dr. Ding is currently a senior postdoctoral associate at Stanford university in the laboratory of Dr. Uta Franke. |
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Dr. Lisa Engler
Laboratory of Dr. Linda Jen-Jacobson
Thesis title : "Specificity determinants in the BamHI endonuclease-DNA interaction"
Defended her thesis in March 1998
Career path : Dr. Engler is currently employed as a patent agent in a large law firm.
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