People

Research Scientists

Christina Thompson

Associate Professor of Instruction

Christina got her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Texas A&M in 2002. From there she went to the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign where she worked with Paul Hergenrother on the total synthesis of Dykellic Acid, and it’s biological properties. She received her PhD in chemistry in November of 2008 and went to work as a medicinal chemist at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago, where she worked for four years on a variety of small molecule pharmaceutical projects. In July of 2012 Christina moved to Dallas and joined the Smaldone lab as a post-doctoral fellow working on porous polymers for energy applications.

Graduate Students

Ashele Remy

Born and raised in the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Ashele came to the US to obtain her BS in Biology and Chemistry. She studied at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. After graduating in 2015, she was a Biology high school teacher and then worked in a small pharmaceutical lab in Austin. Ashele joined the Smaldone lab in Fall 2018 working in the 3D printing group. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors and biking.

Milinda Senarathna

Milinda was born and raised in Sri Lanka.  He received his B. Sc special degree in Chemistry from the University of Peradeniya , Sri Lanka and joined Smaldone lab in spring 2021. His reaserch interest include porous materials and processable 2D materials. In his free time he enjoys hiking and camping.

Qing Yan

Qing Yan was born and raised in China. He got his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Northeast Forestry University in China. In Fall of 2019, he joined Smaldone lab and currently he is interested in 3D-printing polymer and hydrogels for drug delivery. In his free time, he likes listening to music and reading.

Rebecca Johnson

Rebecca was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from UT Dallas in 2020. As an undergraduate, she was a research assistant in the Smaldone lab. Her research interests include self healing polymers, sustainable materials and 3D printing. Her hobbies outside of the lab include gardening and cooking. 

Niyati Arora

Niyati grew up in North India but has lived in US from past 5 years. Niyati earned her M.S. in Chemistry from Pittsburg State university becoming the first person in her family to get a science degree. She studies covalent organic frameworks using organic synthesis. if you don’t find her in lab doing work then she’s probably at a cafe enjoying some coffee. 

Cassandra Flores

Cassandra was born and raised in Southern California. She obtained her B.S. in Chemistry from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and joined the Smaldone lab in Fall 2021. Currently, she is working on the design and synthesis of mesoporous covalent organic frameworks. Outside of the lab, Cassandra enjoys volunteering and running and back home she enjoys hiking the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains.

Michael Afghani

Michael was born and raised in Texas, and got a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at UT Dallas in December 2022. Before joining the Smaldone lab in Fall 2021, he gained lab experience from doing organic and computational chemistry as a hobby (and still does hobby computational chemistry). Currently he is working on porous materials using supramolecular chemistry. Outside of science, he enjoys learning history and math.

Tien Tran

Tien Tran was raised in the Rio Grande Valley, and completed her B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. She joined the Smaldone lab in Fall 2022 and is interested in working on the application of recyclable MOF and 3-D printing. In her free time, she likes to cook and play games. 

Ariel Tolfree

Ariel was born and raised in New York. She joined the Smaldone lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2022 and received her B.S. in Chemistry from UT Dallas in 2023. Her interests include post-polymerization modifications and 3D printing. Outside of research, Ariel enjoys cooking, reading and working with animals.

Undergraduate Students

Emma Liu

Jithin Mathew

Kasia Drewniak 

Soumik Dube

Aman Rahman

Devin Ivy

High School Students

Smaldone Group Alumni

Post-Doc

Dr. Sumudu Wijenayake,  Senior Lecturer, UT Dallas

Graduate Students

Yinhuan Xie (M.S. 2015)
Joshua Davidson (M.S. 2016, Manner Polymer)
Victoria Cameron (M.S. 2016)
Fei Li
Arosha Karunathilake (PhD, 2017, University of St. Andrews, postdoc)
Gayan Appuhamillage (PhD, 2018, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Senior Lecturer)
Sampath Alahakoon (PhD, 2019, University of Peradeniya, Assistant Professor)
Tahmid Faisal (M.S., 2020, University of Houston, Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD program)
Danielle Berry (PhD, 2020, Dow Chemical)

Undergraduate Students

Mohammad Jahangiri                                                                                                             2012 – 2013

Obada Alfarawati                   UT Medical Branch, Galveston MD School              2012 – 2014

Linda Asiamah                                                                                                           2012 – 2013

Atef Kokash                            Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine                     2012 – 2013

Abdallah Chahine                   Physician Relations at UT Southwestern                   2012 – 2013

Zachary Tran                          Medical School                                                           2012 – 2014

Taylor Kornfuerher                 U. Illinois, Chicago, Pharmacognosy PhD Progam   2013

Andrew Johanssen                  U. Minnesota, Chemistry PhD Program                     2013 – 2014

Anna Malueg (Clark Scholar)                                                                                    2014 – 2015

Raziel Martinez                      Keurig-Dr. Pepper                                                      2014 – 2015

Dorothy Nguyen                     UC Santa Cruz Chemistry PhD Program                   2015 – 2016

Aditya Rajan                                                                                                               2015 – 2016

Gino Occhialini                      MIT, Chemistry PhD Program                                   2015 – 2018

Amy Nguyen                          Adaptive 3D                                                               2015 – 2018

Cathy Nguyen                         Natera                                                                          2015 – 2016

Ivana Le                                  UNT Masters of Medical Science Program               2016 – 2018

Quang To                                                                                                                    2016 – 2017

Sina Khorsandi                       UT Southwestern PhD program                                 2016 – 2017

Nicole Dion                            U North Texas PharmD program                                2016 – 2017

Jeongyeol Lee                                                                                                             2016 – 2017

John Reagan                           Neos Therapeutics                                                       2016 – 2018

Ethan Payne                                                                                                                2016 – 2017

William Mandt                                                                                                           2016 – 2017

John Harman                           Medical School                                                           2017 – 2018

Paola Lopez                            Adaptive 3D                                                               2017 – 2018

Sharon Amole                                                                                                             2017 – 2019

Valentina Harmjanz                                                                                                    2018 – 2019

Paul Luong                                                                                                                  2018 – 2019

Ai Nguyen                                                                                                                  2018 – 2019

Jay Shah (Clark Scholar)                                                                                            2018 – 2020

Brisa Díaz                                                                                                                   2018 – 2019 

Daniel Griffniel                                                                                                           2019

Timothy Shyu                                                                                                             2018 – 2020

Jacky Trevizo                                                                                                              2018 – 2020

Rebecca Johnson                    UT Dallas, Chemistry PhD Program                          2019 – 2020

Marissa Sparacin                                                                                                         2019 – 2020

Lisa Geeding-Douglas                                                                                                2018 – present

Lane Hughes (Clark Scholar)                                                                                     2019 – 2021


High School Students

Joshua Yue (Yale)
Ashwin Hari (Caltech)
Anjali Sridharan (Duke)
Megha Vyakaranam (Renasslear Polytechnic)