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
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
Lisa Geeding-Douglas
Lane Hughes
Allison Rood
Timothy Shyu
Robert Gearhart
Eric Sturdivant
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 Kent, Lecturer)
Gayan Appuhamillage (PhD, 2018, Virginia Tech, Post-doc)
Sampath Alahakoon (PhD, 2019, Kotelawela Defense University, 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)