UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN - Key Persons


Adriana Bustos-Cruz

Job Titles:
  • Awards Specialist

Alison Fiorenza

Job Titles:
  • Events Manager

Amanda Davila

Job Titles:
  • Awards Specialist

Anna Battenhouse

Job Titles:
  • Associate
  • Research Scientist
  • Research Scientist in the Labs of Drs
Anna Battenhouse is a research scientist in the labs of Drs. Edward Marcotte and Vishy Iyer as well as leading the Biomedical Research Support Facility in its mission to support the IT and computational needs of the UT Austin biomedical research community. She has extensive experience working with NGS data, and teaches the Introduction to NGS Tools course in the Big Data in Biology Summer School as well as several CBRS short courses. Anna received a B.A. in English Literature from Carleton College in 1978. After a career in commercial software development from 1982-2007, Anna began her "retirement career" in functional genomics in the Iyer lab, and obtained a B.S. in Biochemistry from UT Austin in 2013.

Anna Hatfield

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Assistant

Annie Williams

Job Titles:
  • Financial Analyst

Ashley Crosson

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Associate

Axel Brilot

Job Titles:
  • Facility Director

Benni Goetz

Job Titles:
  • Research Engineering / Scientist Associate
Benni Goetz joined the Bioinformatics Consulting Group in 2012. Before joining, Benni studied differential geometry at the University of Texas and completed a Master's Degree in Mathematics. He has experience with transcriptome assembly and annotation, bacterial genome annotation, and next-generation sequence databases. He also can implement custom pipelines, or parallelize existing pipelines to run at TACC, and has familiarity with Python and Bash scripting.

Bob McGarrett

Job Titles:
  • Program Director

Cameron Fletcher

Job Titles:
  • Director of Business Affairs

Caroline Davis

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Program Coordinator - Audit Liaison

Cinda Christian

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director for Research Collaborations & Impact

Clinton Leysath

Job Titles:
  • Program Director for Health & Well - Being

Dan Jaffe

Job Titles:
  • Vice President for Research
Daniel Jaffe, Ph.D., is UT's Vice President for Research. He and his office support President Hartzell's priorities of expanding the university's research capabilities and creating new opportunities for collaboration around campus. The Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors aims to make it easier for faculty and staff to design, pursue, and find funding for projects that advance our understanding of the world and improve our place in it. Dr. Jaffe has supervised the creation of three cross-campus interdisciplinary initiatives, including a grand challenge program, Bridging Barriers, that brings together more than 150 researchers from 52 specialties and departments. Dr. Jaffe also oversees nearly a dozen core research facilities, such as the Texas Advanced Computing Center and Applied Research Laboratories, as well as the Energy and IC2 institutes. Dr. Jaffe's own research focuses on the formation of stars and planetary systems, and he is principal investigator for a high-resolution near-infrared spectrometer at McDonald Observatory, as well as for a high-resolution spectrometer for the Giant Magellan Telescope.

Dennis Wylie

Job Titles:
  • Research Scientist
Dr. Wylie joined the Bioinformatics group in 2015. He has experience in NGS data analysis (including variant calling and analysis of RNA-seq and metagenomic data) and application of statistical and machine learning methods to biological data sets for biomarker discovery, pathway analysis, classification and regression modeling, and motif analysis. Prior to UT, Dennis earned a PhD in Biophysics from UC Berkeley applying stochastic simulation methods to problems in immunology and did postdoctoral work in modeling the transmission of infectious diseases on contact networks before spending six years as a bioinformatician in industry.

Destiny Ford

Job Titles:
  • Senior Human Resource Coordinator

Dhivya Arasappan

Job Titles:
  • Research Scientist
Dhivya Arasappan has many years experience analyzing NGS data from multiple platforms: Illumina, PacBio and SOLiD. Her areas of expertise include: de novo genome assembly, particularly using hybrid sequencing data, RNA-Seq analysis, exome analysis, and benchmarking of bioinformatics tools. She is the research educator for the Big Data in Biology Freshman Research Initiative stream and teaches an RNA-Seq course as part of the Summer School for Big Data in Biology.

Diana Ayala

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Associate

Edward Art

Job Titles:
  • Senior Systems Administrator

Eric Alvarez

Job Titles:
  • Senior Subaward Manager

Erica Dougherty

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Business Analyst

Erin Messersmith

Job Titles:
  • Senior Outreach and Training Coordinator

Evan Schwartz

Job Titles:
  • EM Specialist

Gary Chiang

Job Titles:
  • Senior Software Engineer

Gina Bhakta

Job Titles:
  • Senior Manager of Data & Systems Operations

Hal Alper

Job Titles:
  • Principal Investigator
  • CBRS Executive Director
  • Professor
Hal Alper is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Cellular and Metabolic Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. His lab focuses on metabolic and cellular engineering in the context of biochemical, biofuel, and biopharmaceutical production in an array of model host organisms. Within the context of his research, he focusses on applying and extending the fields of synthetic biology, systems biology, and protein engineering.

Heidi Schmalbach

Job Titles:
  • Program Director

Jason Watson

Job Titles:
  • Senior Web Developer

Jennifer Gardner

Job Titles:
  • Deputy Vice President for Research
Jennifer Lyon Gardner, Ph.D., is UT's Deputy Vice President for Research and has led research capacity-building efforts at the university since 2008. She designs and implements programming that promotes collaborative research, such as UT's campus-wide research grand challenge program, Bridging Barriers, and Associate Professor Experimental (APX), a three-day networking and proposal-writing retreat for newly tenured faculty. She also leads the Research Development group, which provides competitive intelligence and proposal development guidance to research teams pursuing major external funding. Dr. Gardner received her undergraduate degree from Penn State University in chemistry with a minor in English, and she received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. She was a research-track faculty member at the UT Health Science Center in Houston before returning to UT Austin in 2008 to work in research development. Before joining the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors, Dr. Gardner founded the College of Natural Sciences' Strategic Research Initiatives team and served as its director. She also has served on the Board of Directors for the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) and was an inaugural recipient of the organization's Rising Star Award.

Jesus Gonzalez

Job Titles:
  • Events Financial Coordinator

Jill Allred

Job Titles:
  • Executive Assistant

Jill Brault

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Assistant

Jill Johnstone King

Job Titles:
  • Digital Content Coordinator

John Holden

Job Titles:
  • Research Communications Manager

Jonathan Lowell

Job Titles:
  • Engagement & Programming Specialist

Juan Polio

Job Titles:
  • Senior Financial Analyst

Judith Crumrine

Job Titles:
  • Research Business Analyst

Julie Bowers

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Vice President of Finance & Chief Business Officer

Karen Adler

Job Titles:
  • Director

Karen Holguin

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Associate
  • Human Resource Coordinator

Kate Rogers

Job Titles:
  • Limited Submissions Manager

Kayla Dryden

Job Titles:
  • Research Development Officer

Kimberly Jennings

Job Titles:
  • Research Development Officer

Kristin Weidman

Job Titles:
  • Research Administration Manager

Larry Teng

Job Titles:
  • Senior Software Engineer

Lauren Shinn

Job Titles:
  • Program Director for Collaborative Research Networks

Lea Sabatini

Job Titles:
  • Program Director

Lena Suk

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director of Investigator Skill - Building

Loida Martinez

Job Titles:
  • Events Program Coordinator

Lydia Chen

Job Titles:
  • Research Data Analyst

Marc Bruner

Job Titles:
  • Director

Maritza Avelar

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Associate

Mark Billingsley

Job Titles:
  • Proposal Analyst

Mark Featherston

Job Titles:
  • Chief of Staff

Mary Steinhardt

Job Titles:
  • Associate Vice President for Research / Research

Meenakshi Ramnath

Job Titles:
  • Business Solutions Manager

Melanie Allbritton

Job Titles:
  • Senior Awards Specialist

Melanie Morgan Gomez

Job Titles:
  • Research Development Officer

Meredith Chandler

Job Titles:
  • Events Program Coordinator

Michael Wolman

Job Titles:
  • Communications Specialist

Michelle Mikesh

Job Titles:
  • Electron Microscopy Specialist

Monty Van Den Bossche Jr.

Job Titles:
  • Senior Information Technology Manager

Paige Baker

Job Titles:
  • Senior Human Resource Coordinator

PI Book

Job Titles:
  • Researcher Responsibilities

Rebecca Fitch

Job Titles:
  • CBRS As a Senior Administrative Program Coordinator
  • Senior Administrative Program Coordinator
Rebecca joined CBRS as a Senior Administrative Program Coordinator in early 2023. Her primary role is to provide comprehensive support to CBRS, including managing internal initiatives, organizing campus-wide outreach programs, and coordinating events hosted by CBRS. Rebecca's extensive experience in providing administrative and operational support to research labs within the university setting has equipped her with a wide range of skills and knowledge that she utilizes to provide valuable and impactful support to the CBRS team.

Renee Collins

Job Titles:
  • Events Program Coordinator

Rose Orwell

Job Titles:
  • Financial Analyst

Sandra Ciarletta

Job Titles:
  • Senior Administrative Program Coordinator - Concierge / Operations

Sara Clough

Job Titles:
  • Outreach and Training Administrator

Sara Hernando

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director for Research Engagements

Sarah Smith

Job Titles:
  • Research Study Coordinator

Scott Ridings

Job Titles:
  • Senior Graphic Designer

Stacey Ingram Kaleh

Job Titles:
  • Network Relationship Manager

Stephanie Tomlinson

Job Titles:
  • Senior Grants and Contracts Specialist

Susan Lambert

Job Titles:
  • Executive Assistant

Tanya Barnett

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Associate

Terisha de la Cruz - CHRO

Job Titles:
  • Director of Human Resources

Tessa Green

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director for Collaborative Research Engagements

Tony Carna

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Vice President for Research & Director

Zondra Boutte

Job Titles:
  • Awards Specialist