CMDD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Research
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director / Nanomaterials Theory Institute
Education, Professional Experience, Activities, and Honors: Bobby G. Sumpter received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Southwestern Oklahoma State University(1983) with minors in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, and Geology. He received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Oklahoma State University in 1986. Following postdoctral studies in Chemical Physics at Cornell University 1987-1988 and in Polymer Chemistry at the University of Tennessee. Bobby joined the Chemistry Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Polymer Science group in 1992. He serves as an Advisory Committee Member of the "International Journal of Smart Engineering System Design" and on the editorial board of "Research Letters in Nanotechnology". He is a continuing co-organizer of the annual international meeting, Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, Co-organized and Chaired the 1st DOE Workshop on Applications of Neural Networks in Materials Science (Feb 28-March 2, 1994), Co-organized a symposium at the 1999 SERMACS meeting, and Co-organized and chaired the modeling and simulation track at the IEEE NANO 2008 meeting. Bobby has authored or co-authored over 300 publications in refereed journals. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, , American Physical Society, American Institute of Chemists, Sigma XI, International Neural Network Society, Materials Research Society. Bobby was part of a research team that received the ORNL-CASD Technical Achievement Award in 1996 and the Lockheed Martin Energy Research significant advent award 1999.
Interests and Expertise: Dr. Sumpters' research interests are focused on understanding the chemistry and physics of molecular systems with emphasis at the nanoscale level. Particular focus is on theoretical and computational study of: chemistry in nano-confined environments, nanoscale self assembly and self organization processes, fundamental structure and dynamics of molecular-based materials including multi-component polymers and nano-composites, elucidation of the physical, mechanical and electronic properties of nanoscale materials, advanced quantum chemistry, and biotechnology.
Brock Butler graduated from Hot Springs High School in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is currently pursuing his bachelor's degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a major in Information Science and a minor in Information Assurance. In cooperation with the Safe Foods Cooperation, his research project involves the study of antimicrobial molecules for future development of compounds that can be used to prevent food spoilage and extend food safety in countries all over the world.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Member of the Associate
- Founding President and CEO / Safe Foods Corporation
Curtis Coleman is a small businessman and nationally known Constitutional and liberty advocate. Coleman was the Founding President and CEO of Safe Foods Corporation, an international food safety company with headquarters in North Little Rock, AR and now making food supplies safer on four continents.
He is the Managing Partner/CEO of Promesa, LLC (a business leadership consulting firm) and Founder and Chairman of The Institute for Constitutional Policy (an educational non-profit Arkansas corporation), both headquartered in North Little Rock, AR.
In 2005, he was named winner of the Arkansas Entrepreneur of the Year Award. During his tenure as CEO of Safe Foods Corporation, he lectured regularly on team building and servant leadership for the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton School of Business Center for Management and Executive Development.
Mr. Coleman is a graduate of Central Baptist College in Conway, AR, and Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, AR, and studied in the Master of Divinity program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
In 2009, he retired from the day-to-day operations of the Company to give his full time and attention to state and national policy, including an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Arkansas.
He is married to Kathryn Rosenbaum Coleman, and has three children, Randi Mackey, Chris Coleman and J. J. Coleman, and eight grandchildren. Curtis and Kathryn are active members of Little Rock's First Baptist Church.
Mr. Coleman's engagements have taken him to 49 states in the U.S. and more than 38 countries. His first book, Why Fear Death? (The Bible and science answer the question, "What happens when we die?) was published recently.
Job Titles:
- Science Fellow at the US Department of State
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Arkansas
Dr. Ghosh is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). Prior joining to UALR, he worked as a senior research scientist at Halliburton Energy Services. He obtained his M.S. (Chemistry) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Ph.D. (Chemistry) from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Ghosh teaches Inorganic and Organic Chemistry courses and his research interest lies on synthesizing novel catalysts and materials for numerous applications. Use of renewable reagents and polymers for synthesizing novel chemicals and materials is also his focus of research. For his efforts in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, he was a co-awardee of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Dr. Ghosh is a recipient of Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial award from the American Chemical Society and Teresa Heinz Environmental Scholarship from Heinz Foundation for his contributions on Sustainable Chemistry. In 2015, he was chosen as the "professor of year" award by the Central Arkansas American chemical Society.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Arkansas
Dr. Darin E. Jones is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Before to moving to Little Rock, he worked at Pfizer Inc. as a medicinal chemist and project leader for over a decade and performed small molecule drug discovery and development in a variety of therapeutic areas. His current research interests are the discovery of novel anti-cancer agents and mechanisms of chemotherapeutic resistance. He received a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Missouri and was a post-doctoral scientist at the University of California in Riverside.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Dr. Freddy T. Nguyen, M.D., Ph.D.received his Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his M.D. from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Mathematics from Rice University. Dr. Nguyen is currently the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has extensive experience in biomedical optics and cancer research at Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology leading to multiple publications and patents. During his PhD, he received a predoctoral fellowship from the Breast Cancer Research Program of the Department of Defense - Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. His thesis research focused on the development and validation of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) for the intraoperative assessment of tumor margins and lymph nodes during breast cancer surgeries. He also worked on the development of targeted multi-modal protein microspheres as a delivery vehicle for contrast agents to bridge the localization of tumor cells across macro scale and micron scale imaging modalities such as MRI, Fluorescence, OCT, and Magnetomotive-OCT. His previous work has also focused on other spectroscopic techniques such as intrinsic fluorescence, Raman, diffuse reflectance, and light scattering for the detection and diagnosis of cancer as well as evaluate tumor responses to chemotherapeutics. His research interests lie in the development and translation of optical imaging techniques, targeted particle development, and nanoscale sensors particularly in their applications to the field of oncology.
Dr. Nguyen has consistently been a strong advocate for trainees throughout his career. He is the founder and was the President (2005-2008) and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2005-2010) for the American Physician Scientists Association, an organization that was built to support and advocate for physician-scientist trainees. In 2006, he was recognized by the Excellence in Medicine Award from the American Medical Association Foundation for his leadership. In 2014, the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) jointly with the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians recognized Dr. Nguyen with the APSA Directors' Award for his "indefatigable dedication to physician-scientist trainees" and in celebration of 10th anniversary of the founding of APSA. He was a member of the Physician Scientist Initiative Committee headed by the Association of Professors of Medicine (2006-2008) and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Clinical and Translational Science Network headed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science & Science Careers (2008-2011). He also represented his peers by serving on the Associate Member Council of the American Association for Cancer Research (2009-2012), and on the Council of Student Members for American College of Physicians (2015-2016). He has also remains highly committed and involved with his alma mater, Rice University, currently serving as President of the Rice Alumni in Medicine group and having previously served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Rice Alumni (2008-2011).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Baker Capital As CEO
- General Partner / BCF Group, LLC / Houston, Texas
Dr. James G. Cosgrove has had experience in various leadership levels including strategy development, execution and board governance. His positions have included large corporate responsibility, international assignments and entrepreneurial start-ups.
He is currently a General Partner of BCF Group, LLC. Jim was a founding partner of the BCF Group, an oil & gas exploration and development company. The Group raised a Fund in 2006 and has drilled multiple wells. An extension of the Fund was raised in the summer of 2009 and several individual Operating Agreements have been funded in recent years. He is still active with several start-up companies.
Prior to BCF, Jim joined Baker Capital as CEO in Residence in 1998. Baker Capital Corp. is a private equity management firm with $1.5B under management. They are focused on the telecommunications industry, software and networked based applications sector. Jim assisted in identifying attractive investments, performing due diligence on potential investments, serving on Boards, and in developing corporate strategies for the Baker Communications Fund's portfolio companies. For example, he was Chairman of the Board for S2 Systems, a Baker portfolio company, until the company was sold. After the initial Baker investment, Jim served as the CEO of S2.
Dr.Jerry Darsey graduated with a B.S. Degree in Physics from Louisiana State University. He subsequently completed the Ph.D. Degree in Physical Chemistry at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Dr. Darsey worked for six years at Tarleton State University (Texas A&M University System), Stephenville, TX as an Assistant & Associate Professor of Chemistry holding a visiting professor position in many other colleges. He is now a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Dr.Darsey has received numerous honors, he was selected by the International Biographical Center in Cambridge England, biography to be included in The 2,000 Eminent Scientists of the 21 st Century, 1st Edition. He was the Organizing Chairman for Regional American Chemical Society Meeting, Little Rock, AR (Atomic and Molecular Modeling and Simulation) and the Chairman, Chemistry Section, Arkansas Academy of Science 78th Annual Meeting.
Dr.Darsey is the inventor or co-inventor on seven patents issued by the Unites States Patent and Trademark office and have authored or co-authored approximately 130 manuscripts in the fields of molecular modeling, neural network simulations, conformational modeling of polymers and proteins, and Monte-Carlo modeling, as well as a book, which is in final revision, on applications of neural networks to molecular and biomolecular systems. He have given more than 300 presentations at regional, national, and international meetings.
His research interests are primarily in computer modeling techniques of atomic and molecular systems for the elucidation of their chemical and physical properties, but also interested in bioinformatics and is involved in several such projects with medical applications. His research in drug design uses techniques pioneered in his laboratory that involve artificial intelligence procedures and quantum mechanical simulations. He also works in the area of nanotechnology to model atomic and molecular nanoclusters for developing new materials to enhance hydrogen storage. As either a Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator, he had received more than $2.5 million in external funding from NASA, Department of Energy, Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease, and others.
Dr. John Bush,received a PHD in Microbiology and Immunology from the graduate school at LSU-S Medical School in Shreveport, Louisiana. He has been working in understanding the molecular mechanisms of vesicular transport in the NIH approved model system of the haploid amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum. He has published 27 different publications in this field.
Research Gate rates him in the top 18% of scientists rated by that website. He has interests of using the high impact tools of molecular design, bioinformatics, and molecular and cellular biology to answer basic questions of organelle biogenesis and vesicle transport. Areas of his other expertise that overlap these questions include developmental biology and bacterial phagocytosis and host relationships.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Professor at the College of Information Networking for Innovation
Dr. Kenji Yoshigoe, is Professor at the College of Information Networking for Innovation and Design (INIAD), Toyo University. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of South Florida in 2000 and 2004, respectively. During his tenure at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), he has served as the Chair of the Department of Computer Science, the Director of the NSA Designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE), and the Director of the UALR Computational Research Center (CRC).Dr. Yoshigoe has founded the UALR CRC in 2012. CRC is dedicated to the promotion of efficiency, productivity, and accuracy in research through the use of significant and diverse computing resources and is designed to address the diversity of research community and to serve varied computational requirements of this diversified environment at UALR. This center is unique to Arkansas and brings a new level of computing capacity and capability to education, corporate, and government research organizations.Dr. Yoshigoe's research explores new algorithms, protocols, and architectures for various interconnected systems ranging from tightly-coupled high performance computing systems to resource-constrained wireless sensor networks to dynamically evolving social networks. He is currently investigating emerging issues of efficiently handling data while protecting privacy and security on these systems in the age of big data analytics. Dr. Yoshigoe is a recipient of many funding awards from the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and National Institute of Health. He is an editorial board member of IET Wireless Sensor Systems and River Publishers Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility - Special Issue on Big Data Theory and Practice, has co-chaired on the International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization and IEEE International High Assurance Systems Engineering, and serves as a technical committee member on many international conferences and workshops.
Dr. Noureen Siraj is a physical/analytical chemist working as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry for University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Before joining UALR, she worked as a Research Associate in Warner Research Group at Louisiana State University. Her primary research is about the synthesis and characterization of Ionic Liquids (ILs), frozen organic salts and their nanomaterials for energy application, sensor and cancer therapy. She has designed new materials for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs), Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) and Photodynamic Therapy. She earned her Ph.D. degree in the field of electrochemistry from Graz University of Technology, Austria with distinction of 4.0/4.0 GPA, and Masters in Physical Chemistry from University of Karachi, Pakistan with four Gold Medals for securing first position. Prior to her doctoral studies she worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, University of Karachi.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Department of Physics / Virginia Commonwealth University
- Distinguished Professor of Physics at Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Purusottam (Puru) Jena, Distinguished Professor of Physics at Virginia Commonwealth University received B. Sc. (Hons) and M. Sc. in Physics from Utkal University, India and Ph. D. in Physics from the University of California at Riverside. After postdoctoral and visiting appointments at State University of New York, Albany; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, Northwestern University, Evanston, and Argonne National Laboratory he joined the Physics faculty of Michigan Technological University, Houghton. He moved to Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond in 1980 where he has remained ever since with the exception of a year (1986-87) as a Program Director at the Materials Science Division of the National Science Foundation, and a year (2007-08) as a Jefferson Science Fellow and Senior Science Advisor at the US Department of State.
Dr. Jena's research covers a wide range of topics in condensed matter, atomic, and molecular Physics. These include electronic structure of metals, semiconductors, superconductors, alloys, liquid metals, point and complex defects, surfaces, thin films, atomic clusters, cluster assembled materials, nanoscience, and nanotechnology. His current research involves three major areas: structure and properties of nanoclusters and cluster assembled materials, renewable energy with particular emphasis on hydrogen storage, and spintronics. Dr. Jena is the author of nearly 450 papers including editor of 12 conference proceedings. He has given over 350 invited talks in international conferences and academic institutions in nearly 30 countries around the world.
Dr. Jena's honors include: Jefferson Science Fellow at the US Department of State, David Hare Professorship lecture at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, India; Fellow of the American Physical Society, Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia; University Award of Excellence and Outstanding Scholar Award from Virginia Commonwealth University; and Chair of the Gordon Conference on Metal-Hydrogen Interactions. He has organized more than thirty international conferences and has served as a member of scientific panels for the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and Army research Office. He was a member of the Executive Committee that drafted the report on the "Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen Economy" for the Department of Energy. He has also served on the Virginia Governor's task force on green energy technologies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Research Scientist
Dr. Rauf Razzaq is currently a Research Scientist at Leibniz Institute for Catalysis
(LIKAT) University of Rostock, Germany. Prior to joining LIKAT, he worked as
gas shift reaction, carbonylation, and coal-biomass pyrolysis. Dr. Razzaq is the
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Lead Scientist / Engineering
- Manager, Technology Branch of the Education Office at the Johnson Space Center
Dr. Robert Shelton is currently manager, Technology Branch of the Education Office at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rice University in 1975, and received BA in Mathematics from Rice University in 1971. He worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, N.J. Dr. Shelton is responsible for the Digital Learning Network and Web Applications group at NASA Johnson Space Center. He is also Lead Scientist for the Engineering Orbital Dynamics & SIM Team Simulations and Graphics Branch at NASA Johnson Space Center.
His research interest include designing intelligent systems such as neural networks, designing and developing innovative interface software to represent data in a form accessible to students with vision or perception disabilities. He developed Math Description Engine (MDE) to provide alternative accessibility for students with vision or perception disabilities. MDE uses rule-based and computational machine intelligence, feature extraction, and description synthesis to analyze, describe and signify equations and data. He developed an Artificial Intelligence software program involving artificial neural networks, NETS; a tool for the development and evaluation of neural networks, and provides a simulation algorithm plus an environment for developing such algorithms.
Dr. Shelton received many exceptional awards for outstanding research. He received Laureate for The Tech Museum Award - Technology Benefiting Humanity, for the year 2007. He received NASA Software runner-up award for the year 2006, for his software on Artificial Neural Networks, received NASA Exceptional Service Medal for 2001, and received National Business & Disability Council Award of Honor. Johnson's Space Center honored him with JSC Director's Innovation Award for the year 2004. Dr. Shelton is the author of almost 100 publications, and received 2 patents. With his exceptional performance, he received many accolades from research community at the Johnson Space Center.
Dr. Shelton, developed software tools for students, researchers and educators. Products included ILIAD (1995), an intelligent meta-search agent for teachers; NASA Qwhiz (1998), an interactive, multi-player, web-based science challenge game; ROVer Ranch(2000), an interactive web-based robotic lab with 3-d VRML simulation environment.
Dr. Robert T. Patterson, Adjunct Faculty at the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka campus, has over eleven years of experience with chemical processes and product development with expertise in the synthesis and production of specialty EPM, EPDM, NBR and acrylate derived polymers. He also has experience in grafting and processing with co-rotating twin screw extruder. He has practical experiences with technical support for both sales and manufacturing. He produced 34m Tons of a new solvent, saved half man year in production cost for an established product by providing a new GC based analytical method that replaced an older HPLC method and also developed extruder based methods to access the impact of changes in manufacturing on the processing ability of oil additive polymers. He conducted research in area of RAFT (reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer) polymerization. He also developed new Ziegler-Natta third monomers.
He has many publications and few of them are ‘An Improved Interpretation of the Woodward-Hoffmann Rules', ‘Schizophrenic Substituents: The Origin of Anomalous Substituent Effects on Cycloaddition Regioselectivities', ‘Synthesis of an Azulene Lactone by an Intramolecular [6 + 4] Cycloaddition', etc.
He has 2 patents namely
Dr. Tansel Karabacak, received his BS degree in 1996 from Physics at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. He conducted his PhD studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Department of Applied Physics in the field of growth dynamics of thin film coatings and glancing angle deposited (GLAD) nanostructures. After he received his doctoral degree in 2003 and a period of postdoctoral research at RPI, in 2006 he joined University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Department of Applied Science as a faculty member. He also became the graduate coordinator of the Applied Science PhD program at UALR. In recent years, Dr. Karabacak has been working on various projects on the properties and applications of GLAD nanostructures and physical vapor deposited thin films. He is primarily interested in alternative energy technologies including solar cells, fuel cells, and batteries. His research led to numerous awards including American Vacuum Society Graduate Research Award and University of Arkansas Excellence in Research Award, and also to several grants from NSF, NASA, and DOE. As of 2016, he is the author and co-author of about 80 journal papers, 40 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, two book chapters, two patents, and several pending patents.
Dr. Z. Ryan Tian,an Assoc. Prof. of Chemistry/Biochemistry, directs The Nanostrcutures Lab in the Institute of Nanoscience/Engineering, the Nanomaterials Synthesis Lab in Chem/Biochem, and R2R-Printing Lab in the High Density Electronics Center (HiDEC) at UARK. He obtained Ph.D. in Chemistry (Materials) with a minor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at U. of Connecticut, and B.Sc. in Chemistry (Catalysis) from Fudan U. in China. Prior to joining the UARK in 2004, he worked in the Sandia National Labs' Nanosynthesis and Interfacial Nanoscience Depts (Albuquerque, NM), and managed three production-lines, E&D teams, and Production Transfer to Oversea in the AXT Inc. (Fremont, CA).
Prof. Tian has been developing new basic interfacial and structural nanochemistry in constructing 0D- and 1D-nanoparticles into 3D-structures, for tackling longstanding problems in energy and healthcare. Tian-lab's inventions were shown on Science News, Discovery (News), NBC (TV Channel), Materials Today, AAAS-Eureka!, ACS, ACerS, MRS, and to President Obama (in White House, and again in Obama's New Delhi Summit with India Prime Minister), ex-President of India, Dr. Abdul-Kalam (at UARK), Arkansas Governor Beebe, Mr. Jim Walton (Arvest Bank owner, Sam Walton's son), Mr. Scott Livingston (Wall Street #1 investor in nanotech), Mr. Larry Bock (US iconic entrepreneur), Senators/Congressman/woman, et al. The TiFiber, LLC, a UARK-spinoff company that started from licensing Tian-lab's IP of TiO2-based nanofibers and hiring people with trainings from Tian-lab, recently announced to hire 200 people at its manufacturing site in Fort Smith, AR. Since 2008, Tian-lab has been working on rechargeable Na-S and Li-ion batteries, long-lasting primary mini-battery, super-capacitor, and fuel-cell, through working with industry partners and sponsors in USA.
Prof. Tian served as one of two co-founders and a founding associate editor for the J. Nanotech. Engr. Med, one of four cofounders for the Arkansas Institute of Nanoscience/Engineering, a cofounding Fellow and first Fundraising Committee Chair for the American Society of Nanomedicine, one of the two cofounders for the Global Nanomadicine Initiative ($18M), and numerous nanotech journals' editorial boards. He helped bring in $45M grants to the UARK to date, and published 70 peer-reviewed papers (Citations 4,000; h-index = 22) and two book-chapters.
A Business/Organizational Administration graduate of Northwestern University, Joanne Swindell's premed studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock introduced her to the love of her life, Dr.Robert T. Swindell who became her husband. She subsequently graduated with a doctorate of law from the William Bowen School of Law in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Her career path has included: college instructor, administrative director of a retirement home project, director of an Arts council, Maumelle Facilities board/director, national and local political campaign organization, fundraising for arts, medicial and Native American causes, published author and caregiver. Her best friend is her chocolate lab, Dahli.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Dean, College of Arts and Science
Joseph S. Francisco was President of the American Chemical Society from 2009-2010. He served as the William E. Moore Distinguished Professor of Physical Chemistry, and, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He received his bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977 and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. He was President of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers from 2006-2008. He is also a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award, appointed a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy; Professeur Invité at the Université de Paris-Est, France; a Visiting Professor at Uppsala Universitet,Sweden; and an Honorary International Chair Professor, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan. He was elected as the Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010 and was elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2013. He also received Honorary Doctor of Science Degrees from Tuskegee University in 2010 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2011. He was appointed to serve on the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science for the period 2010-2012 and 2012-2014.
Research in Dr. Francisco's laboratory focuses on basic studies in spectroscopy, kinetics and photochemistry of novel transient species in the gas phase. These species play an important role in atmospheric, biochemical and combustion processes. Yet questions dealing with how structures correlate to reactivity and photochemical mechanisms have not been addressed for these systems. These problems are addressed by research efforts in our laboratory. Specific research areas of interest are: 1) Spectroscopic determinations of electronic and vibrational transitions in free radicals; 2) Measurement of the kinetics of individual gas-phase reaction steps involving free radicals in complex reaction mechanisms; and 3) Characteristics of primary photo chemical processes that free radicals can undergo.
Theoretical and experimental methods are used cooperatively in extending spectroscopic information on these species. Our goal is to use state-of-the-art molecular orbital methods to predict the properties that can be used as a guide in the experimental search. Using a variety of high resolution laser techniques, such as laser-induced fluorescence, vibrational and electronic emission, multi-photon and UV absorption spectroscopy, we aim to make spectroscopic measurements for these novel species in the gas phase, and fully characterize them. Dr. Francisco has published more than 400 journal articles, written nine book chapters, co-authored the textbook Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics, and served on numerous national science councils.
Joseph Francisco has most recently been appointed as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ellen Weissinger, senior vice chancellor of academic affairs announced this appointment of Dr. Francisco as dean of the university's largest college. "As a researcher and an educator, Joe has demonstrated the highest level of performance at every stage of his career and he has a rare talent for inspiring excellence in others," Weissinger said. Dr. Francisco will begin his new duties on July, 1, 2014.
Mark Clifford, a lifelong native of Central Arkansas, holds a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Film Making from The University of Central Arkansas. He won a Telly Award for the documentary "The Judge Villines Story". He is connected to a network of independent contractors who work in various capacities within the local television and film industries. Currently he works as a photographer and produces a television program titled "CLC Experience" which airs weekly on METV.
Throughout his career, Mark has performed the following jobs in the television and film industries: Actor, Art Director, Broadcast Engineer, Camera Operator, Colorist, Director, Editor (Audio), Editor (Video), Gaffer, Graphic Artist, Mixer, On Air Personality, Producer, Sound Recordist, Stunt Performer, and TV Presenter.
Micah Shaver graduated in Chemistry in fall 2022. She is the first author on publication: Micah Shaver, Jerry A Darsey. "The Design of New and Environmentally Safe Herbicides Using AI and Molecular Modeling." Bioengineering & Biosciences. She is the center's new Research Assistant.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Steve Landers is a businessman and philanthropist from Benton (Saline County) who founded
Arkansas's largest chain of automotive dealerships. In 2004, Landers Auto Sales, Inc., had the