Alumni

Bob jumping in the river with Shelbie Powers and Julia Widmer after graduation. Below, meeting of current (Evan and Taylor) and alumni (Mary Kay and Melanie) Slime Gang members: (L-R, Evan Ortiz, Mary Kay Koenig, Bob, Taylor Ranson, and Melanie Smith) at Texas branch ASM meeting UTMB, Galveston 11/8/2024.

2022 Graduation (below) L-R Charlotte Packard, Erin Brown, Calvin Tran, Abi Finn, Mya Leonidis, Julia Widmer, and Bob (before jump), and lower picture (after jump in river)

 

2024 jump – Bob, Royce and Regan

Bob’s graduation jump to occur in May 2025 (all alumni are welcome)

Slime gang (McLean lab) alumni – 1988-present

Postdocs

  • Weihua Chu, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing China, visiting professor and postdoc, 2009-2010, now Associate Professor China Pharmaceutical Univ
  • Starla Thornhill 2021, now scientist at JES Tech (NASA contractor)

Graduate students

  • Anita Dumanski, MSc Queen’s University 1992, now at Merck
  • Tony Persaud, MSc Queen’s University 1994 (co-supervised with D. Beauchemin and HE Jamieson)
  • Peter Vincent, MSc Queen’s University 1995 (co-supervised with M. Sayer, Physics)
  • Pamela White 2004-2005
  • Mary Kay Koenig, MS Texas State 1996, now Professor of Pediatric Neurology UT-Health, Houston
  • Tati Slimp (Shoeneweis), MS Texas State 1996, now QA manager, Janssen Pharmaceutical
  • Marvin Whiteley, MS Texas State 1997, now Professor at Georgia Tech University
  • Peter Khu, MSc Queen’s University 1998 (co-supervised with W.T. Yen, Mining Engineering)
  • Heidi Knowles, MS Texas State 1998, now Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, TCU
  • Jennifer Krumins (Adams), MS Texas State 1998, now Professor of Biology, Montclair State University
  • Leslie Harper, MS Texas State 1998
  • LJ Smith, MS Texas State 1999
  • Sabitha Prabhakaran, MS Texas State 1999, now Associate Director of Research Planning & Development – Genomic Medicine at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Brian Corbin, MS Texas State 2000 (co-supervised with G Aron), now Director of Technical Services, Eastern Technologies Inc.
  • Jim Jankowski, MS Texas State 2000 (co-supervised with S West)
  • Grant Balzer, MS Texas State 2000, now Business Development Manager, Ohly Inc.
  • Maricela Arias-Cantu, MS Texas State 2000
  • Katy Lyles (Windham), MS Texas State 2001
  • Kerry Fuson, MS Texas State 2002
  • Christa French (Bates), MS Texas State 2004
  • Mubina Merchant, MS Texas State 2005
  • Allana Welsh, MS Texas State 2005, now Scientist Agricen
  • Pejmon Afshar, MS Texas State 2006
  • Mary Weber, MS Texas State 2007, now Associate Professor, University of Iowa
  • William Boswell, MS Texas State 2007
  • Maria Jimenez 2007-2008
  • Shubhankar Nath, MS Texas State 2009
  • Sarah Larocca, MS Texas State 2010
  • Alicia Taylor, MS Texas State 2010
  • Nihar Deb Adhikary, MS Texas State 2011, now Research Scientist, Univ LA-Lafayette
  • Tesfalem Zere, MS Texas State 2011, now Consumer Safety Officer, FDA
  • Ayme Cardwell, MS Texas State 2011
  • Ben Hidalgo-Romano, MS Texas State 2013
  • Marwa Altameemi, MS Texas State 2013 (co-supervised with V Maitin and D Vattem)
  • Priscilla Pham 2014-2021 (co-supervised with V Maitin and D Vattem)
  • Shelly Pringle, MS Texas State 2014
  • Candace Longoria, MS Texas State 2016, now Postdoc, Rutgers Univ
  • Avry Howell (Stolzman), MS Texas State 2016, now Veterinarian, Bandera TX
  • Sara Hall (Robertson), MS Texas State 2016, now Senior Solutions Engineer, Twilo
  • Keith Garcia 2015-2016, now Postdoc, Stanford
  • Eric Torkildsen, MS Texas State 2015
  • Danielle Wilson, MS Texas State 2016
  • Starla Thornhill, MS Texas State 2016 – Starla continued as a PhD student, now works at NASA-JSC
  • Ernie Valenzuela Jr, MS Texas State 2017 (Ernie, we were saddened to hear that Ernie, an outstanding individual recently passed away, December 2022. He will certainly be fondly remembered for the joy he brought to the lab.)
  • Kerri White, MS Texas State 2017
  • Diarra Hassell, MS Texas State 2017
  • Ashley Summers, MS Texas State 2018
  • Lindsey Tristan, MS Texas State 2019
  • Sahar Kianarsi, MS Texas State 2019
  • Quentin DiPasquale, MS Texas State 2019
  • Christan Walker 2020
  • Starla Thornhill, PhD Texas State 2020 – Starla continued as a postdoc and now works at NASA-JSC
  • Shelbie Powers, MS Texas State 2021, now Medical Student, University of Houston
  • Julia Widmer, MS Texas State 2021, now Medical Student, St. George’s University
  • Calvin Tran, MS Texas State 2022, now Dental Student, Tufts University
  • Charlotte Packard, MS Texas State 2023
  • Maryam Ghadami, MS Texas State 2023 (co-supervised with Xijun (Jeff) Shi, Texas State University)
  • Aron Valdez, MS Texas State 2023
  • Alexis Hailey, MS Texas State 2023

Undergraduate students

  • Lauren Bickerton, 1991 (co-supervised with D Beauchemin, Queen’s University )
  • Alison Campbell, 1992 (co-supervised with D Beauchemin, Queen’s University )
  • Peter Khu, 1992
  • Dennis McCarty, 1994
  • Robert Routh, 1994
  • Pamela White, 1994
  • Kristi Dunn (co-supervised with G Upchurch), 1995
  • Denise Andrewartha, 1995
  • Erica Hughes, 1996
  • Hillary Bates, 1996
  • Erin Brown, 1996
  • Heather Larson, 1997
  • Amy Primmer, 1999
  • Gregg Bean, 1999
  • Matt Garner, 2000
  • Angela Roth, 2000
  • Elizabeth Pham, 2002
  • Christa Bates, 2002
  • April Czermerys, 2003
  • Cory Potts, 2003
  • Melanie Smith (Leal), 2004, now works at NASA
  • Toni Sanger, 2004
  • Vanessa Pearson, 2004
  • Chris McGowin, 2004
  • Julie Frost, 2005
  • Olivia Gamez, 2005
  • Patricia Zenker, 2005
  • Sandy Watkins, 2006, now co-owner of Uniform Destinations
  • Natalie Coldeway, 2006
  • Becky Fling, 2006
  • Jennifer Hamil, 2006
  • Aparna Mamidi, 2006
  • Monte Gomez, 2006
  • Megan Banning, 2007
  • Heath Keel, 2007
  • Veronika Huerta, 2007
  • Amani Khamis, 2007
  • Amani Zayed, 2007
  • Katie Mallet, 2007
  • Jaqueline Rohan, 2008
  • Gabriel Ortiz, 2008
  • Lindsey Wiggins, 2008
  • Mercy Dehart, 2008
  • James May, 2008
  • Tyler Cole, 2009
  • Maggie Maido, 2009
  • Carlos Perez, 2009-2010, now Assistant Professor of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine
  • Ashley Orr, 2010-2013, now Lead UX Designer, Portnox
  • Chris Munoz, 2010-2013, now Research Scientist Radix
  • Amanda Duran, 2010-2011, now Protein Engineering Scientist, Cyrus Biotechnology
  • Sherille Sanders (Bradley), 2010-2011, now Research Scientist, Proctor and Gamble
  • Jared Korn, 2011
  • Kourtney Dwyer (Applegate), 2011-2012, now Ophthalmologist, Decatur TX
  • Jimmy Gollihar, 2011-2012, now Research Scientist, Houston Methodist
  • Lance English, 2012-2013, now Assistant Professor, Temple College
  • Logan Warren, 2012-2013
  • Leigh Hostetler (Maberry), 2013, now QC manager, Real Ale
  • Bronte Gonzalez, 2013-2014
  • Starla Thornhill, 2013-2014 (Starla continued for her MS and PhD degrees, and a brief postdoc), now works as a Scientist at NASA-JSC
  • Mark Holliday, 2014, now Medical Student, UT-Health, San Antonio
  • Brian Stice, 2014
  • Karen Tennison, 2014
  • Curtis McCloud, 2015
  • Lindsi Clayton, 2015
  • Frank Alfano, 2015
  • Kelly Braddock, 2015
  • Quentin DiPasquale, 2015-17 (Quentin continued as a MS student)
  • Natalie Flygare, 2016-2017
  • Clay Evans, 2017
  • Mara Cabungcal, 2018
  • Kathryn Edwards, 2018, now works as a Clinical Trials Associate in Harrisburg PA
  • Shelbie Powers, 2018-19 (Shelbie continued as a MS student), now in Medical School, University of Houston
  • Chloe Troupe, 2019
  • Luke Alsbrooks, 2019, now in Clinical Lab Sciences Program, Texas State Univ
  • Lilly Crowns 2020-21
  • Erin Brown 2018-22, now works as a Research Technician, UT-Health, Houston
  • Abigail Finn 2021-22, now in PhD program, University of Illinois
  • Emma Huff 2021-22
  • Miya Leonidis 2021-22
  • Taylor Ranson 2020-22 (Taylor is continuing as a MS student)
  • Regan Daly 2023-24
  • Cherie Maharaj 2024
  • Addy Hoffman 2024

Technicians and Lab Visitors

  • David Stickler, Cardiff University, UK, 1997
  • Eric Weaver, 1998, now Professor, University of Nebraska
  • Ken Jacques, 1998 (NSF Science Math Technology Education Institute (SMTEI))
  • “Slimy Biohunters” (Brent Krause, Justin Franke, Thomas Sanchez, Keri Mounger and Kristen Scott, Travis Middle School, Port Lavaca TX); Keller Tiemann, Malcolm McLean, and Alistair McLean, from Wimberley TX [elementary students who helped with the shuttle biofilm experiment], 1998
  • Katie Propst, (Nanobacteria science fair project, Merino High School, CO) 1999
  • Nancy Perkins (NSF – SMTEI program; co-supervised with G Aron), 1999
  • Karen Wilkes, 1999 (SMTEI)
  • Patricia Cecconi (Parker) (co-supervised with JMH Teichman, UT Health Sciences Center at San Antonio ), 1999
  • Ramon Madred (Martian Life science fair project, Canyon Middle School, New Braunfels, TX) 1999
  • Anna Razatos , 1999 (Honorary Slime Gang Alumna and former PhD student with G Georgiou, University of Texas )
  • Aaron Olmos (NIH Bridges Program), 2000
  • Tim Nealon, St. Phillip’s College, 2000
  • Donna Bocanegra (NIH Bridges Program), 2001
  • Kim Martin (NIH Bridges Program), 2001
  • Bob Furtado, Teacher at Westlake High School, Austin TX – SMTEI, 2002.  We are saddened by the untimely passing of RL (Bob) Furtado on July 7, 2002. Bob taught for a number of years at Anderson High School in Austin and more recently at Westlake High School in Austin TX. He will be remembered for his boundless enthusiasm for science and pursuing scientific discoveries, as well as his dedication to his students.
  • Adriana Thrasher, NASA Johnson Space Center , 2002
  • Victoria Castro, NASA Johnson Space Center , 2002
  • Sandra Becerra (NIH Bridges Program), 2002
  • Geronimo Cortez (NIH Bridges Program), 2002
  • Shanika Glenn (NIH Bridges Program), 2002
  • Pamela Hathorn, formerly Midwestern State University , 2002-2003
  • Becky Sink, Midwestern State University , 2002-2003
  • Mary Barnes, 1995-2004. We were really sad to lose Mary as she has been an integral part of our lab for 10 years. We wish Mary, Paul, and their family all the best in their new home in New Orleans.
  • Jarah Meador, 2004 (Honorary Slime Gang Alumna and former PhD student with David Mitchell, MD Anderson Research Park)
  • Sue Reilly, 2004
  • James Neece, 2005
  • Richard Romeo – MacArthur High School, San Antonio, TX 2005
  • Nora Sabbuba, Postdoc with David Stickler, Cardiff University, UK, 2007
  • Stephanie Craig (Honorary Slime Gang Alumna and former Ph.D. student with Shelley Payne, University of Texas ), 2008
  • Daniel Willis, Rice University, summer 2010, 2011
  • Letty Vega, 2012 (Honorary Slime Gang Alumna and former PhD Student with Pedro Alvarez, Rice University)
  • Chris Barragan (NIH Bridges Program), 2015
  • Jiseon Yang, Arizona State University, 2019-2020
  • Sandhya Gangaraju, Arizona State University, 2019-2020
  • Lydia Neibauer, 2019
  • Arjun Yenamandra, 2021
  • Lahari Suraparaju, 2021
  • Katharina Siems (Honorary Slime Gang Alumna and PhD student with Ralf Moeller, DLR, 2022)