People

Collaborators

Most of our current research is done in collaboration with Kate Wright as part of the MBER (Molecular Biology Education Research) Group at RIT.

Tina Goudreau Collison is a Chemistry Education Researcher at RIT who designed REActivities for Organic Chem Labs.

Jennifer Bailey's area of expertise is biomedical engineering. Her research interests are in spatial reasoning.

Mingyu Yang, UC San Diego, is collaborating with us on a project about conceptions of ATP hydrolysis.

The former Inclusive Excellence Leadership Team at RIT: top row - Scott Franklin, Tina Chapman DaCosta, Dina Newman; bottom row - Lea Michel, Elizabeth Hane.

Post-doctoral Researcher

studying computational and quantitative literacy (co-mentor Ben Zwickl)

Alia Hamdan

Post-doctoral Researcher

studying empathy in physics faculty
(primary mentor Scott Franklin)

Post-doctoral Researcher

studying visual literacy in molecular biology
(co-mentor Kate Wright)

Current Students

Fia Defelice

Biotechnology & Molecular Biosciences

J. Chen

Medical Illustration

Meredith Michetti

Biotechnology & Molecular Biosciences

Shreya Sujith

Biotechnology & Molecular Biosciences

Alumni of MBER 

(*REU Participant, †Research Scholar award)

Noah Courtney*

Biology (Cornell University)

Annabelle Li*

Neuroscience (Smith College)

Tecora Tisdale*

Biology (Duquesne University)

Kerstyn Gay 


M.F.A. in Medical Illustration at RIT, 
created The DNA Landscape Exploration Tool

Siddhartha Menon

M.S. in Game Design at RIT, 

created the Twisted Ladder game 

Aneesh Nallani '24

Biology

Katie Chrisbacher '23

M.D. program at Rutgers Medical School

Irwin Cano

Biotechnology & Molecular Biosciences

Maryam Yousef '24

Biomedical Sciences

Bryan Armpriest*

Biology (SUNY Geneseo)

Ashley Beers*

Chemistry (Penn State U)

Hailey Holtman*

Biochemistry (Hillsdale College)

Jamye Thigpen*

Biology (University of Georgia)

Samantha Conflitti† '23

Lab Technician at University of Rochester Medical Center

Constantine "Dean" Kapetenakis* (Rowan U '23)

M.D. Program at Cooper Medical School, Rowan University

Sarah Abdo* (Chapman University '23)

Ph.D. program at Portland State U

Cole Dwyer*

Biology (University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

Victoria "Tori" Sanberg* (SUNY Binghamton '23)

Laboratory Technician at University of Rochester

Deanna Abid† '22

Laboratory Technician at University of Rochester

Hannah Spector*† '22

Clinical Lab Supervisor at University of Rochester Medical Center

Ella Bahr* (Kansas State University '22)

Certified Nursing Assistant

Derek Dang* (University of Alabama at Birmingham '22)

M.D. Program at UAB

Lydie Guercin* (Emory University '22)

Consultant at Veeva Systems

Liliana Tinoco* (Lewis University '22)

Admission Counselor at Lewis University

Emalee Wrightstone† '21 

Ph.D. program at Cornell University

Lauren Trumpore† '21

Laboratory Technician at Roche

Anna Neuenschwander '21

Freelance Medical Illustrator

Aiden Link* (University of Arkansas '21)

High School Science Teacher

Anna Miller* (College of St. Benedict '21)

Middle School Science Teacher

Korinne Mills* (Florida Southern College '21)

Julia Steele '22

Ph.D. program at Vanderbilt University

Patrick Rynkiewicz, B.S./M.S. '21

Associate Bioinformatics Developer at Regeneron

Aeowynn Coakley* (San Jose State University '21)

Ph.D. program at USC

Paulina Cortez* (San Diego State University '20)

High School Math & Science Teacher

Aimée Hernandez* (University of Texas El Paso '20)

Ph.D. program at UTEP

Ashley Adair (Cardenas)† '18 

Embryologist at Park Avenue Fertility and Reproductive Medicine

Jordan Cardenas*† '18

Ph.D. program at Yale University

Callie Donahue† '18

Ph.D. program at Boston University

Grace Elizabeth Dy* (University of Washington '20)

Ph.D. program at U Washington

Kaitlyn Elliott* (B.S. '18, M.S. '19 at U Colorado Denver)

Middle School Science Teacher

Muhammed Jan* (B.S./B.Ed. '18 at U Alabama Birmingham)

P.A. program at UAB

Danny Mendoza* (University of Alabama Birmingham '18)

J. Nick Fisk†, B.S./M.S. '16

Ph.D. program at Yale University

Christopher Snyder, B.S./M.S. '17

Adjunct Professor

Hanna Berga '18

Specimen Processing Technician at ACM Medical Laboratory

Catherine "Rin" Clasen* (Drake University '19)

Intact Family Case Manager

Megan Stefkovich* (University of Wisconsin - Madison '18)

Ph.D. program at U of Pennsylvania

Kayla DeOca (Robinson)* (B.S. from Jacksonville U '16, Ph.D. from East Carolina U '21)

Scientist at INOVIO Pharmaceuticals

Chloe House* (Kennesaw State University '18)

Analyst at House Moran Consulting

Phyllis Liang* (Cal State Fullerton '15)

Accounts and Operations Manager

Former Post-Doctoral Researchers

Dr. Desirée Forsythe (IE Program Manager 2021-22)

Post-doc at Chapman University

Dr. Rita Margarida Quinones de Magalhães (IE Program Coordinator 2020-2021; Post-doc 2018-2020)

Dr. Britt Wyatt (IE Post-doc 2018-2020)

Assistant Professor at Utah Valley University

Alumni from Human Genetics projects (2003-2013)

Noradilin Abdullah ’08

Osahierme Aghayere ’08

Rezarta Ajazi ’05

Carolina Alexander Rodriguez (Savino)† ’12 - currently in an M.D. program at Upstate Medical University

Haley Bascom (Niziolek)† ’14 (M.S. from Boston University, A.L.M. from Harvard Extension School)

Laura Birdsall ’10

Koko Black ’12

Brenna Brady† ’07 (Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania in 2011)

Andrea Braganza (Jardini)† ’08 (Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh in 2015)

Kailyn Brand† ’10 (M.D. from SUNY Upstate Medical Center in 2014)

Seana Catherman† ’10 (M.S. from University of Rochester in 2019)

Sean Connolly ’08 (M.S. from University of Barcelona in 2014)

Marissa Clopper ’05 (P.A. from Philadelphia University in 2010)

Danielle Cunningham (Glasspoole) ’10 (Ph.D. from UNC Chapel Hill in 2019)

Rebekah deVitry (Fries)† Dec ’04

Kate Dyson ’07 (M.Ed. from Johns Hopkins in 2009)

Matthew Fieger ’07 (M.S. from the University at Buffalo in 2013)

Xuezhou Hou† ‘11 (Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2019)

Aziana Ismail† ’07 (M.S. from Cornell University in 2011)

Pierre Jean Beltran† ‘12 (Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2018)

Mia Johnson (Monroe Community College)

Irene Kannyo ’11

Michelle Koplitz ’08 (M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins in 2010)

Rebecca Lebowitz (Servais)† ’05 (M.A. from Brown University in 2009)

Patricia Libby† ’10

Grace Yun Xin Lim ’08 (M.S. from Oregon Health Science University in 2011)

Peter Lin ’09

Amanda McFedries† ’07 (Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2014)

Candace Middlebrooks ’06 (Ph.D. from Emory University in 2013)

Jeanne Morin-Leisk ’06 (Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University in 2011)

Mohamed Mohamed (Monroe Community College)

Anil Moore (Monroe Community College)

Mohammed Mostajo Radji† ’11 (Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2016)

Furzani Pa’ee† ’08 (Ph.D. from Manchester University in 2012)

Brianca Parker (Monroe Community College)

Andrew Puccio ’10 (M.B.A. from RIT in 2012)

Sesquilé Ramón† ’07 (Ph.D. from University of Rochester in 2013)

Mayra Rodriguez (Monroe Community College '09)

Syafrul Azfar Rosly† ‘10

Kaitlyn Rubin ’12

Rhea Sanchez† ’09 (M.S. from RIT)

Janice Smith ’09 (M.Sc. from UC Irvine in 2011)

Terry Solomon† ’13 (Ph.D. from UC San Diego in 2018)

Amanda Souza† ’09

Ryan Susa† ’05 - currently in a graduate program at Johns Hopkins University

Tanya Spony† ’06 (J.D. from UNH)

Eric Stevens† ’08 (Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 2013)

Olivia Svrchek† ’11 (B.S.N. from Johns Hopkins University in 2012, M.S. from Mount Sinai in 2019)

Justin Talbot ’08 (Ph.D. from RIT in 2011)

Amir Taslimi ’05 (Ph.D. from U of Rochester in 2012)

Stephanie Techeney (Monroe Community College)

Erin Wells (Heine)† ’06 (Ph.D. from Thomas Jefferson U in 2014)

Christina Witkowski ’07

Beniam Yeataihe, (Monroe Community College)


† Research Scholar Award

Other past students

Jade Mullen ’22

Haven Chady '23

Eric Everingham '23

Tony Wen

Regina Chartier '20

Forrest Shooster '19 (M.D./Ph.D. student at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine)

Jazrina Mohd Jasmi '17

Andy Lu '17

Fidel Amezcua (Chicago State University '18, M.S. '23 Georgia Tech)

Katie Lewis

Sarah Deaton, M.S. '16

Sydney Herring ‘18 (Ph.D. '23 from U Buffalo)

Grace Morales† ’18 (Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt U)

Madison Ricco ’18 (Pharm. D. '22 from University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy)

Azam Fikri Taifor ’14 (M.S. from Universiti Putra Malaysia)

Benjamin Tobin ‘13