The OPA Board of Directors is an elected, volunteer group consisting of executive members and committee chairs from diverse departments and backgrounds.

We meet once a month to discuss various updates and needs related to our mission. All meetings are open to the postdoctoral community. Please email us for more information on the meeting schedule!

 

Past members

 

2022-2023 Board members

President

Lindsey St. Mary, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology

Lindsey received her PhD from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, master’s degree from North Carolina State University, and bachelor of science from Oregon State University.

Her current work as a NIEHS postdoctoral fellow consists of screening and categorizing 9,000 distinct chemicals found in the environment, consumer products, or used in manufacturing processes in order to assess phenotypic and transcriptional changes relevant to human disease. Additionally, she is collaborating with AsedaSciences to integrate their high throughput in vitro screening system (SYSTEMETRIC®) and the Tanguay Lab's zebrafish screening assay to predict chemical developmental/neurotoxicity.

Vice President 

 
Mareike Möller

Secretary

Ivan A. Titaley, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology

Ivan obtained his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Oregon State University, Oregon, in 2017.  Currently works as Research Associate, at Oregon State University in the Department of Environmental and Molecular 

His research interest focuses on 1) PACs in sealcoat and in soil, 2) Applications of computational predictions and chemometrics in environmental chemistry, and 3)Suspect screening and non-targeted analyses using GC-HRMS. 

Treasurer

 

David Fifty

 

Professional Development Coordinator

 

 

Networking and Social Events Coordinator

 

Serhan Mermer

Web administrator and Public Relations Coordinator

 

Robert Alvarez-Quinto

Industry Exploration Program Coordinator

Sai Sandeep Chitta, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Civil and Construction Engineering 

Sai completed his PhD at City University of Hong Kong in 2019 and then worked as Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oklahoma. He joined OSU in 2020.

His current research focuses on experimental micromechanics, material models for DEM simulations, biomediated and bioinspired geotechnics. He is also serving as an instructor of Geotechnical Engineering at OSU.

 Membership Coordinator

Sumandeep Kaur, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, College of Engineering- Chemical Engineering

Sumandeep received her Ph.D. from Punjab University in Chandigarh, India. 

Her research focuses on predicting the structure-property relationship in two-dimensional material employing state-of-the-art theoretical methods to explore their applications in energy-related areas. Presently, she is doing the computational analysis of heterogenous catalysis.

2021 Board members:

President

Priyadarshini Chakrabarti (Basu), Ph.D., Research Associate (Post Doc), College of Agriculture Science. "I am an entomologist working on honey bee nutrition, impacts of pesticides on honey bees and honey bee behavior and biology. I work on research related to pollination, insect nutrition, molecular ecology, neuroethology, insect ecotoxicology, insect physiology, chemical ecology etc. I am also interested in extending my expertise to studying pests."

Vice President

Xi Zhang, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. Broadly, Xi’s research interests include: hydrologic processes in the vadose zone, soil water dynamics at different spatial and temporal scales, and climate-induced changes in soil structure and subsurface flow paths. Xi received Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Kentucky and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Zhejiang University (China).

Secretary

Mareike Möller, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (DFG Research Fellowship), Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
I obtained my PhD from the University of Kiel and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany, in 2018 and joined the OSU in September 2019. 

My research focuses on chromatin biology and genome stability in filamentous fungi. I am especially interested in how chromatin conformation impacts nuclear localization and DNA damage responses.  

Treasurer

Subham Dasgupta, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
My
primary research interest lies in unraveling developmental toxicology of common environmental contaminants and nutrient-toxicant interactions. Using high throughput screening, next generation transcriptomic and epigenetic sequencing techniques and gene editing techniques such as CRISPR Cas9, I study how developmental chemical exposures modify the genome and epigenome that lead to morphological and behavioral deficits in current and subsequent generations. I am also interested in study impacts on electromagnetic radiofrequency radiations (RFRs), emitted from cell phones and other connectivity devices, on developmental health.

Professional Development Coordinator

Dorukhan Ardağ, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.

I obtained my Ph.D. from the University of Florida in Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering with a focus in wave physics and modeling. My main research at OSU involves using oceanographic measurements obtained via tagged cormorant birds and comparing this biologging derived data with results from a high-resolution coupled wave-current ocean model. This data will also be used for data assimilation in cases with uncertain model parameters.

I received my B.S. from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey and M.S. from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida.

Industry Exploration Program Coordinator

Radwan Elzein, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering. His current research interest related to surface electronics/chemistry of materials’ system which have impact on molecular electronic devices.

He studied Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronic Devices at University of Surrey and worked at Merck, UK prior to receiving his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of South Florida, USA, where he conducted research related to physical electronic properties of 2D and 3D SURMOF thin films.

Membership Coordinator

Samreen Siddiqui, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, Costal Oregon Marine Experiment Station
I am an ecotoxicologist working as Postdoctoral Scholar in Dr. Susanne Brander's lab.  Completed Ph.D. in 2020 from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with an interdisciplinary background including big data analysis, modelling using R, and Arc GIS. My research at OSU is focused on Inland Silverside pesticide and plastic exposures along the salinity gradient.

Networking and Social Events Coordinator

Serhan Mermer, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Horticulture
Serhan received his PhD from OSU Hort/Entomology with a minor in Toxicology in 2020. His research interests include insecticide toxicology, insecticide chemistry and residue analysis, pest management, horticultural entomology, and analytical chemistry. Currently, Serhan is a second-year postdoctoral scholar in Hort department and focusing on insecticide alternative compounds and their use for both spotted wing drosophila and brown marmorated stink bug.

Web administrator and Public Relations Coordinator

Sampath Adusumilli, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Scholar, MIME department

I obtained my Ph.D. from Georgia institute of Technology in Aerospace Engineering. My research focused on understanding the combustion chemistry of aviation fuels at aircraft engine operating conditions. At OSU I aim to apply the knowledge of combustion to study wildfire propagation. To achieve this, I study tree scale burning with intention of enumerating firebrand/ember generation rates for different tree species.