Eva Harth
Principal Investigator
Eva studied chemistry at the University of Bonn, Germany and the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She obtained her PhD in 1998 from the MPI for Polymer Research in Mainz. A postdoctoral fellowship with CPIMA (NSF-Center for Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies) brought her to the IBM Almaden Research Center, California USA, focusing on the development of new living free polymerization techniques and approaches to nanoscopic materials. In 2001, she joined XenoPort, Inc. as a Staff Scientist and started 2004 at Vanderbilt University as Assistant Professor with a primary appointment in the Department of Chemistry and a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology, VUMC. In 2007, she was awarded with the NSF CAREER Award. In 2011, she was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure and served three years as the Director and DGS of the Interdisciplinary Materials Science Graduate Program (IMS). Starting in the Fall 2017, she moved to the University of Houston where she is appointed as Full Professor with tenure in the Department of Chemistry and serves as the Director of the Center of Excellence in Polymer Chemistry, funded by the Welch Foundation and the University of Houston. Since 2009 she serves as an Associate Editor for Polymer Chemistry, a journal of the RSC.
Inquiries about the vision of the Center of Excellence in Polymer Chemistry, please address directly to Eva Harth: harth@uh.edu
The center intents to develop strong collaborations with local industry and academia and please feel welcome to contact me.
Team – We are seeking to expand our team with postdoctoral associates and graduate students – please contact us
Dain Beezer
Dain is originally from Jamaica and received a B.S. degree from Fisk University, Nashville, TN in 2012 and after transferring to Vanderbilt, he graduated with a M.S. degree in organic chemistry (Johnston group) in 2013. His research is focused on polyglycidol polymerization, modifications of macromolecular structures and hydrogels. He defended his PhD. thesis in August 2017 and will continue to work in the Harth group as postdoctoral researcher to prepare himself towards an academic career.
Michael Marin
Michael Marin transferred from the Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering to the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at Vanderbilt and started his work on Nanofabrication in 2015 in the Harth group. At UH he is finishing his practical work towards his degree in Chemical Engineering.
Michael Lampley
Before starting at Vanderbilt, Michael graduated with a B.S. degree "summa cum laude", from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in 2014. His work is focused on light initiated polymerization techniques and macromolecular structure design. He is continuing his practical work at UH.
Laken Williams
Laken graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2015 and started in the Fall of 2015 in the Harth group. Her research explores the synthesis of dual drug delivery systems and hydrogels. She is the recipient of the NSF Graduate Fellowship and will continue her practical work on nanomaterials at UH.
Breyinn Loftin
Breyinn is a native of Winston-Salem, NC. She graduated from Hampton University (Virginia) in 2016 earning a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in nanoscience. She joined the Harth group in Spring 2017 with research interests in the synthesis of novel polymer networks and hydrogels. She is now continuing her graduate career at UH and is a recipient of the NSF graduate fellowship in 2018.
Anthony Keyes
Anthony received his Bachelors of Science at Jackson State University, and went on to obtain his Master in Materials Science (June 2017) at the University of Bordeaux, LCPO working with Olivier Sandre. Anthony has received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to fund his PhD in Polymer Chemistry. He is working in the Harth group to develop new “natural” polymers that have yet to be explored.
Enkhjargal "Enja" Tsogtgerel
I’m originally from Mongolia and I’ve graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2016 with B.S in chemistry with Magna Cum Laude and worked on natural product synthesis projects. Started at UH August 2017 to pursue my PhD degree in Physical Chemistry and joined the Harth Lab in September. In my free time I like to cook or explore restaurants in Houston.
Uyen Ha
Uyen is originally from Vietnam and finished her higher education at Prairie View A&M University, TX in 2017, and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. She now continues to pursue her Doctorate degree at the University of Houston. Recently, joining the Harth lab in September, she is thrilled to start new upcoming projects in polymer chemistry methodologies.
Yu-Sheng Liu
Yu-Sheng is originally from Taiwan and finished his higher education at the National Sun Yat-Sen University in 2014 and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. After completing his military service he worked as Research Assistant at Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Yu-Sheng is now continuing his education to pursue his Doctorate degree at the University of Houston and joined the Harth lab in September.
Hatice Basbug Alhan
Hatice is originally from Turkey and finished her higher education at Bilkent University, Turkey and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Chemistry. After working in industry for several years, she is now pursuing her Doctorate degree at the University of Houston and has joined the Harth group in September.
Quynh Huong "Jen" Dau
Huong is originally from Vietnam and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 2014 and worked as Research Scientist at AstraZeneca in Ho Chi Minh for more than two years. She is now pursuing her Doctorate degree at UH and has joined the Harth group in September.
Estela Ordonez Arteaga
Estela is originally from Ecuador and graduated with a double major in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2017. She is now pursuing her Doctorate degree at UH and has joined the Harth group in September.
Postdoctoral Associate
Two postdoctoral positions are now available at the University of Houston’s Center of Excellence in Polymer Chemistry in the lab of Eva Harth. The ideal time-frame for this position is a minimum of two years (three years max). The newly established center is seeking competitive applicants with a strong background in synthetic polymer chemistry in areas that include either fundamental polymer synthesis, polymer network chemistry, sustainable materials or nano-biomaterials. Applicants must have excellent communication and writing skills for this position and be fully committed to the field of Polymer Chemistry. Applicants are also expected to work collaboratively with a team, possess high levels of social and emotional maturity, and act as mentors in the field of Polymer Chemistry. Applicants must have already finished and corrected thesis/papers with previous advisor. In order to apply please submit three letters of recommendation, an up-to-date CV, and a one-page statement of interest. Please send all materials or any questions to harth@uh.edu. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
Undergraduate Students: Alumni
Undergraduate Students Vanderbilt 2005-20017
Fiona Denham (Honors Thesis); Evan Kravitz; Ariel Kravitz; Brian Mayersohn, Vasanth Sathiyakumar (Honors Thesis and Pearson Award Recipient 2013; Julian Greenbaum; Tyler Terrill; Brian McGrath; Joanne Chou; Harry Watson; Ray Wang; Julian Waksal; Sicheng Ma; Chris Gross; Mark Philipson; Philip Goldberg; Jesse Fenton; Anisse Chaker
Alice van der Ende , PhD.
Alice defended in 2010 and she holds a current position as manager at DuPont.
Alumni
Teresa Croce, PhD.
Teresa defended her thesis in July 2009 and holds a current position as CSO (Chief Food Safety Officer) at the FDA.
Sharon K. Hamilton, PhD.
Sharon defended in July 2009 her thesis and after postdoctoral work at Georia Tech she is now an Assistant Professor at Delta State University, MS.
Chinessa T. Adkins, PhD.
Chinessa defended in August 2009 and after postdoctoral work at the Howard Hughes Institute she is now a Patent Examiner at USPO.
Julia Dobish, M.S.
Julia obtained her M.S. in 2009 and continued as Research Assistant in the Harth group from 2009-2011. She is now working as consultant.
Artez Sims, PhD.
Artez defended in May 2013 and works in his current position as Instructor at Southwest Georgia Technical College and Educator at Thomasville City Schools.
David Stevens, PhD.
David graduated in 2014 with a PhD. in Pharmacology and is currently a Senior Scientist at the NCI Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NIH/NCI) in Fredrick, Washington DC.
Benjamin Spears, PhD.
Ben graduated in 2015 and is now a Senior Research Scientist at SeLux Diagnostics, Inc. in Boston, MA.
Dain Beezer, PhD.
Dain defended his thesis in August 2017 and currently working as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Harth group at UH.
Kelly Gilmore, PhD.
Kelly defended her thesis in June 2017 and is now working as a Principal Scientist at Eco Labs, St. Paul, MN.
Jacob Lockhart, PhD.
Jake defended his thesis in December 2017 and started at Invista in February 2018.
Guangzhao Li, PhD.
Dr. Guangzhao Li was a postdoctoral scholar in the Harth group from 2012-2015 and went back to China where he is now an Associate Professor.
Fanny Joubert, PhD.
Dr. Fanny Joubert was a postdoctoral scholar in the Harth lab from January 2015 - January 2016.
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