Chemistry Graduate Program in the College of Science

Faculty in the Chemistry Graduate Program
Advisors for the College

Chemistry Graduate Program

Feri Billiot, Ph.D.

Professor and Program Coordinator

Office: CS 207
Phone: (361) 825-6067
Email: fereshteh.billiot@tamucc.edu

Chiral separations with amino acid based surfactants; distribution, fate & effect of endocrine disruptors in the environment

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Faculty in the Chemistry Graduate Program

Hussain Abdulla, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 211
Phone: (361) 825-6050
Email: hussain.abdulla@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.habdullagroup.com

Abdulla's Organic Biogeochemistry research laboratory specializes in aquatic environmental metabolomics, studying the fluxes, fate, and transformation of natural dissolved organic matter (DOM). The research group focuses on understanding the fate and transformation of natural DOM and organic pollutants and investigating how different aquatic species tolerate environmental stresses using environmental metabolomics approaches. Additionally, the lab is dedicated to developing advanced analytical methods for the sensitive and robust quantification of metabolites.

Eugene Billiot, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 208
Phone: (361) 825-2680
Email: eugene.billiot@tamucc.edu

Understanding chiral separations with amino acid based surfactants.

Richard Coffin, Ph.D.

PENS Chair & Professor

Office: NRC 3500
Phone: (361) 825-2814
Email: richard.coffin@tamucc.edu
Website: http://icl.tamucc.edu

Carbon isotope geochemistry to study biogeochemical cycles in the coastal ocean and estuaries.

Joseph David Felix, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry and CMSS Program Coordinator

Office: NRC 3508
Phone: (361) 825-4180
Email: joseph.felix@tamucc.edu
Website: http://felixlab.tamucc.edu

Stable isotope biogeochemistry; Transport, fate, and air-sea-land exchange processes of volatile organic compounds and reactive nitrogen; Bulk and compound-specific stable isotope analysis method development

Nasrin Hooshmand, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 250
Phone: (361) 825-2862
Email: nasrin.hooshmand@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.hooshmandlab.io/?page_id=507

Research interests: Nasrin Hooshmand earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Before joining Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences in 2024, she was a Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dr. Hooshmand is known for her work in nanoplasmonics, particularly her focus on light-matter interactions at the nanoscale to develop innovative solutions for sensing, environmental sustainability, nanomedicine, and healthcare. Her research, teaching, and leadership have earned several honors, including the 2023 Research Faculty-Community Leadership Impact Award, the 2021 Research Faculty Teaching Fellow Award, recognition in Leading Women @Tech (2021), and inclusion in the 2020 Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication.

Nasrin Hooshmand, Ph.D.

Ben Karimi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry (Inorganic)

Office: CS 202
Phone: (361) 825-2399
Email: ben.karimi@tamucc.edu

Iltai (Isaac) Kim, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Engineering

Office: RFEB 318
Phone: (361) 825-2734
Email: ikim@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.tamucc.edu/science/research/nse/professor.php

Nano/bio chemical sensing, micro/nanoscale fluidics and heat transport, and energy conversion based on nano-biophotonics

Patrick Larkin, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 203
Phone: (361) 825-3258
Email: patrick.larkin@tamucc.edu

Plant biochemistry and genetics; fate and metabolism of nutrients and toxins, diversity and dispersal, conservation.

Ruby Mehrubeoglu, Ph.D.

Professor of Engineering

Office: RFEB 222D
Phone: (361) 825-3378
Email: ruby.mehrubeoglu@tamucc.edu

Hyperspectral imaging and image analysis of a variety of materials, material characterization through spectral signatures and spatial distributions, and thermal imaging and visible-range digital image classification

Riccardo Mozzachiodi, Ph.D.

Professor of Neuroscience

Office: TH 335
Phone: (361) 825-3634
Email: riccardo.mozzachiodi@tamucc.edu

My research activities are focused on examining the mechanisms of behavioral plasticity triggered by external (e.g., aversive cues) or internal (e.g., food-induced satiation) stimuli (see below for details). In the laboratory, I am using the marine mollusk Aplysia californica as model system. Aplysia has been used for many years to examine the neural bases of behavior because it exhibits measurable behaviors that rely on well-characterized neural circuits consisting of a limited number of large neurons accessible for single-cell analysis. Consequently, data on the mechanisms of behavioral plasticity can be collected at the behavioral, circuit and single-cells levels within the same animal, thus allowing for a direct three-level type of analysis. The mechanisms of behavioral plasticity are explored both in vivo and in vitro with a combination of behavioral and neurophysiological techniques.

Dorina Murgulet, Ph.D.

CMSS Program Coordinator and Professor of Hydrogeology

Office: NRC 3103
Phone: (361) 825-2309
Email: dorina.murgulet@tamucc.edu
Website: https://artesian.tamucc.edu/index.html

Physical and Contaminant Hydrogeology; Hydrology and Water Resources; Groundwater/surface water interactions; Coastal hydrogeology.

Mark Olson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 206
Phone: (361) 825-2857
Email: mark.olson@tamucc.edu
Website: http://www.olsonlaboratory.com

Felix Omoruyi, Ph.D.

Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science

Office: TH 238
Phone: (361) 825-2473
Email: felix.omoruyi@tamucc.edu

Currently, research in my laboratory is centered on the biochemical changes in the red blood cell membrane and serum in fairly and poorly controlled diabetic patients relative to healthy control.

Ioana Pavel, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: TH 235
Phone: (361) 825-3824
Email: ioana.pavel@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.pavellab.com

Our team is dedicated to finding interdisciplinary solutions to address Public Health challenges, with a focus on Human Health and Environmental Health.

Frauke Seemann, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Biomedical Science

Office: TH 339
Phone: (361) 825-2683
Email: frauke.seemann@tamucc.edu

Jim Silliman, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: NRC 3510
Phone: (361) 825-3718
Email: james.silliman@tamucc.edu

Organic geochemistry: Climate and environmental change and Differences in organic geochemical practices

Jeffrey Turner, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Biology

Office: TH 240
Phone: (361) 825-6206
Email: jeffrey.turner@tamucc.edu
Website: https://turnerlab.tamucc.edu

Microbial Ecology, Molecular Biology, Population Genetics, Evolution, Genomics, Metagenomics, connections between oceans and human health

Lin Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Chemistry

Office: NRC 1109
Phone: (361) 825-2095
Email: lin.zhang@tamucc.edu
Website: http://zhanglab.tamucc.edu

Compound/Position Specific Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Analysis in Amino Acids and Application in Oceanography and Ecology. Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry of Greenhouse Gases in Alaskan Peatlands.

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Chemistry Graduate Program Directory