Curriculum Vitae
Comprehensive Experience
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (May 2019)
University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, TX, USA
Dissertation: “Controlling Thermal Effects on Chemical Systems”
Advisor: Professor Jeremiah. J. Gassensmith
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (Dec 2013)
University of North Texas
Denton, TX, USA
Minor in Mathematics
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (Dec 2013)
University of North Texas
Denton, TX, USA
Minor in Mathematics
Proficiencies
Chemical Methods
ELISA, Protein assays (Lowry, Bradford), Small molecule synthesis, Plant virus isolations, Bacterial protein expression and purification, MOF synthesis
Instrumentation Methods
TEM (Biological, CryoTEM, tomography, negative stain), Plunge freezing, SEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Circular dichroism spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, HPLC, ESI-MS, FT-IR spectroscopy, Fluorescence spectroscopy, XPS, DLS, PXRD, Ultramicrotomy
Management
Team management, Lab management (Inventory, Waste, Instrument upkeep and maintenance, Scheduling), System and protocol organization
Software and Programming
C#, T-SQL, ASP.NET, MVC, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), Adobe CS6 (Illustrator, Premiere, Photoshop), Chemdraw, Origin, TopSpin, C++, VHDL, LabView, MATLAB
Other
UHV chamber construction and maintenance, Blacksmithing
Work
Software Developer
dungeonpatron.com
May 2019 - Present
Hurst, TX
Personal Shopper
Online Grocery Pickup
Walmart
Dec 2019 - Present
Weatherford, TX – Hurst, TX
Graduate Research Assistant
Gassensmith Lab
University of Texas at Dallas
Jan 2015 – May 2019
Richardson, TX
Research Advisor: Dr. Jeremiah. J. Gassensmith
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Texas at Dallas
Aug 2014 – May 2019
Richardson, TX
TA Coordinator: Dr. Gregg Dieckmann
Lab Attendant and Consultant
Matthews Hall General Access Computer Lab
University of North Texas
Jan 2008 – May 2014
Denton, TX
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kelber Lab
University of North Texas
May 2012 – December 2013
Denton, TX
Research Advisor: Dr. Jeffry A. Kelber
Research
Gassensmith Lab
University of Texas at Dallas
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research Advisor: Dr. Jeremiah. J. Gassensmith
Aug 2014 – May 2019
Synthesis of small molecules; small molecule bioconjugation to virus-like particles (VLPs) and proteins; VLP isolation and purification from plant material; biomaterials preparation and analysis; metal-organic framework synthesis on biomaterials, biomaterials and protein antigen surface analysis; extensive electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) characterization and analysis of VLP-based materials; Lab Safety Officer and Safety Liaison; Inventory and Waste Manager, Tobacco Team Manager
Chabal Lab
University of Texas at Dallas
Department of Materials Science
Research Advisor: Dr. Yves J. Chabal
Jun 2014 – Aug 2014
Silicon surface cleaning, etching, and functionalization; quantum dot synthesis
Kelber Lab
University of North Texas
Department of Chemistry
Research Advisor: Dr. Jeffry A. Kelber
May 2012 – December 2013
Deposition of boron carbide thin films; plasma etching and deposition; building and maintenance of ultra-high vacuum chambers; magnetron sputtering
Teaching
Graduate Teaching Assistant
University of Texas at Dallas
CHEM 4473 Advanced Physical Measurements
January 2019 – May 2019
Dr. Warren Goux, Dr. Yu Huang
CHEM 3471 Advanced Synthesis
June 2017 – May 2018
Dr. Jeremiah Gassensmith, Dr. John Ferraris, Dr. Ronald Smaldone
CHEM 1111 General Chemistry Laboratory I, Safety TA
June 2016 – May 2017
Dr. Sandhya Gavva, Dr. Yanping Qin, Dr. Amandeep Sra
CHEM 1312 General Chemistry II Lecture
January 2016 – May 2016
Dr. Jason McAfee, Dr. Stephanie Taylor
CHEM 1311 General Chemistry I Lecture
August 2015 – December 2015
Dr. Jason McAfee, Dr. John Sibert
CHEM 1112 General Chemistry II Laboratory
January 2015 – July 2015
Dr. Jason McAfee, Dr. Amandeep Sra
CHEM 1111 General Chemistry I Laboratory
August 2014 – December 2014
Dr. Jason McAfee
Publications
ORCID: 0000-0003-3114-8801
1. Welch, R. P.‡; Dharmarwardana, M.‡; Caicedo-Narvaez, C.; Luzuriaga, M. A.; Arimilli, B. S.; McCandless, G. T.; Fahimi, B.; Gassensmith, J. J., Reversibly Thermosalient NDI Crystal Switch, Manuscript in Preparation
‡Denotes co-first authorship and equal contribution
2. Luzuriaga, M. A.‡; Welch, R. P.‡; Dharmarwardana, M.; Benjamin, C. E.; Li, S.; Shahrivarkevishai, A.; Popal, S; Tuong, L. H.; Creswell, C. T.; Gassensmith, J. J., Enhanced Stability and Controlled Delivery of MOF Encapsulated Vaccines and Their Immunogenic Response In Vivo. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11 (10), 9740-9746
‡Denotes co-first authorship and equal contribution
3. Welch, R. P.; Lee, H.; Luzuriaga, M. A.; Brohlin, O. R.; Gassensmith, J. J., Protein-Polymer Delivery: Chemistry from the Cold Chain to the Clinic. Bioconjugate Chem. 2018, 29 (9), 2867-2883.
4. Lee, H.; Benjamin, C. E.; Nowak, C. M.; Tuong, L. H.; Welch, R. P.; Chen, Z.; Dharmarwardana, M.; Murray, K. W.; Bleris, L.; D'Arcy, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Regulating the Uptake of Viral Nanoparticles in Macrophage and Cancer Cells via a pH Switch. Mol. Pharm. 2018, 15 (8), 2984-2990
5. Li, S.; Dharmarwardana, M.; Welch, R. P.; Benjamin, C. E.; Shamir, A. M.; Nielsen, S. O.; Gassensmith, J. J., Investigation of Controlled Growth of Metal–Organic Frameworks on Anisotropic Virus Particles. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2018, 10 (21), 18161-18169.
6. Chen, Z.; Boyd, S. D.; Calvo, J. S.; Murray, K. W.; Mejia, G. L.; Benjamin, C. E.; Welch, R. P.; Winkler, D. D.; Meloni, G.; D’Arcy, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Fluorescent Functionalization across Quaternary Structure in a Virus-like Particle. Bioconjugate Chem. 2017, 28 (9), 2277-2283.
7. Dharmarwardana, M.; Welch, R. P.; Kwon, S.; Nguyen, V. K.; McCandless, G. T.; Omary, M. A.; Gassensmith, J. J., Thermo-mechanically responsive crystalline organic cantilever. Chem. Commun. 2017, 53 (71), 9890-9893.
8. Li, S.; Dharmarwardana, M.; Welch, R. P.; Ren, Y.; Thompson, C. M.; Smaldone, R. A.; Gassensmith, J. J., Template-Directed Synthesis of Porous and Protective Core–Shell Bionanoparticles. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2016, 55 (36), 10691-10696.
9. Chen, X.; Kazi, H.; Cao, Y.; Dong, B.; Pasquale, F. L.; Colón Santana, J. A.; Cao, S.; Street, M.; Welch, R.; Binek, C.; Enders, A.; Kelber, J. A.; Dowben, P. A., Ultrathin chromia films grown with preferential texture on metallic, semimetallic and insulating substrates. Mater. Chem. Phys. 2015, 149–150 (0), 113-123.
10. Pasquale, F. L.; James, R.; Welch, R.; Echeverria, E.; Dowben, P. A.; Kelber, J. A., Novel Cross-Linked Ortho-Carborane and Ortho-Carborane:Y (Y=1,4-Diaminobenzene, Pyridine, Benzene) Polymer Films: A New Class of Carborane-Based Materials with Tunable Electronic Structure. ECS Trans. 2013, 53 (1), 303-310.
Presentations
1. Welch, R P.; Luzuriaga, M. A.; Li, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Contributed talk on “Immunoassay Investigation of Vaccine Carrier Stability Within ZIF-8 Encapsulation”, 256th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, USA. August 19, 2018
2. Welch, R P.; Luzuriaga, M. A.; Li, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Contributed talk on “Immunoassay Investigation of Vaccine Carrier Stability Within ZIF-8 Encapsulation”, 51st Annual Meeting-in-Miniature (DFW ACS), Dallas, TX, USA. April 21, 2018
3. Welch, R P.; Luzuriaga, M. A.; Li, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Contributed talk on “Immunoassay Investigation of Vaccine Carrier Stability Within ZIF-8 Encapsulation”, UT Dallas/Texas A&M Agrilife Research Extension Joint Symposium, Richardson, TX, USA. March 16, 2018
4. Welch, R P.; Li, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Contributed talk on “Template Directed Synthesis of Porous and Protective Core-Shell Bionanoparticles”, Texas Soft Matter Meeting, Richardson, TX, USA. August 12, 2016
5. Welch, R P.; Li, S.; Gassensmith, J. J., Poster presentation on “Tobacco Mosaic Virus Stabilized By Coordination Polymers”, 251st ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA. March 13, 2016
6. Welch, R P.; Li, S.; Dharmarwardana, M.; Gassensmith, J. J., Contributed talk on “Novel Synthesis of 3D Ordered Macroporus Structures”, Texas Soft Matter Meeting, August 21, 2015
Professional Memberships
American Chemical Society: 2015 – 2020
Awards
Happy To Help Associate of the Month, Feb 2020, Walmart #963
Nominated for the 2019 President’s Teaching Excellence Award for Teaching Assistants at the University of Texas at Dallas