2011 Outstanding Alumni

2011-08-24

Dr. Timothy D. Harris

Tim Harris received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University in 1978, working for Fred Lytle. He spent the following 18 years at Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ. While at Bell, his work included high sensitivity fluorescence and Raman scattering instrumentation, the characterization of quantum dots in collaboration with Lou Brus, developing the tapered fiber probe for Near-Field Microscopy, a collaboration with Eric Betzig, and many follow-on applications of near field microscopy, including the first reports of single molecule images and single quantum dot imaging and spectroscopy. In 1996, Harris moved to Seq Ltd. a small biotech startup in Princeton, NJ. where he led a team that invented and developed a high throughput confocal fluorescence microscope. This company and technology was acquired by Amersham PLC and commercialized as the InCell Analyzer. Harris moved to Helicos Biosciences in 2004 as the founding technical employee where his team reported the first single molecule DNA sequence data in 2008. This single molecule sequencing technology was commercialized by Helicos and has resulted in many publications in the ensuing 3 years. Since 2008 Tim has been at HHMI Janelia Farm where he is a Fellow and Director of Applied Physics, an in house group focused on neuroscience measurement tools.

Dr. Craig E. Lunte

Craig E. Lunte is Professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry and Adjunct Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas. He is currently Chair of the Department of Chemistry.

Dr. Lunte is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and was a Science Foundation Ireland Walton Fellow. He has mentored 40 graduate students, more than 60 undergraduate researchers, and 17 postdoctoral associates. Dr. Lunte has been awarded the Self Graduate Fellowship Program Mentor Achievement Award and the John C. Wright Graduate Mentor Award. He has more than 150 publications and 110 invited presentations. Dr. Lunte is a leader in the development of microdialysis sampling in drug discovery and development. His research group has provided both novel applications of microdialysis sampling and fundamental studies of the technique. His research also involves development of capillary electrophoresis techniques and new methods of electrochemical detection for microcolumn separations. Some current projects include studies of ischemia/reperfusion induced oxidative stress in the heart and brain, evaluating the pharmacokinetics of novel prodrugs, and evaluation of the neurochemical response to electrical stimulation related to epilepsy. Dr. Lunte's Ph.D. advisor at Purdue was Pete Kissinger.

Dr. Susan M. Lunte

Susan M. Lunte is the Ralph N. Adams Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Her research interests include new methodologies for separation and detec­tion of peptides, amino acids, neuro­trans­mitters and pharmaceuticals in biological fluids. She is a fellow of the AAPS and served as chair of the APQ division. Dr. Lunte has also served as president of the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry and is currently the Chair of the Analytical Division of the American Chemical Society. She is an associate editor for Analytical Methods and on the editorial board of Analytical Chemistry. Dr. Lunte has been the recipient of several awards including a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award, the Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year Award, and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Research Achievement Award in Analysis and Pharmaceutical Quality (APQ). Dr. Lunte's Ph.D. advisor at Purdue was Pete Kissinger.

Dr. Angela D. Ragin-Wilson

Dr. Ragin-Wilson is a Lead Environmental Health Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During her career at CDC, she developed cutting-edge innovative methods for improving, and increasing the timeliness and accuracy of domestic and international biomonitoring studies. She developed the foundation for an exceptional body of work and published the first manuscript reporting individual benzo[a]pyrene tetrol isomers in human exposure studies. In her current position, Dr. Ragin-Wilson serves as an expert technical advisor on a wide range of environmental public health issues. She manages several projects including the Great Lakes Biomonitoring Cooperative Agreement Program which is a part of the Obama Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to protect, restore and maintain the Great Lakes ecosystem. She is a co-investigator on the Navajo Prospective Birth Cohort Study to assess exposure to uranium in the Navajo Nation. Dr. Ragin-Wilson is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Sankofa Rural Development Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) registered and operating in the West African nation of Ghana. She currently serves on the Deans Leadership Council at Purdue University and has received several awards and recognitions, including fellowships from Kraft General Foods, Coca-Cola Foundation, NIH, Alfred P. Sloan Award, and Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education. She received her B.S. from Xavier Universit and, M.S. from Howard University.