Research Experience Training and Coordination Core for the Superfund Research Program

The Research Experience Training and Coordination Core works to coordinate and enhance the training experience of students and postdoctoral scholars engaged in research and outreach projects supported by the BCM/Rice P42 Superfund Research Center.

Our activities include:

• Meetings in which trainees and mentors share their research activities and results across projects and institutions, and trainees gain experience in research presentation and communication.
• Cross-disciplinary coursework in environmental health research, organized in conjunction with the Gulf Coast Consortium Training in Precision Environmental Health Sciences program (T32-ES027801). These include offerings at Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, and the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston (UT Health), and a new course developed by the TPEH, “Integrative Concepts in Precision Environmental Health.”
• Seminars on environmental science, toxicology, environmental health research, societal impacts and mitigation technologies.
• Support for trainee attendance at national conferences on superfund-related research organized by NIEHS, and guidance in presentation preparation.
• Research Mentor Training workshops for P.I.s and postdocs, facilitated by Master Trainers certified by the National Research Mentoring Network (U24-GM132176).
• Coursework and workshops in Responsible Conduct of Research offered by Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University.
• Workshops in Rigor and Reproducibility, organized by the Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Biosciences Training of the Gulf Coast Consortium.
• An annual conference for all local participants in Superfund-related research and community outreach efforts.
• Access to the resources of the Career Development Centers for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University, and to Career Development fairs, workshops and seminars offered by the institutions of the Gulf Coast Consortia.
• Training evaluation and career outcome tracking of trainees.

Project 1

Trainee: Catherine Arndt
Mentor: Naomi Halas
Institution: Rice University
Title: National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow

Trainee: Ben Cerjan
Mentor: Naomi Halas
Institution: Rice University
Title: Postdoctoral Research Association

Trainee: Mary Bajomo
Mentor: Naomi Halas
Institution: Rice University
Title: Graduate Student

Trainee: Oara Neumann
Mentor: Naomi Halas
Institution: Rice University
Title: Research Fellow

Project 2

Trainee: Sohini Banerjee
Mentor: Kjersti Aagaard
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Postdoctoral Associate

Trainee: Erin Bolte
Mentor: Kjersti Aagaard
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: M.D./P.hD. Student - Graduate Student

Project 3

Trainee: Guobin Xia
Mentor: Bhagavatula Moorthy
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Postdoctoral Fellow, Ph.D.

Trainee: Danielle Gonzale
Mentor: Bhagavatula Moorthys
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Fellow Physician PGY5

Trainee: Deven Narke
Mentor: Bhagavatula Moorthy
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Graduate Student

Project 4

Trainee: Sara Denison
Mentor: Pedro Alvarez
Institution: Rice University
Title: Graduate Student

Trainee: Priscilla Dias Da Silva
Mentor: Kyriacos Zygourakis
Institution: Rice University
Title: Graduate Student

Research Support Core

Trainee: Chandra Sekhar Amara
Mentor: Nagireddy Putluri
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Postdoctoral Associate

Trainee: Karthik Reddy Kami Reddy
Mentor: Nagireddy Putluri
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Postdoctoral Associate

Trainee: Xuan Wang
Mentor: Shixia Huang
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Title: Postdoctoral Associate