Lab Members
Aaron T. Smith (Principal Investigator)
Professional Appointments
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry (2022-present)
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry (2016-2022)
NIST Guest Researcher (2019-2022)
NIH NRSA Postdoctoral fellow (2013-2016, Northwestern University)
Postdoctoral associate (2012-2013, Northwestern University)
Education
Ph. D. in Inorganic Chemistry (2012, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry (2010, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
B.A. in Chemistry (2007, Boston University)
Recent Honors and Awards
Carl S. Weber Teaching Award (UMBC) 2023
Director, T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Training Grant (UMBC) 2022-present
Co-director, T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Training Grant (UMBC) 2021-2022
CNMS Early Career Faculty Excellence Award (UMBC) 2022
HHMI Gilliam Mentor (UMBC) 2022-present
Beckman Scholar Faculty Mentor (UMBC) 2022-2023Â
NSF CAREER Award (UMBC) 2019
American Heart Association Career Development Grant (UMBC) 2019
Career Center Impact Recognition Award (UMBC) 2018
Summer Faculty Fellowship (UMBC) 2017
NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship (NU) 2013
Postdoctoral Scholars
Dr. Harvinder Singh
Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D. in Biochemistry (2017, University of Otago)
B.S. in Biotechnology (2006, SRM University)
Joined the lab: 2024
Graduate Students
Mark Lee
Graduate Student in Chemistry
B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (2019, UMBC)
Joined the lab: 2019
Alexander Paredes
Graduate Student in Chemistry
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (deferred)
HHMI Gilliam Fellow
B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (2020, Gettysburg College)
Joined the lab: 2020
Misti Persaud
Graduate Student in Chemistry
M.S. in Environmental Metrology and Policy (2020, Georgetown)
B.S. in Biochemistry (2011, University of Tampa)
Joined the lab: 2020
Candice Armstrong
Graduate Student in Chemistry
B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (2022, UMBC)
A.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry (2021, Montgomery College Rockville)
Joined the lab: 2022
Rajat Kumar Jha
Graduate Student in Chemistry
M. Tech in Biotechnology (2022, Sharda University, India)
B. Tech in Biotechnology (2020, Sharda University, India)
Joined the lab: 2022
Undergraduate Students
Chioma Iheacho
Undergraduate Researcher
U-RISE Scholar
Meyerhoff Scholar
ESTEEMED Scholar
Major: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joined the lab: 2021
Kate Magante
Undergraduate Researcher
LSAMP Scholar
Major: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joined the lab: 2022
Darryn Greene
Undergraduate Researcher
LSAMP Scholar
Major: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joined the lab: 2023
Jeanne Ngo
Undergraduate Researcher
Major: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joined the lab: 2023
John McKenna Soto
Undergraduate Researcher
Major: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joined the lab: 2024
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Scholars (years and current affiliation)
Dr. Janae Baptise-Brown (2020-2022; Assistant Professor, Spelman College)
Graduate Students (years and current affiliation)
Dr. Verna Van (2018-2022; Scientific Illustrator)
Dr. Alex Sestok (2016-2022; Postdoc, University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy)
Dr. Hannah Rosenbach (2018; Lonza Biotech)
Timothy Cain (2020; Decernis, LLC)
Nathan Max (2018-2019; Hansoh Bio)
Andrew Butler (2017-2018)
Undergraduate Students (years and current affiliation)
Christian Taylor (2024; UMBC)
Ayomide Oduwole (2023-2023; UMBC)
Yassin El Alamy (2022-2023; UMBC)
Toluwani Akinselure (2022-2023; Drexel University)
Noah Diaz Cruz (2021-2022; UMBC)
Nna-Emeka Ejimogu (2019-2022; MD/PhD student, Johns Hopkins University)
Victor Omokehinde (2020; Amazon Web Services)
Sean O'Sullivan (2019-2021; PhD student, UMBC Dept. of Biology)
Toan Bui (2019-2021; MD candidate, University of Maryland)
Korliss Britt (2020; MS candidate, Virginia Tech)
Sam Harris (2017-2019; Research Program Assistant, Johns Hopkins University)
Ijaz Mohamed (2016-2018; MD candidate, Rowan School of Medicine)
Julia Miller (2018; PharmD candidate, Ohio State University)
Richard Linkous (2016-2018; Research Development Associate, Astra Zeneca)
Daniel Romero Figueroa (2016-2018; Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC)
Kenya Platero Lopez (2016-2018)