November 2022

Originally from Bolivia, Dr Monje-Galvan completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland-College Park, under the supervision of Dr Jeffery Klauda. As an undergraduate, she was an LSAMP scholar, and later an LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellow. She trained as a postdoctoral scholar in the Voth Group at the University of Chicago, and currently leads the Monje Group in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where she is Assistant Professor since 2021. Her lab research is...Read more

Dr Rodriguez-Rivera was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He completed his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and then moved north and earned an M.S. degree at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He worked for seven years in the technology transfer of new products at Bristol Myers Squibb in Puerto Rico. Motivated by his interest in academia and learning about biomaterials, he decided to obtain his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Gabriel completed his dissertation on injectable hydrogel electrodes in Dr. Cosgriff-...Read more

Thomas C. Tubon, Jr., PhD, is the Chief Workforce Development Officer for BioMADE. He leads a multidisciplinary program to drive national workforce education and training initiatives in bioindustrial manufacturing for the U.S. Dept. of Defense and the private sector through public-private partnerships. He has more than 20 years of experience in developing workforce programs in biotechnology and biomanufacturing and in national leadership positions with the National Science Foundation (NSF), InnovATEBIO Biotechnology Education Center, and the NSF ARIS Center, focused on broad societal...Read more