Ferialab Biosafety Laboratory

Dr. Tamer Oraby

Associate Professor

956-665-3536

tamer.oraby@utrgv.edu

Dr. Tamer Oraby

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Dr. Tamer Oraby
Associate Professor
School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences
EMAGC 3.428
Email: tamer.oraby@utrgv.edu
Phone: 956-665-3536

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Dr. Tamer Oraby (tamer.oraby@utrgv.edu) is an associate professor of statistics in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). He joined UTRGV in September 2014 as an assistant professor and got tenured and promoted in September 2020. His research interest is in mathematical and statistical modeling of the spread of infectious diseases. He also studies measurement error in retrospective case-control studies. He has a special interest in behavioral modeling of vaccine acceptance that resulted in several published and in-progress papers, one of which was featured by health news. Dr. Oraby has several papers published in peer-reviewed journals, like Lancet, Nature's Scientific Reports, PLoS ONE, Frontiers, and Proceedings of the Royal Society B. He has also several published papers on chronic wasting disease, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19. He has peer-reviewed papers for journals like PLoS ONE. Dr. Oraby was the director and principal investigator for summer 2018 and 2019 National Research Experience for Undergraduates Program (NREUP) of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) at UTRGV. Currently, he is the co-principal investigator for the NSF’s research experience for undergraduate (REU) at UTRGV in 2022-2024. Dr. Oraby supervised more than twelve undergraduate projects, some of which led to peer-reviewed publications. He also advised more than six graduate theses and projects. Some of them led to published papers or in-progress manuscripts. Dr. Oraby served on many department committees. Some of those committees resulted in establishing new programs in the SMSS. He has been also serving as the BS in statistics program coordinator since 2019. Dr. Oraby is serving as an editorial board member of Nature’s Scientific Reports.

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Dr. Karen Lozano

Professor

956-665-7020

karen.lozano@utrgv.edu

Dr. Karen Lozano

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Dr. Karen Lozano
Professor
Mechanical Engineering
EENGR 3.252
Email: karen.lozano@utrgv.edu
Phone: 956-665-7020

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Dr. Karen Lozano, UTRGV Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Founder/Director of the UTRGV Nanotechnology Center, received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Universidad de Monterrey and MS/PhD from Rice U. Since 2000, Lozano has supported a far-reaching transformation at a once, non-PhD teaching institution, through solid innovative/leadership skills. She has focused her energy in promoting an institutional and societal transformation by creatively combining undergraduate (UG) education with state-of-the-art research projects. Her efforts have led to 100% retention and graduation rate of UG research assistants in a community where high school and college graduation rates have been historically low. She has provided research opportunities to hundreds of students, all now leading successful careers in industry, academia or government labs. She is the recipient of several honors/awards such as the US Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow, TEDx Speaker, and Engineer of the Year by Great Minds in STEM. Lozano’s team has published >160 peer reviewed scientific journal articles and >400 proceedings/conference presentations. She is a prolific inventor and co-founded a successful company which received several awards such as the R&D 100. She outreaches to thousands of K-16 students through summer camps, magic/science shows, and social media, all with one goal in mind: preparing future innovators.

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Ramiro Patiino

Success Story/PhD Candidate

(956) 665-XXXX

Ramiro Patiino

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Ramiro Patiino
Success Story/PhD Candidate
Phone: (956) 665-XXXX

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Ramiro Patino is a PhD candidate at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), working in the lab of Dr. Joanne Engel, chief of Division of Infectious Diseases, to understand the bacterial sense of touch. Before coming to UCSF, Ramiro received his BS in Biology at UTRGV. At UTRGV, Ramiro was part of the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program. As part of the program, Ramiro worked in Dr. Teresa Feria-Arroyo’s lab, trying to understand infection rates of disease vectors. While a senior at UTRGV, Ramiro received the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support his graduate studies. At UCSF, Ramiro has received additional competitive fellowships such as UCSF Discovery Fellowship and National Science Foundation F31 predoctoral grant. Ramiro is also passionate about teaching and advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in science. 

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Dr. Megan Keniry

Associate Professor

(956) 665-7463

megan.keniry@utrgv.edu

Dr. Megan Keniry

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Dr. Megan Keniry
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
ESCNE 2.304
Email: megan.keniry@utrgv.edu
Phone: (956) 665-7463

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Dr. Megan Keniry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her laboratory explores signal transduction and gene expression mechanisms of prevalent cancers, including basal breast cancer and glioblastoma multiforme. Dr. Keniry received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Oregon for her work on signal transduction of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the laboratory of Dr. George Sprague at the Institute of Molecular Biology. Her postdoctoral work, in the laboratory of Dr. Ramon Parsons at the Institute for Cancer Genetics of Columbia University, explored novel mechanisms of cancer signal transduction. Winner of the 2020 UTRGV Faculty Excellence Award in Student Mentoring, Dr. Keniry is committed to providing an encouraging, supportive environment for students to grow as researchers. As a result, student researchers from Dr. Keniry’s laboratory have progressed on to leading doctoral research programs including Texas A&M University, the University of Texas-Austin, and the University of Wyoming.

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