NATIONAL ORGANIZING BOARD
The National Organizing Board is composed of graduate students and postdocs who are committed to ADSE’s mission. Members usually began their service in leadership roles at local to ADSE chapters, and then choose to continue working towards our organization's goals at a broader scale. The main responsibility of the National Organizing Board is to address ADSE’s objectives through efforts that impact all local chapters and members. Such efforts include organizing conferences that members throughout the country can attend, maintaining relations with local chapters, providing assistance to local chapters, and updating ADSE’s website and social media accounts. The National Organizing Board acts as an intermediary between the local chapters and members and the Board of Directors, putting their ideas into action.
Arman Garcia
Chairman of the Board
Arman received his B.S. in Biochemistry in 2017. Shortly after he attended California State Los Angeles (Cal State LA) where performed research under the guidance of Dr. Matthias Selke. In 2019 Arman earned his M.S. in Chemistry for his work on cadmium-sulfur cluster and singlet oxygen. Arman is currently a Ph.D. candidate at University of Oregon in the Pluth group with a focus on host-guest complexes and reactive sulfur species. Arman attended the first Young Researchers Conference (2016) as an undergraduate research and co-found the UO ADSE chapter in 2020. In his free time he enjoys taking pictures of his cat.
Dr. Melissa Ramirez
Social Media Coordinator
Melissa was born in Los Angeles, CA and raised in Pasadena, CA. She is a first-generation Mexican American, and obtained her B.A. in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016. Thereafter, Melissa attended the University of California, Los Angeles where she received a Ph.D. in chemistry in 2021. Currently, Melissa is an NSF Ascend and Caltech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Professor Brian Stoltz. Her goal is to obtain a faculty position at an R1 institution after completion of her postdoc and train the next generation of diverse scientists.
Durgalakshmi Sivasankar
Historian
Durga received her B.Tech. in Biotechnology in Chennai, where she grew up. During her master’s at Northeastern University, Durga developed an interest in protein mass spectroscopy and drug development. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the Agar group at Northeastern University. Her research focuses on Chemoproteomics to identify off-target interactions of fALS drug candidates. In her spare time, she enjoys stargazing and solving puzzles.
Aidan W. Short
Website Chair
Growing up in New York City, Aidan developed an interest in biology watching insects in Riverside Park. This interest led him to Bowdoin College where he majored in biology and studied the diet of the invasive green crab. Aidan developed an interest in plant evolution as a Master's student at Guangxi University where he studied the cold stress response of mangroves. Aidan is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon where he studies monkeyflower adaptation and speciation in the Streisfeld Lab. As a member of ADSE, Aidan hopes to help increase student interest and involvement in scientific research.