Trinh Lab    
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  Principal Investigator  
 

 

Cong T. Trinh, Ph.D., Professor

Ferguson Faculty Fellow

Postdoc: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley

Ph.D.: Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota

B.S.: Chemical Engineering, University of Houston

Email: ctrinh@utk.edu

  
  Honors/Awards: Thomas & Ruth Clark Excellence in Chemical Engineering Award (2021); DARPA's Director Fellowship (2019); TCE Teaching Fellow Award (2019); Chancellor Research & Creative Achievement/Professional Promise Award (2018); TCE Professional Promise in Research Award (2018); Ferguson Faculty Fellow (2017), DARPA YFA Award (2017); ASEE New Researcher Award (2017); CBE Outstanding Teaching Award (2017); NSF CAREER Award (2016); Thomas & Ruth Clark Chemical Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award (2016); CoE Professional Promise in Research Award (2016); CBE Outstanding Teaching Award (2014); Professional Development Award (2014).

 

  Researchers  
 

Seunghyun Ryu, PhD, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Research Assistant Professor

 

 
   

 

Ryan Myers, PhD, Northern Illinois University

Research Associate

Project: Yeast Robustness and Plastic Waste Upcycling
   

 

Ranti Shukla, PhD, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Research Associate

Project: Modular Cell Engineering

 

  Graduate students  
 

David Dooley, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

B.S.: Chemical Engineering, Tennessee Tech University

Project: CRISPR-Cas Antimicrobials and OMICS Integration

 
 

Christopher Cotter, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

B.A.: University of North Carolina, Chaper Hill

Project: CRISPR-Cas Antimicrobials and OMICS Integration

 

 
 

Carrie Sanford, Energy Science and Engineering

M.S.: Biological and Argicultural Engineering, NCSU

Project: Modular Cell Engineering

 

 

 

  Undergraduate students  
 

Gallian Castro, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Project: Modular Cell Engineering

 
 

Khanh Ha, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Project: Modular Cell Engineering

 
   

Victoria Rogers, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

University of Tenenssee, Knoxville

Project: Modular Cell Engineering

 
 

 

 

 

Samuel Cohen, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

University of Tenenssee, Knoxville

Project: CRISPR-Cas Antimicrobials and OMICS Integration

 
 

 

 

 

Daniel Haught, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

University of Tenenssee, Knoxville

Project: Modular Cell Engineering

 
 

 

 

 

Kishore Owusu, Biology

Cheney Univeristy of Pennsylvania

Project: Plastics Waste Upcycling

 
 

 

 

 

Haley Aponte, Biology

University of Massachusetts

Project: Plastics Waste Upcycling

 

 

  Alumni  
 

Postdoctoral researchers

Dr. Narayan Niraula (postdoc; 2012-2014; scientist @ Pfizer Inc.)

Dr. Adam Thompson (postdoc; 2016; scientist @Lanzatech Inc.)

Dr. Donovan Layton (postdoc; 2016-2017; scientist @Zymergen Inc.)

Dr. Charles Phillips (postdoc; 2017-2018)

Dr. Seunghyun Ryu (postdoc; 2013-2019; scientist @CJ Research Center, Boston, MA)

Dr. Xianliang (Nic) Zheng (postdoc; 2018-2019; scientist @Angel Yeast Co., LTD, China)

Dr. Md Golam Mostofa (postdoc; 2018-2019)

Dr. Jong-Won Lee (postdoc; 2021; postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Irvine)

Dr. Brian Mendoza (scientist, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2020-2021; scientist @Zymergen at Emeryville, CA)

Dr. Caleb Walker (postdoc, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2021; scientist @ Cellibre at San Diego, CA)

Dr. Hyeongmin Seo (postdoc, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2021; postdoctoral researcher at University of Delaware)

  
 

Graduate students

David Flowers (Masters, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2011-2012; PhD at MIT; scientist @ Applied BioMath, MA)

Lorenzo Briganti (visiting master student, Microbiology, Brazil; 2012)

Paulo Avila (visiting PhD student, Microbiology, Brazil; 2012)

Michael Wierzbicki (Masters, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2011-2013; engineer @AdvanSix, Hopewell, VA)

Yan Liu (rotation student, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2013-2014)

Matthew Entler (rotation student, Genome Science Technology; 2015-2016)

Andrew Kirkpatrick (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2015-2016; currently with 490 BioTech, Knoxville, TN)

Adam Thompson (Ph.D., Energy Science and Engineering; 2011-2016; scientist @vLanzatech Inc., Chicago, IL)

Donovan Layton (Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2011-2016; scientist @Zymergen at Emeryville, CA)

John George (Energy Science and Engineering, 2017-2018)

John Caruthers (Masters, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2018-2019; engineer @Astrazeneca)

Brian Mendoza (Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2014-2020; scientist @Zymergen at Emeryville, CA)

Sergio Garcia (Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2015-2020)

Jong-Won Lee (Ph.D., Energy Science and Engineering; 2015-2020; postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Irvine)

William Khomtchenko (Masters, CBE, UT; 2019-2021)

Ali Al-Najada (rotation student, CBE, UT; 2019-2020)

Caleb Walker (Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2014-2021; scientist @Cellibre at San Diego, CA)

Hyeongmin Seo (Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2016-2021; postdoctoral researcher at University of Delaware)

Bindica Poudel (Masters, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2020-2022)

Naintai Li (Masters, CBE, UT, 2019-2022)

  
 

Undergraduate students

Kevin Spellman (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UTK; 2011)

Genesis Minter (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; 2011-2012)

Katie Lutes (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2011-2012)

Chris Ludtka (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2012)

Akshitha Yarrabothula (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2011-2013; M.D. at New York Medical College)

Patrick Caveney (Biomedical Engineering, UT; 2013; PhD in Energy Science and Engineering at UT)

Ivan Geigerman (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2013; engineer at Ethicon Johnson & Johnson, Athens, Georgia)

Sergio Garcia (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2014; PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UT)

Julie Hipp (B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2012-2015; PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Delaware; scientist @Protor & Gamble Corp.)

D.J. Conner (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2013-2015; M.D. at Wake Forest School of Medicine at North Carolina)

Andrew Kirkpatrick (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2014-2015; engineer at 490 BioTech, Knoxville, TN)

Mathias Lanteli (visiting student, Biotechnology, The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, 2015)

Jordan Leith (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2016)

Sterling Kolar (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2016)

Rebecka Stockgard (visiting student, Biotechnology, The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, 2016)

Chachthida (Junie) Sukttjavanich (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2016)

Brandon Wilbanks (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2012-2017; pursuing PhD at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, MN)

Abby Link (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2017)

Neel Patel (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2016-2017)

Jay Patel (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2017)

Ralph Lauren (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018)

Matt Kubis (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2016-2018, pursuing PhD at Dartmouth College)

Katherine Krouse (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2017-2018, engineerr @Inscripta, CO)

Jared Clements (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2017-2018, pursuing medical school at University of Tennessee, Memphis)

David Arellano (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018)

Alisha Chapman (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018)

Maggie Sumner (Technician; 2018)

Lauren McCloud (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 08/2018-12/2018)

Samantha Karklins (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 08/2018-03/2019)

Dylan Chitin (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2017-2018; pursuing PhD at Clemson U)

Daniel Faradji (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018-2019)

Timothy Player (Computer Science, UT; 2019)

Josh Herman (Computer Science, UT; 2019-2020)

Caleb Young (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2019-2020)

Greg Cantrall (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018-2020; pursuing PhD at UTK)

Preston Nicely (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018-2020; pursuing medical school at Brown University)

Noah Dunlap (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2018-2020)

John Hill (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UT; 2019-2020; pursuing PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Delaware)

Abhi Ravi (EECS, UT; 2019-2020)

Kentrall Patton (BCMB, UT; 2020-2020)

Marina I. Vlasyuk (CBE, UT; 2020-2021)

Tanner Fry (EECS, UT; 2019-2021)

Anthony Hueber (CBE, UT; 2021-2021)

Kishan Tailor (EECS, UT; 2020-2021; pursuing M.S. at Cornell)

Hannah Rauhuff (Technician; 2020-2022)

Nathaniel Blablock (CBE, UT; 2021-2022; pursuing PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Wisconsin, Madison)
 

Sofware Developers

Tanner Fry (Masters, EECS, 2021)

Stephen Kelley (MABE, 2021-2022)
 

High-school students

Brandon Wilbanks (Powel high school; 2012-2013; B.S in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UTK; pursuing PhD at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, MN)

Sabrina Collins (Gibbs high school, 2013)

 

  Updated on 07.11.2022