OAS Officer Elections
Every two years, the Oklahoma Academy of Science conducts a nomination and election process for President-Elect and Recording Secretary. The Nominations Committee presents the following candidates for these positions for terms running from 2024-2026. The secure voting ballot follows the bios below. Voting will end on October 31, 2023.
Rachel Jones, Ph.D. – President Elect Nominee
Dr. Rachel Jones is the current Dean for the School of Science & Physical Education at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha, OK. Her research background focuses on the paleoecology and human/environment interactions of the longleaf pine savanna found across the southeastern United States. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and M.S. in Botany from the University of Wyoming, with a B.A. in Anthropology from Arizona State University. From 2006-2014, she worked as a vegetation and wetlands ecologist for BKS Environmental Consultants in Gillette, Wyoming focusing on pre-excavation and reclamation surveying for the energy industry. Dr. Jones has previously served as the Chair of the Biological Science Section of OAS. https://usao.edu/directory/rachel-jones.html
Avi Mitra, Ph.D. – Recording Secretary Nominee
Dr. Mitra is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Oklahoma State University. He obtained a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2014 at University of South Florida. During his grad school days, he studied transcription factors that control essential virulence factors in E. coli O157:H7 (aka. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli). He then went on to do postdoctoral research with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) at University of Alabama at Birmingham. He joined the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Oklahoma State University (OSU) as an Assistant professor in Fall 2020. His lab at OSU works with two lung pathogens, Mtb and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa). These pathogens are strictly dependent on iron acquisition in the human host to colonize and cause disease. In the Mtb project they are studying how Mtb acquires heme iron because more than 75% of host iron is stored in heme, making it the largest source of iron for Mtb. In the Pa project the goal is to identify drugs that can block the different iron acquisition pathways to prevent iron uptake into the cells. Long-term goals are to identify novel chemotherapeutic approaches by which we can block iron acquisition in these pathogens because iron is an essential nutrient. Dr. Mitra currently serves Recording Secretary of OAS and as Chair of the Microbiology Section. https://microbiology.okstate.edu/people/faculty/413-mitra
Dr. Rachel Jones is the current Dean for the School of Science & Physical Education at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha, OK. Her research background focuses on the paleoecology and human/environment interactions of the longleaf pine savanna found across the southeastern United States. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and M.S. in Botany from the University of Wyoming, with a B.A. in Anthropology from Arizona State University. From 2006-2014, she worked as a vegetation and wetlands ecologist for BKS Environmental Consultants in Gillette, Wyoming focusing on pre-excavation and reclamation surveying for the energy industry. Dr. Jones has previously served as the Chair of the Biological Science Section of OAS. https://usao.edu/directory/rachel-jones.html
Avi Mitra, Ph.D. – Recording Secretary Nominee
Dr. Mitra is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Oklahoma State University. He obtained a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2014 at University of South Florida. During his grad school days, he studied transcription factors that control essential virulence factors in E. coli O157:H7 (aka. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli). He then went on to do postdoctoral research with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) at University of Alabama at Birmingham. He joined the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Oklahoma State University (OSU) as an Assistant professor in Fall 2020. His lab at OSU works with two lung pathogens, Mtb and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa). These pathogens are strictly dependent on iron acquisition in the human host to colonize and cause disease. In the Mtb project they are studying how Mtb acquires heme iron because more than 75% of host iron is stored in heme, making it the largest source of iron for Mtb. In the Pa project the goal is to identify drugs that can block the different iron acquisition pathways to prevent iron uptake into the cells. Long-term goals are to identify novel chemotherapeutic approaches by which we can block iron acquisition in these pathogens because iron is an essential nutrient. Dr. Mitra currently serves Recording Secretary of OAS and as Chair of the Microbiology Section. https://microbiology.okstate.edu/people/faculty/413-mitra
