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 2022-2024. The secure voting ballot follows the bios below. Voting will end on October 31, 2021.
Jerry Bowen, Ph.D. – President Elect Nominee
Dr. Jerry Bowen is a professor of Biology and serves as department head at Rogers State University (RSU). Prior to accepting his position at RSU, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Oklahoma State University in the Insect Physiology lab exploring macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) and ehrlichiosis transmission between the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
He received a B.S in Mathematics and M.S. in Biology (Thesis: A pitfall trap survey of the spider family Gnaphosidae in Wichita County, TX) from Midwestern State University. Dr Bowen earned a Ph.D in Entomology (Dissertation: Proteomic Analysis of Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) from Oklahoma State University Stillwater.
Notable professional affiliations include Oklahoma Academy of Science (life member), American Arachnological Society (life member), and Sigma Xi. He spends his spare time trying to find a place to get his kayak wet, working on various projects in the barn, and perfecting his hot sauce recipe (with superhot (million+ scoville) peppers).
Dr. Bowen currently serves as the Collegiate Director of the Academy and previously served as Chair of the Applied Ecology and Conservation Section. https://www.rsu.edu/directory/jerry-bowen/
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 as Vice-Chair of the Microbiology Section. https://microbiology.okstate.edu/people/faculty/413-mitra
Dr. Jerry Bowen is a professor of Biology and serves as department head at Rogers State University (RSU). Prior to accepting his position at RSU, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Oklahoma State University in the Insect Physiology lab exploring macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) and ehrlichiosis transmission between the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
He received a B.S in Mathematics and M.S. in Biology (Thesis: A pitfall trap survey of the spider family Gnaphosidae in Wichita County, TX) from Midwestern State University. Dr Bowen earned a Ph.D in Entomology (Dissertation: Proteomic Analysis of Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) from Oklahoma State University Stillwater.
Notable professional affiliations include Oklahoma Academy of Science (life member), American Arachnological Society (life member), and Sigma Xi. He spends his spare time trying to find a place to get his kayak wet, working on various projects in the barn, and perfecting his hot sauce recipe (with superhot (million+ scoville) peppers).
Dr. Bowen currently serves as the Collegiate Director of the Academy and previously served as Chair of the Applied Ecology and Conservation Section. https://www.rsu.edu/directory/jerry-bowen/
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 as Vice-Chair of the Microbiology Section. https://microbiology.okstate.edu/people/faculty/413-mitra
