Professor Anne E. V. Gorden
Associate Professor
Prof. Gorden grew up in the great state of Texas before going away to college, studying chemistry and literature at Emory University in Atlanta. She later moved back to Texas to the University of Texas at Austin where she completed her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with Prof. Jonathan Sessler. As part of her Ph.D. work she had the opportunity to work at Los Alamos and Argonne National Laboratories. She then did postdoctoral studies with Prof. Kenneth Raymond at the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. After starting her academic career at Auburn University, she has returned home to Texas, restarting the research group at Texas Tech University. She now lives in Lubbock with her husband, Mr. Dr. Gorden, son, daughter, and 2 lab mix rescue dogs we call the lab experiments.
Mario Guagliardo
Graduate Student
2019
Mario grew up in Sicily in Italy, and joined the Gorden group having completed his undergraduate and master's degrees in chemistry at the Università degli Studi di Palermo. The focus of his current research is the application of the principles of green chemistry to organometallic catalysis, through the synthesis of novel catalysts and the optimization of organic reactions in aqueous media.
John Ducilon
Graduate Student
2019
Originally from Haiti, John grew up in Florida. He joined the Gorden group after completing his undergraduate degree at the University of West Florida
Dylan M. T. Eralie
Graduate Student
2020
Dylan earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Tennessee Technological University with an ACS certification in 2017. They continued at that institution earning a terminal M.S. in 2019. Their thesis topic was "Development of a Measure of Merit and its Application to Natural Product Stereochemical Determinations". Dylan joined Texas Tech in January of 2020. Dylan is currently working on synthesizing salophen, pyrasal, and bissalophen ligands for complexation with actinides and lanthanides.
Pooja Dogra
Graduate Student
2023
Pooja Dogra grew up in Una, India. She completed her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in chemistry from Panjab University in Chandigarh, India. Pooja is working on the synthesis and characterization of sulfonated salophen ligands and their metal complexes with lanthanides.
Xiaoyu Huo
Graduate Student
2022
Xiaoyu was born in Zaozhuang, a city in the eastern province of China. She completed her undergraduate studies in pharmaceutical engineering at Changzhou University in eastern China. Xiaoyu is working on the quinoxolinol metal complexes’ synthesis and catalytic application in benzylic and heterocyclic alcohol oxidations.
Rhea Karkera
Undergraduate Research
Rhea was born in Boston, Massachusetts but grew up near Dallas, Texas. She joined the Gorden group as a sophomore Chemistry major and hopes to graduate from Texas Tech University in Spring 2024.
Biswash Guragain
Graduate Student
2023
Biswash grew up in eastern Nepal and completed his bachelor's and master's degree in chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Currently, he is working on synthesis of salqu based metal complexes to explore their catalytic activities.
Dev Bhakta
Undergraduate Research
Dev Bhakta is a chemical engineering major from Levelland, Texas. He joined the Gorden Group the summer after his freshman year at Texas Tech. He plans to graduate from the university in 2026.
Kyleigh LeBlanc
Undergraduate Research
Kyleigh is a junior undergraduate majoring in chemistry and grew up around Dallas, TX. She plans to graduate fall of 2024 and eventually further her education with a masters degree.
Xander Duke
Undergraduate Research
Xander has transferred to TTU from South Plains and is currently pursuing a degree in chemistry.
Lilien Grosz (BCHM)
Undergraduate Research (Class of 24)
Lilien transferred to TTU and is currently pursuing a degree in biochemistry.
Levin Ozer (CHEM)
Undergraduate Researcher
Levin grew up in Istanbul, Turkey and joined the group in Fall 2023 as a Chemistry Major. She hopes to graduate in Spring 2025 and pursue a PhD in Chemistry.
Sadah Young (CHEM/MATH)
Undergraduate Researcher
Sadah is a junior undergraduate student who plans to graduate in May of 2025. She is a dual major in chemistry and math. Sadah is from Austin, Texas and works as a dance teacher at a local studio.
Jonathan DeAnda (CHEM/MUSIC)
Undergraduate Researcher
Jonathan DeAnda is a 4th year Biochemistry and Music double major originally from Houston, Texas, but he grew up in San Angelo. As college applications drew near, he realized he was too stubborn to put either science or music down, and decided to double major. He has three short-term goals to meet before graduation: a violin recital, to create and analyze different uranyl complexes iand publish the findings, and to get accepted into the Texas Tech School of Medicine. As a career, he hopes to be an orthopedic surgeon, but to never lose a passion for teaching and performing music.
Former Group Members
Gone but not forgotten....
Some of the Former members of the Gorden Group include:
Dr. Adineh (Aida) Rezaei, Fulbright Prof. Kseniia Yutilova (Vasyl' Stus Donetsk National University Ukraine), Fulbright Prof. Abid Banday (Islamia College Srinagar); Dr. Ethan Hiti (U. Alabama); Dr. Julie Niklas (Georgia Tech), Dr. Clay Black (Ecolabs), Dr. Emily Hardy (Old Dominion University), Dr. Maya West (Oak Ridge National Lab), Dr. Charmaine Tutson (Environmental Protection Agency), Dr. Michael DeVore II ( Savannah River National Lab), Dr. Kushan Weerasiri (Institute of Chemistry - Ceylon), Dr. Branson Maynard (EPRI), Dr. Yuancheng Li (Emory University/5MBiomen), Dr. Xianghong Wu (Chem Abstracts) and former postdoc Dr. Mohan Bharara.
Former Undergraduate Students
Braxton Hawkins (23), Tessa Hoang (23), Justin Williamson (23), Ethan Chapman (23), Avery Stilley (22), Lydia Li, C. Reese Hitch (22),
From Auburn University: Grant Wilkinson (21), Madeleine Forbes, Florian Resnik (DAAD), Katherine Hunter, J. P. Grundhoefer, Aidan Wood, Katherine “Kate” Valentine, William “Ryan” Yates, Jacob Mayhugh, Rebecca Keller, Kevin Wyss, Sarah Payne, William A. Scott, Lindy “Chase” Elrod, Madeline Eddy, Ricardo Spencer, Joseph Nelson, Thomas Moreland, Gregory Kohler (NSF-REU); Chelsea Crooks, Zachary Hegetschweiler, Mary O'Barr, Tricia Hoffman (NSF-REU), Spencer Kerns, Kelly Sabrina Lynn, Emily Buss, Andrew Robinson, Kathryn Lasowskii (NSF-REU), Audrey Gamble, Logan McKenney, Meha Jha, Eleanor Isbell, Jon Matthew "Matt" McDonald, Kathryn "Katie" Heflin, Brandon Tate, Jordan Hamilton, Hannah Hubbard, Kara Strawbridge (Reynolds), Stephen Tonks, Demetrius Stanton, Jonah Vilseck & Timothy McCord
Labs
Group Mascots - the Lab Experiments
Labrador rescues from the wilds of Alabama.
