> Chemistry at FGCU
Current Members
                           Manuella Constantino

Manuella has worked in our lab since the Summer of 2017 on the total synthesis of cyclopentane natural products. She plans to graduate in the Spring of 2019 and pursue a D.O. at LECOM.

                           Brittany Klootwyk

Brittany has worked in our lab since the Fall of 2016 on novel methodologies involving cyclopropenones. She plans to graduate in the Spring of 2018 and pursue a Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry.

                           Daniel Quiroz

Daniel has worked in our lab since the Summer of 2017 on the total synthesis of cyclopentane natural products. He plans to graduate in the Spring of 2020 and pursue a Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry.

Past Members
                           Arnold Morales (Graduated Spring 2018)

Arnold has been working in our lab since the Spring of 2017. Arnold works on novel transformations of pyridoxine and vinylogous reactivity of cyclic systems.

                           Keval Patel (Graduated Spring 2018)

Keval began working in the Summer of 2017 on novel transformations of pyridoxine. He is pursuing a D.D.S. at LECOM.

Kellie Weeks (Graduated Spring 2018)

Kellie has worked in our lab since the Fall of 2016 on the enantioselective synthesis of thujone and on novel methodologies involving cyclopropenones. She is pursuing a Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry at UC Davis.

                           Samantha Coury

Samantha work on novel methodologies involving cyclopropenones as high school student for two years! She is currently a Pre-Med student at Yale University.

Mike Lake (Graduated Spring 2016)

Mike worked on the enantioselective synthesis of santolina triene until graduating with a B.S. in Biochemistry, Mike is currently pursuing a Pharm. D. at the University of South Florida.

Sherzod Tomakov (Graduated Spring 2016)

Sherzodobtained his B.S. in Biology while major working on novel vinylogous methodologies. Sherzod completed an REU at the University of Chicago in Molecular Geneticsbefore choosing to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in biology.

Jessica Yazarians (Graduated Spring 2016)

Jessica obtained her B.S. in Biochemistry and has pioneered numerous projects in our group. She completed the total synthesis of thujone, worked on the synthesis of novel fluorinated analogs of haloperidol, and assisted in our understanding cyclopropenone chemistry. Jessica is pursuing her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry under the direction of Prof. Narayan at the University of Michigan.


Chelcie Almeyda (Graduated Fall 2014)

Chelcie is a senior Biology major who has completed the total synthesis and chiral resolution of thujone for her Senior Research Project. Aside from her academics, Chelice also is an active member of the FGCU Powerlifting Team. Currently, Chelcie is a Dental Hygenist in New Jersey.

Alex Bracken (Graduated Spring 2015)

Alex worked on the novel vinylogous methodologies and is now pursuing a D.O. at LECOM. Great job Alex!

Kara Faulkner (Graduated Spring 2014)

Kara graduated with a B.S. in Bioengineering. Kara has worked on the composition of essential oils of invasive local plant species and helped significantly on creating the Standard Operating Procedures for several hazardous chemicals. We’re very happy that Kara has accepted a position at Arthex Inc. in Fort Myers.