Citizen Science Program Faculty
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Kate Huffer (they/them)Kate Huffertaught twice in the January Citizen Science program. Kate is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Kenton Swartz, PhD, at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, MD, where they study proteins called Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) ion channels that are involved in sensing a wide variety of physical and chemical stimuli in virtually every cell in the human body. They are particularly interested in what the structure of an ion channel can tell us about how it works and which drugs it might be sensitive to.
Kate Huffer (they/them)
Kate Huffertaught twice in the January Citizen Science program. Kate is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Kenton Swartz, PhD, at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, MD, where they study proteins called Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) ion channels that are involved in sensing a wide variety of physical and chemical stimuli in virtually every cell in the human body. They are particularly interested in what the structure of an ion channel can tell us about how it works and which drugs it might be sensitive to.
Kate grew up in Green Bay, WI and received their bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, where they majored in Neuroscience and Biological Chemistry. They then earned their PhD in Biology from the National Institutes of Health-Johns Hopkins Graduate Partnerships Program. They live just outside of Washington, D.C., and they enjoy knitting, spinning yarn, and biking. -
Deborah Keszenman (she/her)Deborah earned her MD from the Universidad de la Republica’s School of Medicine in Montevideo, Uruguay, and her MS and PhD in Biophysics in the area of Radiation Biology from the Universidad de la Republica–PEDECIBA.
Deborah has taught eleven times in the January Citizen Science program!Deborah Keszenman (she/her)
Deborah earned her MD from the Universidad de la Republica’s School of Medicine in Montevideo, Uruguay, and her MS and PhD in Biophysics in the area of Radiation Biology from the Universidad de la Republica–PEDECIBA.
Deborah has taught eleven times in the January Citizen Science program!
Deborah Keszenman earned her MD from the Universidad de la Republica’s School of Medicine in Montevideo, Uruguay. Following her curiosity and desire of exploration of new areas, at an early stage of her medical studies she joined the Biophysics Department at the Medical School and started to do research in the area of DNA damage and repair. While working as a physician and teaching Biophysics at the Medical School, Deborah earned a MS and then a PhD in Biophysics in the area of Radiation Biology from the Universidad de la Republica–PEDECIBA. Deborah worked researching and teaching Biophysics at the Universidad de la Republica for more than 30 years, beginning as an honorary lecturer. She is a research member of the Project for Development of Basic Sciences PEDECIBA, Uruguay. In 2005, Deborah and her family moved to the United States where she continued her scientific career at the Biosciences Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and in 2006 she became a Beam Line Scientist of the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL). In 2015, Dr. Keszenman returned to Uruguay to join the Group of Biophysical Chemistry as Professor of Biophysics at CENUR Litoral Norte in Salto, and to be in charge of the Environmental and Medical Radiation Biology Laboratory. Her scientific research is focused towards problems of radiation biology with potential application in clinical Medicine and with impact on the human-environment interaction. Deborah has specialized in the study of genomic responses to nitro-oxidative stress induced by UV, ionizing radiation, anticarcinogenic agents and pesticides at the molecular and cellular levels. Her research group is also studying the role of natural products on protective and adaptive responses to genomic damage induced by physical and chemical agents present in the environment. Her group is actively involved in the transference of all this basic knowledge to society to empower a sustainable development. -
Jamal Davis Neal, Jr.
(he/ they)Jamal Davis Neal, Jr. is a current Master of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School and recent Master's of Social Work graduate of UConn School of Social Work as part of a joint-degree program between the two schools.
January 2024 was their first time teaching Citizen Science and they are looking forward to continuing to teach in the program!Jamal Davis Neal, Jr.
(he/ they)Jamal Davis Neal, Jr. is a current Master of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School and recent Master's of Social Work graduate of UConn School of Social Work as part of a joint-degree program between the two schools.
January 2024 was their first time teaching Citizen Science and they are looking forward to continuing to teach in the program!
Jamal's last forayed into the scientific world was during their time in undergrad at the University of Vermont, where they graduated with a B.S. in Neuroscience in 2019. While the work he does now is not necessarily related to the hard sciences, he is encouraged by Citizen Science's goal of highlighting scientific literacy skills as central to being a good citizen, in interconnected relationship with one another and with our planet. When you meet them, feel free to ask them more about their switch from the field of hard sciences to the social science disciplines--they promise they have a story to tell you. (He would also love to hear your life narrative as well!)
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