Faculty

Dr. Jack Ballantyne (jballant@mail.ucf.edu) is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry. Prior to entering academia he was an operational forensic biochemist for eighteen years and worked as such in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the US. His most recent appointment was as the Supervisor of the Biological Sciences Section of the Suffolk County Crime Lab, Long Island, New York where he was responsible for the management and operation of three units, a conventional Serology Unit, a DNA-PCR Unit and a DNA-RFLP Unit. He has been actively involved in the issues of laboratory standards and accreditation at the national and state levels, serving on the federal DNA Advisory Board and National DNA Review Panel and the New York State DNA Sub-committee. He possesses a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, an M.Sc. in Forensic Science from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His current research interests include DNA damage assessment and in vitro repair systems, forensic uses of non-human DNA, forensic biochemistry, automation of analytical methods and immunological applications.

Dr. Karl X. Chai (kchai@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. Dr. Chai received his BS degree in Biochemistry from the Department of Biology at Peking University, Beijing, China. In 1985 upon graduation, he was selected by the China-US Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Examination and Application (CUSBMBEA) student exchange program and was accepted into the graduate program at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Chai received his Ph.D. in December, 1991 and continued on to receive his post-doctoral training at MUSC in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During his ten years of education and training in MUSC, Dr. Chai was involved in and contributed significantly to the identification and cloning of a new serine proteinase inhibitor in higher mammals. He finished the training at MUSC on the research of salt-induced hypertension in animal models and humans and through which, gained extensive practical experience in molecular genetics techniques. Dr. Chai started shifting his research emphasis to human breast and prostate cancers upon his arrival at UCF in August, 1996. Currently, he is funded by the Department of Defense to investigate the role of serine proteinases and inhibitors in the suppression of human cancers. Dr. Chai also has a research interest in investigating the functions of these proteinases and inhibitors in salt-induced hypertension.

Dr. Debopam Chakrabarti (dchak@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology & Microbiology. He is a molecular biologist with over fifteen years of experience in the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. His current interest is in the molecular mechanism of cell cycle regulation and identification of novel therapeutic targets in the malaria parasite. Dr. Chakrabarti received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physiology from the University of Calcutta, India and Ph.D. in Biochemistry also from the University of Calcutta. His post-doctoral training was in Molecular Biology working on the mechanism of initiation of protein synthesis in eukaryotes. He next joined the faculty of the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnolgy Research at the University of Florida and was the Scientific Director of the Molecular Biology Services. He joined the faculty of the University of Central Florida in 1995 and was appointed Co-Director of the newly initiated Center for Diagnostics and Drug Development.

Dr. Ratna Chakrabarti (rchak@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. Dr Chakrabarti received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Calcutta, India and did her postdoctoral studies in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska. Before joining the University of Central Florida, Dr. Chakrabarti was a research faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Cancer Center at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida . Dr. Chakrabarti’s area of research interest is the molecular mechanism of regulation of gene expression in normal and diseased state. Specific projects in her laboratory include: identification and characterization of differentially expressed genes in the process of tumorigenesis, tumor progression and metastasis in the prostate; understanding the regulation of expression of the glutamine synthetase gene during muscle wasting in catabolic diseases and in infection; and determining the signal transduction and cell cycle regulatory pathways in the Giardia parasite.

Dr. Glenn Cunningham (gcunning@mail.ucf.edu) is a professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry. He is a biochemist with an extensive background in enzymology and biochemical regulatory mechanisms. His most recent research is developing new antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer drugs and establishing their mode of action. Molecular modeling is utilized to help learn more about structure-biological activity relationships. Dr. Cunningham received his BS from the University of Tennessee, his MS and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University and Post Doctoral from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. William McGee (mcgee@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu) is a professor of Forensic Science in the Department of Chemistry and has been Director of the Forensic Science program since inception of the program in 1974. Dr. McGee was responsible for the current design of the Analysis and Serology tracks of the undergraduate curriculum and for the current design of the distance learning component of the Masters degree in Forensic Biochemistry. He has designed and taught forensic courses in microscopy, trace evidence analysis, and analysis of controlled substances. Dr. McGee’s research interest lies in the development of analytical methods for use as quality control procedures in the manufacture of polymeric materials. He has published more than 20 papers and reports in this area. Dr. McGee has served as Research Scientist at the Naval Research laboratory from 1977 to 1990 and as Senior Scientist at the Texas Research Institute from 1990-1996. Dr. McGee recently received, on behalf of the University, more than $2,000,000 in grants for the development of the National Center for Forensic Science. He is currently Director of the National Center.

Executive Committee

The executive committee will be responsible for the administration of the program including admission policies and decisions, transfer credits and course pre-requisites. The Executive Committee shall comprise faculty members drawn from the Department of Chemistry. Current members of this committee are Drs. J. Ballantyne, G. Cunningham, and W.W. McGee . Dr. J. Ballantyne is the program coordinator.

Advisory Committee

Each student will personally establish a research advisory committee (RAC) comprising an advisor and two other members. The advisor will be the principal point of contact between the student and the Forensic Science Track administration and will be responsible for assisting the student with the design and implementation of the research project. The advisor will also be the advisor for the coursework from the second semester to completion of the requirements for the degree. The RAC will approve, and supervise the progress of, the thesis based research project. Upon completion of the thesis a formal public oral defense is scheduled on campus, at which time the student presents his or her findings and is questioned by members of the RAC and by other members of the audience. Immediately thereafter the RAC will conduct an oral examination of the student in private.

Each student will personally select an advisor from an approved list of UCF chemistry faculty. The student will also choose a second UCF representative from an approved list of participating faculty from Chemistry and Microbiology and Molecular Biology. The third RAC individual will comprise a forensic scientist from the student’s own laboratory in the case of students who are off-campus practicing professionals.