Tew Research Group – People
See bottom of page for group member contact information, past and present
Tew grad student Michael Lis is profiled on the department website:
http://www.pse.umass.edu/students/profiles/student2.html.
Tew grad student Melissa Lackey is profiled on the department website:
http://www.pse.umass.edu/students/profiles/student10.html
The Tew Group enjoys a Tropical-themed Holiday Potluck, Dec 13, 2012
The Group celebrates Brittany's birthday, Dec 2012
Mike's new wife Vera sneaks a birthday cake into the office, Oct 24, 2012
Dr. Ke Zhang (l) and Dr. Yakai Feng (r) show off their parting gifts.
Dissertation Defense celebration for Jun Cui, Oct 15, 2012 (with Crosby & Tew)
Left to right (back rows): Yujie Liu, Yu-Cheng Chen, Yuri Ebata, Minchao Zhang, Sam
Pendergraph, Michael Bartlett, Brittany deRonde, Marcos Reyes Martinez, Melissa Lackey,
Cathy Walker, Jun Cui, Yongping Zha, Prof. Al Crosby, Madhura Pawar, Prof. Tew,
Katie Gibney, Joel Sarapas, Dr. Fede Sgolastra, E. Ilker Ozay, Dr. Ke Zhang, Dan King,
Dr. Yakai Feng. Left to right (front row): Cheol Hee Lee, Jon Pham, Mike Imburgia
The Tew Group bids a fond adieu to Dr. Abhigyan Som, October 2012
Hitesh Thaker's Dissertation Defense on September 26, 2012
From left: Dr. Abhi Som, Dr. Bob Fu, Brittany deRonde, Mike Lis, Melissa Lackey,
Hitesh Thaker, Prof. Tew, Katie Gibney, Joel Sarapas, Dr. Fede Sgolastra, Cathy Walker,
Dr. Yakai Feng, Madhura Pawar, Jun Cui, Dr. Ke Zhang
A. Ozgul Tezgel successfully defended her dissertation on September 21, 2012
From left: Gabriela Gonzalez-Perez (Vet Ani/Sci), Dr. Abhi Som, Dr. Yakai Feng,
Hitesh Thaker, Melissa Lackey, Ozgul Tezgel, E. Ilker Ozay (MCB), Prof. Tew,
Dr. Bob Fu, Dr. Ke Zhang, Mike Lis, Brittany deRonde, Jun Cui, Cathy Walker,
Katie Gibney, Dr. Fede Sgolastra
Yongping Zha's Dissertation Defense, August 13, 2012 
Jun Cui, Yongping Zha, A. Ozgul Tezgel, Hitesh Thaker
Tew Group members celebrate Fede's wedding to Garnet Smith, July 15, 2012 
L to R: (Back row): Dr. Ke Zhang, Dr. Abhi Som, Melissa Lackey, Yongping Zha, Jun Cui,
Mike Lis, A. Ozgul Tezgel, Vera Broekhuysen (Mike Lis' new wife), Katie Gibney, Travis
(Cathy Walker's partner), Brittany deRonde, Cathy Walker, Trouble Mandeson.
(Front row): Hitesh Thaker, Garnet Smith, Fede Sgolastra, Semra Colak.
Grad student Michael Lis weds Vera Broekhuysen, June 17, 2012 
A visit to Tregellys Fiber Farm in Hawley, MA, June 2012
(l to r): Back Row-Kathy Williams (Coughlin Group), Katie Gibney, Trouble Mandeson
Cathy Walker, Joel Sarapas, Connor Evans (Coughlin Group), Dr. Bob Fu; Front Row:
Brittany deRonde, Madhura Pawar.
2011 PSE Holiday Party
(l to r): Back Row-Melissa Lackey, Yongping Zha, Alper Canyaka*, Greta Becker*,
Cathy Walker, Prof. Greg Tew; Front Row-Joel Sarapas, Jun Cui, Madhura Pawar,
Katie Gibney, Brittany deRonde, Hitesh Thaker (*Mainz University, Germany).
2011-2012 Semra Colak's Dissertation Defense
(l to r): Back Row-Abhi Som, Raj Maddikeri, Yongping Zha, Trouble Erin Mandeson,
Mike Lis, Ke Zhang, Melissa Lackey, Yan Li, Cathy Walker, Prof. Greg Tew; Front Row-
Fede Sgolastra, Hitesh Thaker, Semra Colak, Brittany deRonde, Jun Cui, Ozgul Tezgel,
Katie Gibney.
Tew Group Members enjoy a summer picnic (2010)
(l to r): Back Row-Hitesh Thaker, Abhi Som, Ke Zhang, Jun Cui, Cathy Walker, Melissa
Lackey, Semra Colak, Yan Li; Front Row-Yongping Zha, Nidhi Kumar, Jing Jiang, Prof.
Tew, Fede Sgolastra, Katie Gibney, Dr. Min "Crystal" Chen
2010-2011 Group Members celebrate Jeremy Rathfon's Dissertation Defense
(l to r): Semra Colak, Dr. Jing Jiang, Hitesh Thaker, Michael Lis, Trouble Mandeson,
Raj Maddikeri, Dr. Jeremy Rathfon, Yongping Zha, Dr. Abhigyan Som, Cathy Walker,
Jun Cui, Melissa Lackey, Katie Gibney, Dr. Ke Zhang, Ozgul Tezgel, Dr. Yan Li, Prof. Tew
2008-2009 Group Members
Back row (l to r): Dr. Ke Zhang, Dr. Jing Jiang, Michael Lis, Yongping Zha, Dr. Ahmad
"Mack" Madkour, Jeremy Rathfon, Melissa Lackey, Dr. Abhigyan Som, Prof. Tew;
Middle row: Hitesh Thaker, Josh Grolman, Jun Cui, Anika Reuter, Arife Ozgul Tezgel,
Desiree Weller, Nidhi Kumar; Seated: Semra Colak, Raghevendra "Raj" Maddikeri,
Dr. Karen Lienkamp, Office Mgr. Trouble Erin Mandeson
Graduate Students
- Michael Lis (email)
- Melissa Lackey (email)
- Katie Gibney (email)
- Cathy Walker (email)
- Brittany deRonde (email)
- Joel Sarapas (email)
- Madhura Pawar (email)
- Coralie Backlund (email)
Undergraduates
Current Visiting Scholars
Former Members
- Dr. Ke Zhang (email) ICCAS, Beijing, China
- Dr. Abigyan Som (email) Metrex, Orange, CA
- Jun Cui (email) Infineum, Linden, NJ
- Hitesh Thaker (email) Infineum, Linden, NJ
- Arife Ozgul Tezgel (email) Hayat Chemicals, Inc., Turkey
- Yongping Zha (email) Xerox, Webster, NY
- Kewei Zhang, UMass AMH Microbiology Honors undergrad, (email)
- Nikita Nayyar, UMass AMH Microbiology Honors undergrad, (email)
- Avital Percher, UMass AMH Chemistry Honors undergrad, (email)
- Dr. Raghavendra Maddikeri (email) SABIC Innovative Plastics, Evansville, IN
- Dr. Yan Li (email) seeo.com, Hayward, CA
- Dr. Semra Colak (email) 3M, St. Paul, MN
- Kushi-Nidhi Kumar (email) PPD, Richmond, VA
- Joshua Grolman (email) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Dr. Jing Jiang (email) Dow Corning, Midland, MI
- Dr. Jeremy Rathfon (email) Post-doc, University of Louisville
- Dr. Ahmad Madkour (email) Dow Chemical Midland, MI
- Dr. Karen Lienkamp (email) University of Freiburg, Germany
- Dr. Raja Shunmugam (email) Indian Institute of Sci Educ & Research, Kolkata, India
- Dr. Greg Gabriel (email) Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA
- Dr. Morris Slutsky (email) Botulinum Research Center, UMass-Dartmouth
- Jeff Dabkowski (email) Northeastern University, Boston, MA
- Dr. Sterling Alfred (email) Bioformix, Inc., Newington, CT
- Dr. Zoha AL-Badri (email) Ashland Hercules Water Technologies, Wilmington, DE
- Dr. Naomi Sanabria-DeLong (email) W.L. Gore, Newark, DE
- Sarah Lyon (email) Massachusetts College of Pharmacy/Health Sciences, Worcester, MA
-
Dr. Khaled Aamer (email) National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Cartney Smith (email)TransForm Pharmaceutical
- Dr. Lachelle Arnt (email) Clorox
- Dr. Tony Tang (email) Polymedix, Radnor, PA
- Dannon Stigers (email) University of New Hampshire
- Tatyana Shalapyonok (email) New England School of Optometry
- Katelyn Spillane (email) University of California, Berkeley, Dept. of Chemistry
- Jack Peters (email) Ionics
Past Visiting Scholars
- Professor Ji-Young Chang (email)
- Sang Hyuk Seo
Back row (l to r): Arife Ozgul Tezgel, Dr. Jing Jiang, Jun Cui, Yongping Zha, Dr. Zoha
AL-Badri, Raghavendra "Raj" Maddikeri, Josh Grolman, Hitesh Thaker, Dr. Ahmad
"Mack" Madkour, Semra Colak, Casey Kimball; Seated (l to r): Jeremy Rathfon, Naomi
Sanabria-DeLong, Dr. Raja Shunmugam, Dr. Gregory "Gee" Gabriel
Back row (l to r): Christoph Kins, Henning Schaefer, Yongping Zha, Casey Kimball,
Jeff Dabkowski, Prof. Tew; Middle row: Dr. Greg "Gee" Gabriel, Ozgul Tezgel, Jun Cui,
Erin Mandeson, Dr. Sterling Alfred, Josh Grolman, Hitesh Thaker, Dr. Morris Slutsky; Front
row: Dr. Karen Lienkamp, Jeremy Rathfon, Naomi Sanabria-DeLong, Raghavendra
"Raj" Maddikeri, Semra Colak.
TewGroup Toasts Ticora Jones after a successful Dissertation Defense, June 2006
Back row (l to r): Chris Nelson, Jason Rennie, Dr. Morris Slutsky, Jason Philips, Prof. Tew, Dr. Ahmad "Mack" Madkour, Dr. Jing Jiang; Middle row: Sterling Alfred, Yoen Choi, Dr. Abhigyan Som, Yamalia Roberts, Louis Perez, Dr. Khaled Aamer, Katelyn Spillane, Dr. Raja Shunmugam, Jeremy Rathfon; Front row: Sarah Lyons, Ticora Jones, Naomi Sanabria-DeLong, Dr. Greg "Gee" Gabriel.
