News | Page 157 of 172 | Marymount University

Dr. Amanda Wright has been a member of Marymount’s faculty since 2008. Since that time, she has established Biochemistry as a major area of study at Marymount. Dr. Wright is actively engaging in teaching, where she utilizes innovative approaches such as process-oriented guided inquiry learning and case studies. She also leads several research projects with undergraduate students, many of whom have presented at local, national, or international conferences.

Dr. Wright has published several research papers in leading scientific journals and her work has been featured at international conferences, such as The Society for Neuroscience and The American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Wright is an active and engaged member of both of these organizations.

Other Information

Teaching Area

Biochemistry
Biology
Chemistry
Molecular Biology
Virology
Genetics

Research Interests

Protein interactions that regulate axonal guidance and establishment of neuronal networks during brain development
Signaling pathways that control cell migration
Using mathematical modeling to evaluate biological systems

Publications

[…]

Deana Jaber

Academic Credentials

B.A., Mount Holyoke College
Ph.D., University of Maryland

Biography

As a member of Marymount’s faculty since 2011, Dr. Deana Jaber has been engaged in teaching as well as research with undergraduate students. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. After that, she spent a year working at the state-of-the-art Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore where she was involved in drug-discovery research on tuberculosis and dengue fever. In 2011, Dr. Jaber received her doctoral degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Jaber is actively involved in undergraduate research where students are engaged in research projects that have earned them authorship on several publications. Dr. Jaber’s research interest is in the field of chemistry education where she strives to develop chemistry educational tools that have been shown to enhance the student’s learning experience. Dr. Jaber has presented at local and national conferences on a variety of topics related to STEM education, case studies, and discipline-based education research.

Dr. Jaber is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society), and Phi Beta Kappa. She served as a coordinator for the Chemical Society of Washington (CSW) Younger Chemist’s Committee (YCC) where she helped organize different educational and outreach events. Dr. Jaber also served as the primary organizer for the Fairfax/Arlington chemistry competition, “You Be The Chemist Challenge” (YBTC), one of the Chemical Educational Foundation’s (CEF) biggest programs.

Teaching Area

General Chemistry I & II
Organic Chemistry I & II
“Beyond Elementary,” a course dedicated to learning about the development of the periodic table, the stories behind each element’s discovery, the scientists who discovered the elements, the scientific processes that produced these discoveries, and the impact they had on the world.

Research Interests

Developing pedagogical tools for chemistry education in different formats: physical, virtual and smart applications.
Developing case studies that allow students to associate chemistry content with real-world applications.

Presentations

American Chemical Society (ACS) National Conference (2025).

Publications

(Names underlined are undergraduate students)

“The Evolution of Games and Case Studies for the Organic Chemistry Classroom,” Maria Camarca, Bridget Murphy, and Deana Jaber, Chem. Educator, 2022.

“Three Methods for Adapting Physical Games to Virtual Formats in STEM Courses – Easy (Google Suite), Medium (Web GL Games in Unity) and Hard (Virtual Reality),” Eric Bubar, Susan Agolini, Deana Jaber, and Amanda Wright. HCI International 2021-Posters, 2021.

“From Strawberry Fields to the Chemistry Classroom,” Simone Walker, Quyen Doan, William Hewitt, and Deana Jaber, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, 2021.

“CHEMCompete-II: an organic chemistry card game to differentiate between substitution and elimination reactions of alcohols,” Maria Camarca, William Heuett, and Deana Jaber, J. Chem. Educ., 2019, 96, 11, 2535-2539.

“CHEMCompete: An Organic Chemistry Card Game to Differentiate between Substitution and Elimination Reactions of Alkyl Halides,” Kristin Gogal, William Heuett, and Deana Jaber, J.Chem.Educ., 2017, 94(9), 1276-1279.

“Competitive [2,3]- and [1,2]- oxonium ylide rearrangements. Concerted or stepwise?” Deana M. Jaber, Ryan N. Burgin, Mattew Helper, Peter Zavalij, and Michael P. Doyle, Org. Lett., 2012, 14 (7), 1676-1679.

“Control of selectivity in the generation and reactions of oxonium ylides,” Deana M. Jaber, Ryan N. Burgin, Mattew Helper, Peter Zavalij, and Michael P. Doyle, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 7623-7625.

“Remote C-H functionalization: using the N-O moiety as an atom-economical tether to obtain 1,5- and the rare 1,7-C_H insertions,” Jingxin Wang, Bogdan Stefane, Deana Jaber, Jacqueline Smith, Christopher Vickery, Mouhamed Diop, and Herman O. Sintim, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 1-6.

“A small-molecule dengue virus entry inhibitor,” Qing-Yin Wang, Sejal J. Patel, Eric Vangrevelinghe, Hao Ying Xu, Ranga Rao, Deana M. Jaber, Wouter Schul, Feng Gu, Olivier Heudi, Ngai Ling Ma, Mee Kian Poh, Wai Yee Phong, Thomas H. Keller, Edgar Jacoby, Subhash G. Vasudevan, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2009, 53(5), 1823-1831.

“An expedient synthesis of mellitic triimides,” Kathryn G. Rose, Deana M. Jaber, Chenaimwoyo A. Gondo and Darren G. Hamilton, J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73 (10), 3950-3953.

[…]

Todd Rimkus

Academic Credentials

B.S. , University of Illinois
M.S., Ph.D., Iowa State University

Biography

Other Information

A Commitment to Service

Turtles to Classrooms

Belize – Giving Back Program

Belize – Hawksbill Hope Scholars

Latinas Leading Tomorrow

Dr. Todd Rimkus is the faculty advisor for the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society and the Belize Service Club. He also works closely with local elementary through high schools in an outreach program designed to generate further interest in the sciences. He has a program that allows freshwater turtles to be maintained in classrooms in Virginia, DC, and Maryland whereby the students and teachers contribute to the research by taking the growth measurements of their animals and uploading them to the central database back at Marymount University. In addition to these animals being housed in the schools, Dr. Todd Rimkus often visits the schools with his reptilian ontourage. Children getting the opportunity to interact with these animals up close might just turn a few into future research scientists. In 2025, Dr. Rimkus held a World Turtle Day Event with Elizabeth Dellecorte, Dallas Leatherman, and Karen Rivera, where they caught 75 previously relocated turtles and brought them back to their orginal pond after it had been renovated. It was a full day event with over 100 visitors, with education and a release party.

Dr. Todd Rimkus has made a commitment to the small community of Gales Point Belize. In 2009, Dr. Todd Rimkus along with a group of Marymount Study Abroad Students founded the charity Hawksbill Hope. Hawksbill Hope accepts donations to further the turtle research in Belize and has expanded to fund projects in the community and even more recently to ensure that children in Gales Point Belize have the opportunity to have their high school tuition covered as they become Hawksbill Hope Scholars.

Working with partner program, Latinas Leading Tomorrow, Dr. Rimkus helped hold a 2 week long Summer STEM Camp with over 50 middle school girls participating and learning about all areas of STEM (summer 2025).

Teaching Area

Marine Biology and Tropical Ecology in Belize

Introduction to the Biological World

Anatomy and Physiology II

Dr. Todd Rimkus was honored by the class of 2017 with the Robert A. Draghi Outstanding Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. His goal in teaching is to engage and bring the subject to life for his students. Dr. Todd Rimkus was trained as a physiologist so he always wants his students to inquire about how the systems accomplish their amazing feats. Finally, Dr. Todd Rimkus has been teaching a hands-on course in Belize each summer since 2007. In 2011, the group started satellite tagging sea turtles. The interaction with a sea turtle and getting an up-close look at these fascinating creatures is an experience of a lifetime.

Research Interests

Turtle Egg Physiology – Water Exchange in Turtle Eggs

Growth Rates in Turtles and effects of Invasive Species

Satellite Tracking of Hakwsbill Sea Turtles in Belize

Sea Turtle Cultural Effects

Dr. Todd Rimkus has served Marymount University as a faculty member since 1996. He has chaired the Biology & Physical Science Program since 2000. Dr. Todd Rimkus was trained in animal physiology at Iowa State University. He is actively involved with undergraduate research at Marymount University, engaging the students in research in the areas of growth and development of turtles. Dr. Todd Rimkus contributed a chapter on water exchange to a snapping turtle book and has also presented at local and national conferences on a variety of topics related to turtle growth and development. Dr. Todd Rimkus has presented at the International Sea Turtle Symposium with students several times.

Publications

[…]

Biography

Other Information

Teaching Area

Research Interests

Publications

[…]

Louis Mayo

Farzana Shahnaz

Joseph Murray

Esra Gumruk

Amanda Wright

Deana Jaber

Todd Rimkus

A Commitment to Service

Elizabeth Doyle

John Chapman

Bonnie Burgess