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Elizabeth Owuor, Ph. D.

Instructor

Montgomery Hall, Room 215

P.O. Box 43700
Lafayette, LA  70504
eowuor@louisiana.edu

Education:

PhD, Chemistry - Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, 2016
MS, Analytical Chemistry - University of New Hampshire, USA, 2007
Bachelor of Education (Chemistry & Statistics) - Kenyatta University, Kenya, 2002

Professional Career:

  • 2015 - present: University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA; Chemistry Instructor and Certified Online Instructor (CHEM 107, 108, 115, 123, 221 and 222)
  • 2014 - 2015: Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; Lecturer; Forensic/Analytical Science, Master Program
  • 2011 - 2015: RMIT University, Australia; Lab Demonstrator; Fundamentals of Environmental Chemistry, Instrumental & Environmental Analysis & Advanced Instrumental Analysis
  • 2007 - 2010: New Hampshire Technical Institute, USA; Certified Adjunct Faculty; Chemistry & Physics. In conjunction with Merrimack Valley High School; taught college level chemistry to high school students under the program Running Start.
  • 2007 - 2010 Merrimack Valley High School, USA; Full time teacher; Math & Chemistry (New Hampshire certified)
  • 2003 - 2007: Teaching assistant; Chemistry, University of New Hampshire, USA - Won Best Teaching Assistant Recognition for the 2006/2007 academic year

Grant Funded Industrial Research Projects (under Intellectual Property)

  • 2012 - 2015 Polymers for water and food security: fundamental studies and polymer processing; funded by BASF, Germany ($ 7m) and CRC Polymers, Australia (project period 2012 - 2017), with successful field trials at wheat production belts in Western Australia.  Significantly contributed to the team that developed new soil wetting technologies licensed by BASF in 2016
  • 2012 - 2014 Single Injection Vaccine delivery systems; funded by CRC Polymer-Australia and Virbac
  • 2010 - 2011 Polymer functional architecture at the biointerface to control soil-water-nutrient behavior during plant growth; Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Australia

Other Research Interests and Experience

  1. Bio-polymers for bio-medical applications; delivery of therapeutic agents such as vaccines
  2. Polymers for improving soil moisture management and cropping productivity 
  3. Extraction and removal of pollutants such as oil spills from environmental systems using surfactants and ecofriendly adsorbents
  4. Studies of the structure & biosynthesis of glycosphingolipids (GSLs) of the pathogenic model fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans 
  5. Studies of the functions of GSLs in Neurosora crassa using inhibitors of GSL biosynthesis, with a view of providing a correlation of biological effects with changes in GSL expression (glycosphingolipidomics). A collaborative study done together with the Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, B-3001 Heverlee-Leuven, Belgium

Journal Publications

  1. Impact of particle nanotopology on water transport through hydrophobic soils. Journal of Colloid & Interface Science August 2015, p. 61-70
     
  2. β-1, 2-Xylosyltransferase Cxt1p Is Solely Responsible for Xylose Incorporation into Cryptococcus neoformans Glycosphingolipids. Eukaryotic Cell, September 2008, p.1611-1615, Vol. 7, No. 9

Conference Presentations

  1. Hydrotropic biopolymer surfactants in non-wetting agricultural soils. CRC for Polymers Annual General Meeting, Melbourne Australia, November 2013
     
  2. Analysis of Glycoinositol Phosporylceremide Expression in Cryptococcus neoformans Xylose Pathway Knockout Strains Glycobiology conference. Boston, November 15, 2007

Student Research and Supervision at University of Louisiana at Lafayette

  1. Oduntan, Aderinsola. The Rheological Study of the Effects of Surfactant and Hydrophilic Bentonite Nano clay on Oil in Water Emulsions for Enhanced Oil Recovery; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Master of Science in Chemical Engineering 2017 (committee member)
  2. Saad R. Buxa, Vanel Portera, Melanie Sandersa, Elizabeth Owuor, Dilip Depan. Sprayable Foam and Gel Based Biomaterial for soft Tissue Injury. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Honors Undergraduate Conference November 2017 (co-supervisor)
  3. Viche Stevenson. Undergraduate Research; Biopolymer gel formation for drug delivery 2019; University of Louisiana at Lafayette (supervisor)