Environmental Sciences & Molecular Biosciences

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The Department of Environmental Sciences and Molecular Biosciences is where curiosity meets impact. Whether you're investigating ecosystems or researching medicine, our graduate programs prepare you to tackle real-world challenges with precision and insight. From sustainable resource management to breakthroughs in biotechnology, students engage in hands-on research guided by expert faculty and cutting-edge tools. With a strong foundation in either environmental or molecular sciences, you'll be equipped to lead in academia, industry, and public service.

Deepen Your Discovery

From molecular mechanisms to ecosystem dynamics, explore degrees designed to elevate your expertise and drive innovation in the scientific world.
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Environmental Sciences

Explore our Environmental Sciences programs

Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences

M.S. in Environmental Sciences

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Molecular Biosciences

Explore our Molecular Biosciences programs

Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences

M.S. in Molecular Biosciences

Environmental Sciences

Student in a Red Wolves shirt analyzing a petri dish.

The Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences (EVS) offers a dynamic education focused on solving environmental problems from local to global scales. With help from faculty who are experts in fields such as conservation biology, environmental chemistry, hydrology, and more, you can design a personalized program in your chosen area. EVS fosters collaboration across the biological, physical, and social sciences, preparing you to lead in developing innovative solutions to real-world problems.

 

Student Information

Thesis, Dissertation, & Candidacy Announcements

 

Molecular Biosciences

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The Graduate Program in Molecular Biosciences offers a cutting-edge education that connects biology, technology, and innovation. You’ll explore how molecular, cellular, developmental, and genomic science can be applied to real-world challenges in areas like agriculture, medicine, forensics, and renewable energy. With guidance from expert faculty and access to advanced tools, the program emphasizes collaboration across disciplines to prepare you for impactful research and problem-solving.

 

Student Information

Thesis, Dissertation, & Candidacy Announcements

Information & Resources

For more information, please contact:
csm-info@AState.edu

Graduation Assistantships

Graduate students have the opportunity to apply for competitive graduate assistantships. These assistantships provide students the opportunity to acquire essential experience in research, teaching and career development while pursuing their degrees. Assistantships are awarded by the MBS program. To qualify for the assistantships, students must be enrolled in minimum required hours (6 hours in Fall and Spring semesters, and 3 hours in Summer terms for M.S. and 9 hours in Fall and Spring semesters, and 6 hours in Summer terms for Ph.D.)

Tuition Fellowships

Tuition waivers are available for eligible Ph.D. students. With a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher, residents of any U.S. state or territory qualify for in-state rate of tuition. International Students pay a reduced tuition rate that is twice the in-state amount plus a fixed international student fee.  

FALL 2025

Friday, September 12, 2025
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Sachini Lakshika KK
M.S. Thesis Proposal Defense
"Exploring the Epigenetic Switches during Soybean-Pathogen Interaction"

Advisor: Dr. Asela Wijeratne
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

SUMMER 2025
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Shailesh Budhathoki
Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal Presentation
"Exploring the Autophagy Mediated Antiviral Response Against Human Coronavirus OC43"

Advisor: Dr. Mohammad Abrar Alam
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Joshua Poland
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense
"Wild Sugarcane: Ecology and Risks from Panama to the United States"

Advisors: Dr. Travis Marsico and Dr. Scott Mangan
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
9:30 A.M.
ABI 107

Justin Vestal
M.S. Thesis Proposal Defense
"Managed Aquifer Recharge: Seasonal Operation of Infiltration Galleries in the Cache River Critical Groundwater Area"

Advisor: Dr. John Nowlin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Tuesday, June 24, 2025
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Rachael Wilson
M.S. Thesis Defense
"Characterization of Arabidopsis Lines Over-Expressing Enzymes in the Myo-Inositol Pathway to Ascorbate Using Phenomic Approaches"

Advisor: Dr. Argelia Lorence
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Monday, June 23, 2025
1:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Helena Wheeler
M.S. Thesis Defense
"Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Diversity and Water Quality as Indicators of Wetland Health in Natural and Constructed Wetlands of Northeast Arkansas"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Bouldin 
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program 
Arkansas State University

 
Monday, June 9, 2025
9:00 A.M.
HSS 3026

Johnathon A. Mullins
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal
"The Green New Deal: Policy Implications for American Consumers' Perception of Renewable Energy Technology"

Advisor: Dr. Hans Hacker 
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

 

SPRING 2025
Thursday, May 22, 2025
1:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Jennifer Fowler
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Machine Learning for Genetic Expression"

Advisor: Dr. Jason Causey
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Monday, May 12, 2025
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Nora Hines
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense
"Assessing the dispersal and population structure of northern Cardinals and their Ectoparasitic Lice Across the Landscape of Arkansas Through Quantitative Parasitology and Genomics"

Advisors: Dr. Andrew Sweet
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
11:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Karimot Shobowale
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense
"Impact of Land Use Alteration on Seasonal Variation of Physicochemical Parameters of the Eleven Point River"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Bouldin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Friday, March 21, 2025
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Gaurav Gajurel
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Hairy Root System as a Strategy for the Production of Novel Inducible Bioactive Phenolics and Terpenoids"

Advisor: Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Sankalpa Chakraborty
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Roles of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Thyroid-Related Cardiac Dysfunction"

Advisor: Dr. Viswanathan Rajagopalan
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program 
Arkansas State University
Friday, March 12, 2025
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Raveena Ratnayake
M.S. Thesis Defense
"Role of Gut-liver-brain axis in neuropsychiatric symptoms of Parkinson's Disease"

Advisor: Dr. Sudeepa Bhattacharyya and Dr. Asela Wijeratne
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Friday, February 14, 2025
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Kipa Tamrakar
M.S. Thesis Defense
"Exploring Rhizosphere Microbial Dynamics in Soybean - Fusarium virguliforme Interaction for Sustainable Agriculture"

Advisor: Dr. Asela Wijeratne
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

FALL 2024

Friday, November 22, 2024
1:00 P.M.
LSE 206

Natalie Haydt
Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal Presentation
"Viral Disease Screening and Sequencing in Arkansas Turtles"

Advisor: Dr. Lori Neuman-Lee
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University 

Friday, October 11, 2024
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Sachleen Singh
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense
"An integrative approach for the elucidation of plant defense mechanisms and prediction of plant diseases."

Advisor: Dr. Asela Wijeratne
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program 
Arkansas State University

Monday, September 16, 2024
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Subrata Roy
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Synthesis of novel five-membered heterocycles as bioactive agents"

Advisor: Dr. Mohammad Abrar Alam
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Thursday, August 29, 2024
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Patrick Dyer
M.S.Thesis Defense
“Contributions of selected Buffalo River headwaters in Searcy County, Arkansas to downstream water quality, 2019-2023”

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Bouldin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

SUMMER 2024
Friday, August 9, 2024
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Raveena Ratnayake
M.S. Thesis Proposal Defense
"Gut-liver-brain axis in Parkinson's Disease: A Metabolomics and Informatics study"

Advisor: Dr. Sudeepa Bhattacharyya
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

SPRING 2024
Thursday, May 16, 2024
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Brittany Singleton
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense
"Water Quality Monitoring in Cow Lake Ditch-Bayou DeView Subwatershed in the Cache River Watershed, Arkansas"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Bouldin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Friday, May 3, 2024
10:00 A.M.
LSW 444

Helena Wheeler
M.S. Proposal Defense
"Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Diversity and Water Quality as Indicators of Wetland Health in Natural and Constructed Wetlands of Northeast Arkansas"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Bouldin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Monday, April 29, 2024
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Rachael Wilson
M.S. Proposal Defense
"Characterizing High Vitamin C Soybeans (Glycine Max)"

Advisor: Dr. Argelia Lorence
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Friday, April 26, 2024
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Shailesh Budhathoki
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense
"Advancing Antimicrobial Discovery: A Quest For Novel Compounds To Combat Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria"

Advisor: Dr. Mohammad Abrar Alam, Ph.D.
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Monday, April 1, 2024
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Kharla Mendez
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"High Night Air Temperature Stress Impact on Carbohydrate Partitioning and Agronomic Parameters of Rice"

Advisors: Dr. Argelia Lorence and Dr. Arlene Adviento-Borbe
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Thursday, March 28, 2024
8:30 A.M.
ABI 107

Hansa Raj KC
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Antimicrobial Studies of Novel Pyrazole and Thiazole-based Antibacterial Agents"

Advisors: Dr. Mohammad Abrar Alam and Dr. David F. Gilmore
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Cherryl O. Quiñones
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Assessment of ascorbate content and grain dimensions of Rice Diversity Panel 1 under high night air temperature stress"

Advisor: Dr. Argelia Lorence
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Monday, January 29, 2024
11:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Alix Matthews
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Feather mites through a genomic and ecological lens: host specificity and symbiosis at multiple levels of organization"

Advisors: Dr. Than Boves and Dr. Asela Wijeratne (A-State); Dr. Fabio Akashi Hernandes (UFSC) 
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Sankalpa Chakraborty
Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal Defense
"Functional Roles of cell free DNAs (cfDNAs) in Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE)"

Advisor: Dr. Viswanathan Rajagopalan
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Friday, January 12, 2024
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Natalie Haydt
Ph.D. Thesis Proposal Defense
"Evaluating Dermatomycoses in Snakes throughout Arkansas with a Focus on Microbiota and Immune Function"

Advisor: Dr. Lorin Neuman-Lee
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

FALL 2023

Thursday, December 14, 2023
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Kipa Tamrakar 
M.S. Thesis Proposal Defense
"Unveiling the Secrets in the soil-root Interface: Rhizoshpere Microbial Dynamics in Soybean - Fusarium virguliforme Interaction"

Advisor: Dr. Asela Wijeratne
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University 

Friday, December 8, 2023
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Gaurav Gajurel
Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal Defense
"Potential treatment approach for Tay-Sachs disease: Utilizing plant-derived extracellular vesicles for CRISPR-Cas9 targeted therapy"

Advisor: Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Friday, December 1, 2023
11:00 A.M.
LSE 308

Hansa Raj KC
Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal Defense
"Characterizing Dendritic Cell-derived Exosome as Targeted Anti-cancer Agent Cargo Carrier Against Murine Melanoma"

Advisors: Dr. Mohammad A. Alam and David F. Gilmore
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Friday, December 1, 2023
1:30 P.M.
LSE 204

Jennifer Terry
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"From Individuals To Population: Integrating Physiology And Population Dynamics Of Freshwater Turtles"

Advisors: Dr. Lorin Neuman-Lee and Dr. Virginie Rolland
Environmental Sciences Program
Arkansas State University 

Friday, December 1, 2023
3:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Patrick Dyer 
M.S. Proposal Defense
"Contributions of selected Buffalo River headwaters in Searcy County, Arkansas to downstream water quality, 2019-2023"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Bouldin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Thursday, November 30, 2023
9:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Bretton Hale
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Beyond Host and Pathogen: Systems Biology Insight into the Soybean-Phytophthora sojae Pathosystem"

Advisor: Dr. Asela Wijeratne
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

Friday, October 20, 2023
9:00 A.M.
AG 242

Divya Kandanool
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Cost and Benefits of Using Winter Cover Crops in a Furrow-irrigated Rice Soybean Rotation on Clay Soils"

Advisors: Drs. Steven Green and Joseph Massey
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

 

SUMMER 2023
Thursday, July 6, 2023
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Cherryl O. Quiñones
Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal Defense 
"The rumen microbiome: A consideration for CH4 mitigation" 

Advisor: Dr. Argelia Lorence
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Sepideh Mohammadhosseinpour
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Prenylated Stilbenoids as Paclitaxel Adjuvants in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Treatment"

Advisor: Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University 
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
10:30 A.M.
AGRI 401

Nelson R. Benson
Ph.D. EVS Dissertation Defense
"Evaluation of Site-Specific, Zone Management in Northeast Arkansas Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)"

Advisor: Dr. Tina Gray Teague
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Thursday, June 15, 2023
11:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Allegra Pieri
M.S. Thesis Defense
"Managed Aquifer Recharge: Installation and Early Evaluation of Infiltration Galleries in the Cache River Critical Groundwater Area, Northeast Arkansas"

Advisor: Dr. John Nowlin
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Thursday, June 1, 2023
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Brittany L. McCall
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"The potential use of madtom catfishes as conservation tools:

Advisor: Dr. Brook Fluker
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

SPRING 2023
Thursday, May 1, 2023
3:15 P.M.
ABI 107

Zac Campbell
Ph.D. Proposal Defense
"Remnants of the American Red Wolf: A Spatial and Genomic Analysis of the Arkansas Coyote Population"

Advisor: Dr. Kyle D. Gustafson
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University 
Thursday, April 20, 2023
2:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Alexander Worm
Ph.D. Proposal Defense
"Speciation, Evolution, and Conservation of Kingbirds in the Genus Tyrannus" 

Advisors: Dr. Than Boves & Dr. Andrew Sweet
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
10:00 A.M.
ABI 107

Krishna Deo Sharma
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
"Artificial Scaffold & Neural Stem Cells for Nerve Regeneration in Rats with Spinal Cord Injury"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Y. Xie, Ph.D.
Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

Monday, March 13, 2023
3:00 P.M.
ABI 107

Orithea Z. Regn
Dissertation Proposal Defense
"The ecotoxicological , economic, and environmental implications of switching from fluorescent to light emitting diode lighting for zooplankton culturing and whole effluent toxicity testing"

Advisor: Dr. Lori Neuman-Lee
Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Arkansas State University

 

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Faculty & Staff

[departments/department='Environmental Science Molecular Biosciences']
Than Boves

Dr. Than Boves

Professor of Ecology
(870) 972-3320
Amanda Carpenter

Dr. Amanda Carpenter

Assistant Dean for Research
Program Director and Associate Professor of Public Health
(870) 972-3894
Mohamed Milad

Dr. Mohamed Milad

Associate Professor of Statistics
(870) 680-8126
Lori Neuman-Lee

Dr. Lori Neuman-Lee

Associate Professor of Physiology
(870) 972-3111
View All Faculty & Staff