Full-Time Faculty

Vania Coelho, Ph.D.
Dr. Coelho completed most of her doctorate research while she was working as a visiting scientist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. After completing her doctorate, Dr. Coelho held a post-doctoral research scientist position initially, and later an associate research scientist position, at Columbia University. Dr. Coelho’s research focuses on ecology and evolutionary biology of marine invertebrates. Her research interests include benthic community ecology, population biology, behavior, systematics of crustaceans, and coral reef ecology.
Roland Cooper, Ph.D.
Dr. Cooper’s research is focused on the molecular mechanism of drug action and resistance in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. His work encompasses both the laboratory and field setting. Currently, he teaches courses in genetics and biomedical parasitology. Dr. Cooper joined the faculty of Dominican University as an associate professor in 2011.
James Cunningham, Ph.D.
Dr. Cunningham joined the department in 1991 and served as the chair of the department from 1998 through 2001. Dr. Cunningham holds a position as research associate in the Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California. Prior to joining the Dominican faculty, Dr. Cunningham taught biology at San Francisco City College, College of San Mateo, College of Marin, College of Notre Dame, Cosumnes River College, and Golden Gate University. Dr. Cunningham's research interests include studies of the vocal behavior and social organization of birds. He is also interested in the growth rates of birds and how this relates to energy allocation during breeding.
Mohammed El Majdoubi, Ph.D.
Dr. Mohammed El Majdoubi holds a BS in Physiology (1991), a MS (1992) and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience & Pharmacology (1996) from the University of Bordeaux, France. Dr. Majdoubi worked at the University of Pittsburgh as a Research Associate In 2000, he joined the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as a Visiting Scholar, then as an Assistant Research Endocrinologist and director of the Morphology and Cell Imaging Core in the Center for Reproductive Sciences. His current research is focused on mouse embryonic stem cells as an in vitro model of the differentiation and development of hormone-secreting neurons.
Sibdas Ghosh, Ph.D.
Dr. Ghosh comes to us from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, where he was the Director of the Undergraduate Research Programs. His first year of teaching was at the University of Calabar in Nigeria and he participated in a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory before taking up teaching positions in the United States and Canada. Dr. Ghosh has well over 25 publications and conference presentations to his credit, many with student co-authors. His research interests are: the effects of environmental stress on gene expression and on the dynamics of protein synthesis in the photosynthetic apparatus; the molecular aspects of membrane turnover; plant microbial interactions; and methods development in bioanalytical and separations chemistry.
William King, M.S.
Bill King holds a Bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MA degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Before joining the Dominican faculty, Bill taught mathematics at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and at Illinois State University. He also worked for the Bureau of Reclamation in an applied physics and petrography laboratory. He served as chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Dominican for seventeen years and as the original director of the Fletcher Jones Computer Center. His research interests include applications of statistics to policy analysis, time series analysis, event history analysis, spatial analysis, and mathematical models in the social sciences.
Maggie Louie, Ph.D.
Dr. Maggie Louie currently teaches Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biotechnology. Her current research is focused on understanding the development and progression of hormone refractory breast cancer.
Diara Spain, Ph.D.
Dr. Spain joined the faculty of the department as an assistant professor in 2002. Currently, her research focuses on functional morphology and locomotion of invertebrates.
Full List - Dr. Coelho
Full List - Dr. Cunningham
Full List - Dr. El Majdoubi
Full List - Dr. Ghosh
Full List - Dr. Louie
Full List - Dr. Spain