Alumni Highlights
Gordon Isbell elected national co-chairman of American Dental Association Political Action Committee
Gordon Roswell Isbell III received a bachelor of science in chemistry from Auburn University in 1976 and has been a dentist in his hometown, Gadsden, Ala., for 31 years. He has served on the COSAM Dean’s Leadership Council since 2010, and he is a member of the Auburn University Samford Society. Isbell finished dental school at the University of Alabama School of Dentistry in 1981, and in 1995, he completed the requirements for Mastership Academy of General Dentistry.
COSAM alumna Cara Tupps joins Peace Corps
Cara Tupps, a May 2013 graduate with a bachelor of science in microbiology, joined the Peace Corps and will teach biology to middle and/or high school students in the Republic of Mozambique in Africa. In preparation for her two-year commitment to the Peace Corps, Tupps will donate her long hair for the fourth time to Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.
Where are they now?
Mother and son COSAM alumni continue to excel
Jane Upshaw and her son, Mark Thomas, call to mind whether excellence can be a hereditary trait as both of them excel in every aspect of their careers. In recognition of their various achievements, they have been publically recognized by Auburn University; Upshaw was named COSAM’s 2008 Distinguished Alumna, and the Auburn Alumni Association presented Thomas with a 2011 Young Alumni Achievement Award.
2012 COSAM Distinguished Alumnus: F. Ivy Carroll
F. Ivy Carroll, chemistry ’57, was named the 2012 COSAM Distinguished Alumnus. Carroll is the distinguished fellow for medicinal chemistry for the Research Triangle Institute, or RTI, and is internationally recognized for his work as an organic and medicinal chemist. He was awarded a doctorate in chemistry by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1961. He joined the research staff of RTI as a research chemist in 1960 and rose steadily to the position of vice president of the Chemistry and Life Sciences Group, a position he held from 1996 to 2001. Additionally, from 1975 to 2007, Carroll served as the director of RTI’s Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry.
COSAM alumnus awarded Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Paul Bergen, a 2012 graduate of COSAM, was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, a full-cost award for full-time graduate study and research at the University of Cambridge.
Bergen will pursue a doctorate in pathology at Cambridge with a focus on how Salmonella infects the host intestinal cell and overcomes the host immune response to cause disease.
Chemistry Degree Opens Doors for Jenkins
Angela Jenkins, chemistry ’94, always packs an Auburn shirt when she travels.
“I just love ‘War Eagle moments,’” she said. “There are so many things I remember fondly about my time at Auburn, like the movies in Langdon Hall, going to The Flush, and the friends I made are like my family now. We are one big Auburn Family.”
Although she harbors many fond memories from her days in school at Auburn, the road to graduation was rough for Jenkins. During her first week of college, she lost her mother to breast cancer. A few months later, her father was deployed with Operation Desert Storm.