Dr. Bimal K. Banik, an associate professor of chemistry and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, England, published the following papers in national and international reputable journals. Isabella Garcia, Frances Morales and Magda Cardona, undergraduate students working in Banik’s research group exploring synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry of drug design including anticancer and antibacterial agents, were co-authors on the papers.
"Michael Reaction of Indoles Under Environmentally Benign Conditions" was co-authored with Garcia and Morales, Heterocycles (Elsevier), 2007.

 "Facile Synthesis of Pyrroles Fused with Indole Systems" was co-authored with Cardona, Tetrahedron Letters (Elsevier), 2006, 47, 7385.

In a collaborative efforts, Banik also co-authored and published the following papers:

"Dowex 50 in Aqueous Medium: Highly Efficient Biginelli Condensation for the Synthesis of 4-Aryl-3, 4-dihydropyrimidones" was co-authored with C. Mukhopadhyay, A. Datta, Heterocycles (Elsevier) 2007, 71, 181.

"Apoptotic-Inducing Activity of Novel Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Human Leukemic Cells" was co-authored with K. R. Landis-Piwowar, D. Chen, Q. C. Cui, V. Minic, F. F. Becker, and Q. P. Dou, Internationl Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2006, 17, 931.

Banik also presented the following invited papers at the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Meeting at Merida, Mexico in June 2006. Calista Aguilar, Hector Aguilar, Frances Morales, Delia Garcia, Magda Cardona, and Isabella Garcia were co-authors on the papers.

"Optically Active b-Lactams with Thienamycin Side Chain via Bismuth Salts-Catalyzed Glycosylation" was co-authored with Morales and H. Aguilar.

"Both Enantiomers of the Taxol Side Chain via Optical Resolution of Hydroxy b-Lactams" was co-authored with C. Aguilar and D. Garcia.

"Bismuth Nitrate-Catalyzed Novel Synthesis of Substituted Pyrrole Bound to Indolinone" was co-authored with I. Garcia and M. Cardona.

In addition, Banik was invited to act as the chairman of a session (Metal-Mediated Reactions and Syntheses) at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco in September 2006. He also acted as the chairman of various national meetings at Boston, Philadelphia, Anaheim, San Diego and Chicago.
Banik is currently supervising more than 20 students in his research laboratory on various projects that are focused on organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry and anticancer drug development. His research activities are supported by several grants from U.S. National Institute of Health, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and UTPA. 

Dr. Robert J. Edwards, professor of biology, received the 2007 Outstanding Fisheries Worker Award in the area of Research from the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society for his work in the area of conservation biology with the San Felipe Gambusia, the Devils River Minnow and the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow.  Edwards co-discovered the San Felipe Gambusia from San Felipe Creek in Del Rio, and serves on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Endangered Species Recovery Teams dealing conserving these rare fishes.  The American Fisheries Society, established in 1870, is the oldest and largest professional society in North America representing fisheries scientists and the Texas Chapter was established in 1976.

Drs. Bobby Guinn, Layne Jorgensen, Donna Dugas, and Tom Semper from the Department of Health and Kinesiology and Vern Vincent, professor emeritus in the Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, published a research article, "Predicting Physical Activity Among Low-Income Mexican American Women: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior," in the March-April 2007 issue of the refereed American Journal of Health Behavior.

Dr. Alonzo Cavazos and Dr. Catherine Faver, faculty in the Department of Social Work had their article titled "Social Work and Spiritual Healing: Partnering with a Curandero" published in the Winter 2007 edition of Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping.  The article chronicles the journey of a social worker and a curandero (male spiritual healer) who seek to understand each other’s professional knowledge, values, and skills. 

Dr. John Bokina, professor in the Department of Political Science, served as the discussant on the "Hegel" panel at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago on April 12.