Antiño Allen, who earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University's Evolution, Ecology & Behavior Program in 2010, returns to the IU Bloomington campus on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, to present the inaugural lecture for the Minority Alumni Speaker Series. Allen was a member of Associate Professor of Biology G. Troy Smith's lab.
Allen runs his own laboratory now at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research examines how inflammation and oxidative stress affect neuronal anatomy and cognitive function after traumatic brain injury or exposure to X-rays or heavy ion irradiation. He received his postdoctoral training at the Brain and Spinal Injury Center in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California San Francisco.
During a question-and-answer luncheon for IU students on Wednesday, Allen will talk about his experiences as a graduate student and as a young faculty member. He will present a scientific lecture, “Effects of space radiation on cognition: implications for future trips to Mars,” from 4 to 5 p.m. in Myers Hall Room 130. A reception in the Jordan Hall atrium will follow the lecture.
The Minority Alumni Speaker Series was established to encourage and inspire underrepresented students to persist in STEM fields. Allen, who clearly exemplifies what is possible with persistence and determination, was selected from a pool of several underrepresented alumni to be the series' first speaker.
He came to IU after completing his undergraduate studies at Jackson State University where he earned a B.S. in biology in 1997. He earned his M.A. in biology from IU in 2000. Although his path to a doctorate degree was not an easy one, Allen was fortunate to have met the highly respected and motivational IU Professor of Biology James P. Holland along the way.
The College of Arts