About Arkansas Research Alliance

Founded in 2008, Arkansas Research Alliance is dedicated to advancing a fundamental belief: Research Matters. Operating as a public-private partnership, ARA invests in research that stimulates innovation, encourages collaboration, and strengthens economic opportunity. Learn more about ARA and its mission to elevate Arkansas’s research community at aralliance.org.

About the ARA Academy Inductees:

Dr. Mohammadreza Daroonparvar (A-State) is an Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Arkansas State University — and the founding Director of the A-State Center for Advanced Materials and Steel Manufacturing, known as CAMSM. His research sits at the intersection of advanced coatings, surface engineering, corrosion science, and additive manufacturing – fields that are not just academically fascinating, but economically essential to the industries that power Northeast Arkansas and the Mid-South. 

Dr. Kaicong Wu (UA) is a licensed architect, a computational designer, an AI researcher, and a pioneer in robotic fabrication. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, and his PhD in Architecture – with a specialization in Computation and Energy – from Princeton University. Following his doctorate, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate with the MIT CarbonHouse team on parametric housing, which uses computational design techniques to create and optimize architectural structures.

Dr. Anindya Ghosh (UA Little Rock) is a Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean of the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at UA Little Rock. He is one of the foremost green chemistry researchers in the United States. He earned his Bachelor of Science from Calcutta University in India, his Master of Science from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, and his PhD in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. His work focuses on developing novel catalysts and synthetic pathways that generate chemical transformations — including pollution remediation, clean energy production, and materials development — using safer, lower-cost, and more environmentally responsible methods.

Dr. Phillip Huff (UA Little Rock) is an Associate Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Cyberspace Operations Research and Education Center – the CORE Center – and a Research Fellow in the Emerging Analytics Center at UA Little Rock. He is also, notably, the co-founder of Bastazo, Inc., an Arkansas-based cybersecurity AI startup company. And before any of that, he spent fifteen years on the front lines of cybersecurity in the electric power sector, rising to Director of Critical Infrastructure Security at the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation.

Dr. Qinglong Jiang (UAPB) is an Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Physics at UAPB. His work sits at the frontier of nanomaterials, semiconductor science, and optoelectronics – fields that underpin some of the most transformative technologies of our time, including next-generation solar cells, energy storage systems, quantum information science, and advanced sensors. After earning his PhD in chemistry from Northern Illinois University, Dr. Jiang conducted postdoctoral research at Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and then at Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s flagship research centers.

Dr. Yathish Ramena (UAPB) is the Director of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Center of Excellence and Interim Assistant Dean for Extension and Outreach in the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences at UAPB. He built a career that spans molecular biology, fish nutrition, pathology, and aquaculture systems — including over a decade working with CPF Private Limited in India in extension and aquatic animal health, and then years as a senior scientist, pathologist, and nutritionist with the Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative in Utah, one of the leading brine shrimp producers in the world. He earned his doctoral degree right here at UAPB, in the very department he now leads. He has also completed a Certificate in Global Business from Harvard Business School.