Jacqueline A. Johnson

Professor

Jacqueline Johnson completed her doctorate in solid state physics in the research area of magnetic phase transitions at the University of Liverpool in 1985. She transitioned to working on glass materials after being approached by Pilkington Glass to solve technical problems. She was a Professor in Liverpool until 1995 when she joined Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, where she was introduced to solving the structure of amorphous materials using neutron scattering. After a 2-year period in administration she returned to research to develop a new mammography system using a glass-ceramic plate. In 2007, Johnson returned to academia at the University of Tennessee Space Institute and continues to synthesize and characterize glasses, glass ceramics and nanomaterials pertaining to medical devices, non-destructive evaluation and image enhancement. 

Charles E. Johnson

Research Assistant Professor

Charles Johnson did his D. Phil. at Oxford in 1955 on nuclear orientation using magnetic hyperfine fields. After a Fulbright fellowship at Berkeley he was among the pioneers of Mössbauer spectroscopy and worked at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Liverpool. He has published over 300 papers on measurements of magnetic materials, biological molecules and inorganic complexes with applications to alloys, biomedicine, mineralogy, chemistry, archaeology and glasses. 

R. Lee Leonard

Adjunct Research Associate Professor

Lee Leonard is a Solutions Consultant for the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services (UT CIS). Lee works with manufacturing companies in Tennessee to improve their operations. Prior to joining UT CIS, Leonard was a full-time researcher at the University of Tennessee Space Institute in Tullahoma. He maintains faculty appointments with Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Lee works with both universities on a part-time basis with a focus on materials-related biomedical and aerospace projects. At the start of his career, he was a project and tooling engineer for an automotive supplier located in middle Tennessee. Leonard received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in 2015. He also holds an M.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering (2010) and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (1995), from the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Technological University, respectively. Leonard is a member of the American Ceramic Society and has reviewed for the National Science Foundation on multiple occasions.

Saeed Kamali

Adjunct Professor

Since 2015 Saeed Kamali has been performing his research at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. His PhD was in experimental condensed matter Physics from Uppsala University, Sweden. He studied aspects of Material Science, especially on magnetism in nano-structured materials such as superlattices and nano-crystallines using various characterization techniques with emphasis on Mössbauer spectroscopy. For Post-Doctoral studies, he joined the Spintronic Division at the Department of Microelectronics and Applied Physics at The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Subsequently, he received a high prestige Japanese grant from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to work at Japanese synchrotron facility, SPring-8, for two years. During 2009-2015 he continued his research at University of California Davis. He is heavily involved in synchrotron radiation research as well. He is also serving as a Physics instructor at Middle Tennessee State University.

Aleia Williams

PhD Candidate

Aleia Williams was raised in Morristown, TN and graduated from Carson Newman University in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. She obtained her Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the UTSI in December 2022 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Her current research involves the synthesis and characterization of iron nanoparticles and their application as magnetic particle imaging tracers.

Will Graham

Masters Student

Will Graham was raised in White House, TN and graduated from Tennessee Technological University in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering at UTSI. His current research involves the synthesis and characterization of iron nanoparticles and their application as magnetic particle imaging tracers.

Emily Morgan

Summer Intern

Xavier Manigault

Summer Intern

Charles “Chad” Bond

Chad Bond was raised in Tullahoma, Tennessee and graduated from University of the Cumberlands in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He obtained his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in August 2018 and May 2021, respectively. He is currently employed as a Research and Development Specialist with GALA North America in Dublin, VA.

Adam Evans

Adam Evans was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee and graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2013 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering through the Chancellor’s Honors Program. He arrived at UTSI in the fall of 2014 and completed his Master’s in Biomedical Engineering in August 2016. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biomedical Engineering in December 2020. He is currently employed by the US government.

Julie King

Julie King was born in Mount Airy, NC and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from King University in Bristol, TN in 2012. She obtained her Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering in 2015 and Graduate Certificate in engineering management in 2016 from UTSI. Julie received her PhD from UTSI in the spring of 2019. Julie is currently employed as Manager of Special Projects Operations at Pike Corporation in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.