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Faculty PROfiles

Faculty PROfiles: From Cairo to PVAMU—How Professor Ahmed is Shaping Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders

Ahmed Ahmed, PhD. PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Aug. 12, 2025) – Prairie View A&M University professor Dr. Ahmed Ahmed still keeps the numerous thank-you emails and letters he receives from former students. One such message from a former graduate student, Kritika Singh, Class of 2022, captures heartfelt gratitude: "You not only made it fun [...]

Faculty PROfiles: This PVAMU engineering professor is building the future of innovators

Noushin Ghaffari, Ph.D. PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (May 27, 2025) - As an educator, professor and engineer, Dr. Noushin Ghaffari is all about forward focus. She is a champion of transferring knowledge to the next generation - how can we improve this? What innovation can be harnessed or creativity tapped into? In her classroom, [...]

Faculty PROfiles: PVAMU’s Dr. Merlyn Pulikkathara ’01 ā€˜04 is shaping the future of science

Photo by Jordan Guidry, Office for Marketing and Communications Intern PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (April 24, 2025) – Growing up in Cypress, Texas, science never came easy to Dr. Merlyn X. Pulikkathara, a double graduate (’01 ā€˜04) and assistant professor in Prairie View A&M University’s Department of Chemistry and Physics. While pursuing her BS [...]

PVAMU Faculty PROfiles: How Professor Ann Johnson ’91 Inspires the Next Generation of Artists

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 21, 2025) – For Ann Johnson '91, art has always been more than just a creative outlet—it’s a way of life. A longtime art professor at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), Johnson describes art as ā€œfreedom.ā€ ā€œThere is a freedom—a freedom of expression—and a power for others to view and think [...]

Trailblazing Women of PVAMU: Educating, Inspiring, and Shaping Generations

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Prairie View A&M University honors four extraordinary women whose dedication to education has not only transformed ā€œThe Hillā€ but has also inspired countless generations of students. Each of these women has spent decades breaking barriers, leading with excellence, and shaping the future of their fields. From mathematics and architecture [...]

PVAMU Faculty PROfiles: This sociology professor has made it her mission to research how to close the wealth gap

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (April 25, 2024) – Prairie View A&M University Assistant Professor of Sociology Dr. Asheli Atkins wants to help marginalized entrepreneurs overcome barriers. Asheli S. Atkins, Ph.D. This has been her driving force her entire career, and now, she joins the ā€œOne Million Black Women Research Partnershipā€ to further empower Black [...]

A Creative Calling

Black history is a vital thread woven into the fabric of the human story. It is a repository of diverse cultures, traditions and languages that have evolved and survived, deserving recognition, celebration and understanding. Historian Carter G. Woodson recognized the importance of acknowledging the rich, collective past to move towards a more inclusive, equitable and [...]

Faculty PROfiles: PVAMU professor finds meaning in teaching the history of the land, shifting a generation

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Jan. 25, 2024) – Why do some neighborhoods have grocery stores when others do not? Why are some streets always paved and dry when others are riddled with potholes and perpetually wet? Tiffany D. Thomas ā€˜08 Tiffany D. Thomas ā€˜08, program coordinator and assistant professor of community development in the [...]

Faculty PROfiles: PVAMU chemistry professor helping to lead global transition to green energy

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Nov. 27, 2023) – Prairie View A&M University Assistant Professor of Chemistry Matthew Minus, Ph.D., was first drawn to the sciences by his curiosity. He always enjoyed building things, so he was intrigued when he learned during his sophomore year in organic chemistry that you could build molecules into drugs. ā€œI knew [...]

Faculty PROfiles: Aruna Weerasooriya, a cultivator of knowledge at PVAMU

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Oct. 12, 2023) – All the roads Aruna Weerasooriya, Ph.D., took on his career path led him to Prairie View A&M University’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources. A lifelong researcher, the professor and chair of plant and environmental sciences' desire to find new species and life in areas barely uncovered [...]