NMAS Board Election – 2023 Biographies

Vice President – Dr. Anna Llobet
Dr. Anna Llobet is an experimental physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the mother of two children born and raised in NM. Dr. Llobet graduated from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona-UAB (Spain) and moved to Grenoble (France) where she worked at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and was awarded a PhD by UAB and Universitee Joseph Fourier (Grenoble) in 2000. She joined Los Alamos National laboratory 23 years ago as a postdoc and was hired as a scientist. Dr Llobet is currently the vice-chair of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee (JROMC), an organization dedicated to preserving honor the legacy and spirit of J. Robert Oppenheimer the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, by promoting the love of learning and the power of discovery in ways that have a positive impact on our world through thought-provoking public lectures by distinguished speakers; a scholarship program for high school students exhibiting exceptional promise, creative thinking, and excitement of discovery; and science-education outreach activities in Northern New Mexico.

Director at Large—Professor Mubarak Syed
Professor Syed is a junior faculty at the UNM investigating neural development and training the next-generation scientists through research, teaching, and mentoring. Despite COVID and being new at UNM, he established Pueblo Brain Science Program and many other initiatives to diversify STEM fields.  Syed’s research program relates to understanding neural development in fruit flies. At UNM, he started an ambitious program, “Pueblo Brain Science”, which includes multiple training components targeting a diverse population of students.  There are seven separate pieces with discovery-based lab courses, informal mentoring, workshops, meet a scientist program, as well Science outreach in high schools.  Mubarak Syed recently received the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship in Neuroscience.

Director at Large—Dr. Juchao Yan
Dr. Juchao Yan is a Professor of Chemistry and the Graduate Coordinator and Department Chair of Physical Sciences at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). He teaches Analytical Chemistry at both undergraduate and graduate levels and Forensic Chemistry at an undergraduate level. He was a postdoctoral associate from October 1998 to November 2001 and a Research Assistant Professor from December 2001 to August 2002 at UNM. In December 1997, he earned his PhD in Analytical Chemistry in Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Yan’s research interest has been in the fields of direct ethanol fuel cells, algal wastewater treatment, and organic solar cells. His research has been supported by NSF, NSF- & DOE-EPSCoR, DOE-Visiting Faculty Program, NSF-Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, and DOE-Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences.

Treasurer – Dr. Deb Thrall
Deb Thrall was awarded a PhD in Education from the UNM and has taught in middle/high school and university classrooms for 25 years in Oklahoma and New Mexico in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, chemical hygiene management, radiation fundamentals and nuclear technology.  Deb is the Executive Director of the Albert I. Pierce Foundation, a charitable organization in support of the arts, education, and the environment. She is the current treasurer.

Secretary – Malva Knoll
Malva Knoll received her Master’s Degree in Secondary & Adult Science Education from the University of New Mexico in 1980.  She worked as a high school chemistry teacher for Albuquerque Public Schools from 1975-2007 at Eldorado and Del Norte High Schools.  Malva Knoll was Director of Education for the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History from 2007-2012. She has been a member of NMAS serving as NMAS President in 1995, and is current secretary.

Voting information

Current (paid members) can vote now on these candidates.
If you have not renewed your membership, you can do so on the NMAS website.

Voting closes at 8pm, Friday, December 15