Mona Minkara

## Background

Mona Samer Minkara (born August 19, 1987) is an American-Lebanese scientist, engineer, and assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Northeastern University.

Minkara’s lab, COMBINE (Computational Modeling for BioInterface Engineering) at Northeastern University, focuses on using computer simulations to obtain a better understanding of the chemical interactions that occur at the air-water interface inside the lungs in order to engineer better treatments and methods of drug delivery.

## Early Life & Education

Minkara was born August 19, 1987, in Maryland, US. Her parents are immigrants from Lebanon and raised Mona and her two siblings in the Boston area. At the age of 7, Minkara was diagnosed with macular degeneration and cone-rod dystrophy, which led to her becoming fully blind a few years later.

From an early age, Minkara was very interested in science and understanding how the world works. Therefore, during elementary school and high school, Mona attended advanced classes for the sciences.

Mona attended Wellesley College for her undergraduate studies and received her bachelor's degree in both Middle Eastern studies and Chemistry. During her time at Wellesley, Minkara worked at Dr. Flick Coleman's lab, studying the oscillations in band gap patterns of single-walled carbon nanotubes, as well as at Dr. Mala Radhakrishnan's lab, where they explored the binding to drugs to HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

Later, Minkara obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Florida. There, she researched biological systems and computational chemistry-aided drug design under advisors Dr. Kenneth Merz Jr. and Dr. Erik Deumens.

After that, she completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Minnesota at Professor J. Ilja Siepmann's lab by researching novel studies of surfactants using Monte Carlo algorithms.

## Teaching and Research Experience

During her time as a graduate student at the University of Florida, Mikara got the opportunity to experience teaching for the first time as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Chemistry Department.

In 2019, Minkara became one of the first blind Bioengineering professors when she joined the faculty of Northeastern University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Bioengineering department teaching Biomolecular Dynamics and Control. For this course, Mona created her own method & philosophy of teaching to accommodate for her disability, which included communicating clearly, engaging with the students, requiring active participation in class, using practical demonstrations, and encouraging respect.

Besides teaching, Minkara performs research at Northeastern University through her COMBINE lab. The lab's main goal is to develop computational models to obtain molecular-level knowledge about pulmonary surfactant protein systems.

## Publications

Minkara has submitted the following publications:

## Challenges & Personal Life

Throughout her life, Minkara has faced some challenges. Due to her blindness, several people, including high school teachers and university professors, underestimated her capabilities and did not believe she would be able to successfully complete courses and pursue her desired career. In addition, institutions would sometimes not be accommodating to her disability.  This led to Minkara developing certain methods and tools, such as text-to-speech and reading mathematics softwares, mobility trainers, and access assistants, to help her through her academic journey.

In addition to her professional life, Mona is very interested in traveling. She has a YouTube Channel (Planes, Trains, and Canes) where she documents her travel experiences, including London, Tokyo, and Istanbul, as a blind individual.

## Awards and Honors

Minkara has received the following awards:

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 “Dr. Mona Minkara: About Me.” *Dr. Mona Minkara | About Me*, https://monaminkara.com/about.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 “Dr. Mona Minkara.” *Dr. Mona Minkara | Polus Center for Social & Economic Development*, https://www.poluscenter.org/polus-us/trades-win/mona-minkara.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “Dr. Mona Minkara: Teaching Experience.” *Dr. Mona Minkara | Teaching Experience*, https://monaminkara.com/teaching.
4. ↑ “Mona Minkara: Teaching Philosophy.” *Mona Minkara | Teaching Philosophy*, https://monaminkara.com/philosophy.
5. ↑ “Research.” *COMBINE*, http://minkaracombinelab.com/research.
6. ↑ “Dr. Mona Minkara: Publications.” *Dr. Mona Minkara | Publications*, https://monaminkara.com/publications.
7. ↑ “Blind Scientist Tools.” *Dr. Mona Minkara | Blind Scientist Tools*, https://monaminkara.com/blind-scientist-tools/#softwareNote.
8. ↑ “Dr. Mona Minkara: Awards and Honors.” *Dr. Mona Minkara | Awards and Honors*, https://monaminkara.com/awards.