Catherine Putonti, PhD

Associate Dean, Resources & Planning

Dr. Catherine Putonti’s formal training and research is interdisciplinary at the core. As a MS student in Computer Science at the University of Houston, she first learned of Bioinformatics – an (at that time) emerging field applying computational and statistical methods to unraveling the mysteries of genes and genomes. Funded by a pre-doctoral grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), she completed her MS in Computer Science, PhD in Computer Science, and MS in Biology at the University of Houston.

Dr. Putonti joined Loyola’s faculty in 2007. She has held faculty positions in the Departments of Biology and Computer Science in the College and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stritch School of Medicine. Dr. Putonti served as the Bioinformatics Program Director from 2013-2020. She has been recognized with the College’s highest honors – the Sujack Award for Teaching Excellence and the Sujack Award for Research Excellence. She also received the LUROP award for Distinguished Mentor in 2011 and was recognized nationally with the Computing Research Association’s Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award in 2018.

Dr. Putonti is an active researcher, blending microbiology and computer science, and is currently funded through the NIH, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and private industry. She is an author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Undergraduate and master’s students are key to the success of the lab, and Dr. Putonti is passionate about undergraduate research training and impactful interdisciplinary learning opportunities.

Education

• PhD, University of Houston
• MS, University of Houston
• MS, University of Houston