Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty

FACULTY DIRECTORY

The tenured and tenure-track faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry are listed below.  

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Dr. Andrade earned her Ph.D. at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2019. Organic/Physical Organic Chemistry. Supramolecular chemistry and the structure-function-relationship of cyclodextrins with the aim of scavenging toxic agens from different environments.

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Dr. Ba earned his Ph.D. at Gerhard Mercator University, Duisburg in 1995. Physical/Biophysical Chemistry. Development and application of magnetic resonance techniques for the studies of important physicochemical properties of biological/biomedical, porous, includion, and nanostructured materials. Current research projects cover molecular mechanism of anti-freeze proteins and anti-freeze fluids for medical and industrial applications, and molecular drug carriers, nanoparticles, and hydrogels for drug delivery applications. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Foster earned her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1998. Physical Chemistry- Characterization of environmentally significant aqueous phase photochemical reactions using ion chromatography and mass spectrometry. Click here for her faculty research website.

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Dr. Gomez earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles.  His primary area of specialization is inorganic chemistry.  Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Hayes earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 2008. Biochemistry- Biochemistry of sequence specific RNA binding proteins and C-to-U RNA editing mechanisms. Investigating nuclear and organelle genome coordination. Development of new biotechnological tools that can specifically alter RNA transcripts. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Liu earned her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in 2014.  Inorganic/Materials Chemistry- Design and synthesis of nanoporous materials (e.g., Metal-Organic Frameworks) for applications, including energy storage, renewable energy, solar cells, carbon capture, catalysis, sensing, drug delivery, and semiconductors. Our group is also interested in exploring new hybrid materials and studying the structure-property relationship through collaborations with computational scientists and the industry. Click here for her faculty research website. 

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Dr. McCurdy earned her Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology.  Her primary area of specialization is organic chemistry. Click here for her faculty research website.

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Dr. Momand earned his Ph.D. at the University of California Los Angeles.  His primary area of specialization is biochemistry. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Nickolaisen earned his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in 1991.  Physical Chemistry- Photolysis/infrared lasers to study the kinetics and mechanism of the photochemical reactions of alkyl peroxy radicals. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Rudd earned his Ph.D. at Iowa State University in 2001. Chemistry Education - Investigate science teaching and learning across a range of contexts, such as instructional methods in college classrooms, professional support for K-12 teachers, and institutional change within college and university science departments. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Scott earned her Ph.D. at California Institute of Technology in 2014. Computational and Biological Chemistry- development of drugs to target proteins in the brain using molecular dynamics, docking, and virtual ligand screening.

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Dr. Selke earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995. Organic Chemistry- Mechanistic organic, bioorganic, and organometallic chemistry; detection of reactive intermediates in oxygenation reactions; models for oxygen activation in enzymatic reactions; organic and organometallic photochemistry, especially the chemistry of singlet oxygen; history and philosophy of science. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Sode earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2012.  Computational/Theoretical Chemistry- Development and implementation of ab initio electronic and vibrational structure methods for molecules and solids. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Tunstad earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1990. Organic Chemistry- Host-guest complexation chemistry; synthesis of receptor compounds (hosts) for the recognition of charged or uncharged substrates (guests). Click here for her faculty research website.

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Dr. Vellanoweth earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. Biochemistry- Characterization and biochemical and molecular genetic events governing lifespan in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Vozka earned his Ph.D. at Purdue University in 2019. Analytical Chemistry- Method development for complex chemical mixtures (e.g., alternative fuels, microplastics, oil spill) using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Click here for his faculty research website.

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Dr. Wang earned her Ph.D. at the City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center in 2013.  Analytical Chemistry- Development of novel analytical imaging and sensing tools for a broad range of applications in biomedical, nanomaterials, and environmental sciences. Click here for her faculty research website.

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Dr. Wen earned her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester, New York in 2005.  Biophysical, Bioanalytical, and Bioinorganic Chemistry- Integration of chemical and biophysical tools to tackle biological problems. Protein-ligand interactions at solid-liquid interface and in solution and the applications in biomedical fields. Click here for her faculty research website. 

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Dr. Zhou earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin.  His primary area of specialization is analytical chemistry. Click here for his faculty research website.

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