Directory of Faculty and Staff

Brenda Andrade Rounds
Assistant Professor
323-343-2356
[email protected]

Office: ASCB 221C; Lab: ASCB 243

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.

Yong Ba
Professor
323-343-2360
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 308; Lab: ASCB 148/155

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.

Krishna Foster
Professor (Department Chair)
323-343-2309
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 336

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.

Frank Gomez
Professor (Currently Executive Director of STEM-NET at California State University)
[email protected]

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.

Michael L. Hayes
Associate Professor (Associate Chair)
323-343-2144
[email protected]

Office: ASCL 271/ Lab: ASCL 260/261

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.

Yangyang Liu
Associate Professor
323-343-2323
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 221E/ Lab: ASCB 247

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. 

Alison McCurdy
Professor (currently Associate Dean for College of Natural and Social Sciences)
323-343-2362
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall, Room 223

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.

Jamil Momand
Professor 
323-343-2361
[email protected]

Office: ASCL 270 / Lab: ASCL 247/248

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.

Scott Nickolaisen
Professor
323-343-2382
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 122A/ Lab: ASCB 147/ 160

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.

James Rudd
Professor
323-343-2219
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 121A / Lab: ASCB 156

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.

Caitlin Scott
Assistant Professor
323-343-2314
[email protected]

Office: ASCL 251; Lab: ASCL 120

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.

Matthias Selke
Professor
323-343-2347
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 222B / Lab: ASCB 248/255

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.

Olaseni Sode
Associate Professor
323-343-2372
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 222C / Lab: BIOS 167

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.

Linda Tunstad
Professor
323-343-2307
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 222D/ Lab: ASCB 241

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.

Robert L. Vellanoweth
Professor (current graduate advisor)
323-343-2148
[email protected]

Office: ASCL 272/ Lab: ASCL 241

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.

Petr Vozka
Assistant Professor
323-343-2368
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 122E / Lab: BIOS 346

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.

Yixian Wang
Associate Professor
323-343-2353
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 122D/ Lab: ASCB 153/161/162

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.

Xin Wen
Professor
323-343-2310
[email protected]

Office: Rosser Hall 122C/ Lab: ASCB 159/160

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. 

Feimeng Zhou
Professor
323-343-2390
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 305/ Lab: ASCB 162/258

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.

Mark Avellan
Lab Coordinator
323-343-2546
[email protected]

Office: ASCL 252

Keith Clarke
Electronics Technician
323-343-2318
[email protected]

Office: ASCB 253

Maribel Estrada
Department Coordinator 
323-343-2300
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 336

Helen Le
Instructional Support Technician
323-343-2345
[email protected]

Office: ACSB 251

Floyd Nesbitt
Electronics Technician
323-343-2379
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 344

Hermilo Solano
Manager of Instructional Laboratories
323-343-5648
[email protected]

Office: ASCL 132

Mary Pace
Administrative Support Assistant 
323-343-2300
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 336

MORE Program

Lisa Bautista
MBRS-RISE Administrative Assistant
323-343-2395
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 160

Karla Carias
MBRS-RISE
323-343-2395
[email protected]

Office: BIOS 160

Faculty Emeritus

The most up-to-date information about instructors' office hours is available at the department office at Biological Science 336 or call 323-343-2300. Click here for a PDF copy.