Chemistry
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Faculty and Staff Directory

Dallas Bates

Dallas K. Bates

  • Professor Emeritus, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Improving and developing new methods for heterocycle synthesis
  • Creating novel applications for sulfoxides and other reactive sulfur species
Lanrong Bi

Lanrong Bi

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Links Of Interest

Research Interests

  • Chemical biology: development of novel molecular probes for DNA sequencing analysis and disease gene discovery
  • Medicinal chemistry: development of new imaging and therapeutic agents towards cancer and cardiovascular disease; Design and synthesis of novel prodrugs of peptides and peptide mimetics.
Jeremy Brown

Jeremy Brown

  • Chemistry Learning Center, Director
  • Undergraduate Advisor
Richard Brown

Richard E. Brown

  • Professor Emeritus, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Applied quantum chemistry, Computational chemistry
  • Gas phase acidities of carbon acids
  • Structure and stability of gas phase complexes
  • The Transition State Structure and Stable Conformations of the Myo-Inositol Phosphates
  • The mechanisms for biological activity of Old Yellow Enzyme (OYE) and D-Amino Acid Oxidase (DAAO)
  • Mechanisms of organic reactions
Paul Charlesworth

Paul Charlesworth

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences

Research Interests

  • Chemical education
  • Technology-supported learning
  • Online and Blended Classrooms
  • Flipped Classrooms
  • Spatial Ability
Christo Christov

Christo Z. Christov

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Enzyme Reaction Mechanisms and Dynamics
  • Non-Heme Iron Histone Demethylases
  • Multiscale Modeling of Epigenetic Mechanisms
Bahne Cornilsen

Bahne C. Cornilsen

  • Professor Emeritus, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • The nickel electrode used in Ni-hydrogen and Ni-Cd batteries (the active cathode material is actually a nickel hydroxide or oxyhydroxide)
  • Prediction of vibrational spectra
  • Influence of point defects on vibrational spectra
  • Vibrational spectra of minerals
Tarun Dam

Tarun K. Dam

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Molecular basis of glycan (carbohydrate)-mediated biological functions
  • Glycan binding proteins or lectins
  • Glycan detection
  • Mechanistic glycobiology
  • Macromolecular communication
  • Biomolecular thermodynamics
Shiyue Fang

Shiyue Fang

  • Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Organic synthesis, including the synthesis of natural and unnatural useful molecules and the development of synthetic methodologies.
Andrew Galerneau

Andrew Galerneau

  • Lecturer, Chemistry
Sarah Green

Sarah A. Green

  • Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Climate change communication
  • Science-policy interface
  • Response of aquatic systems to climate change
  • Great Lakes
  • Behavior of metal-contaminated sediments in the Lake Superior basin
  • Fluorescence-based analytical methods
  • Aerosol chemistry
  • Origin and fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in terrestrial, lake, and marine environments
  • Methods for detection of free radicals, photochemical transformations of natural and anthropogenic organic compounds in the environment
  • integration of biological, geological, physical, and chemical data for understanding global cycles.
Patricia Heiden

Patricia A. Heiden

  • Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Synthesizing, processing, and characterizing polymers and composites or nanoparticles
  • Stimulus-response nanoparticles for drug delivery
  • Electrospinning of nanofibers for tissue scaffolds
  • Structured nanoparticles for low-leaching wood preservation
  • Biocomposites and biofibers
  • Studies of controlled nanoscale interfaces of rice-hull reinforced composites
  • Engineered wood- or biopolymer-reinforced composites having improved processing, longevity, moisture resistance, and mechanical properties
John Jaszczak

John Jaszczak

  • Interim Department Chair, Chemistry and Professor, Physics
  • Affiliated Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, and Cognitive and Learning Sciences
  • Adjunct Curator, A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Nanotechnology Education

Research Interests

  • Theoretical condensed matter physics
  • Theory and modeling of single-electron transport devices
  • Modeling and simulation of properties of interfaces and interface materials
  • Atomistic computational physics of surface phases and surface dynamics
  • Crystal growth
  • Mineralogy of natural graphite
Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova

Tatyana G. Karabencheva-Christova

  • Research Associate Professor, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Reaction Mechanisms of Enzymes
  • Enzyme Dynamics and Inhibition
  • Non-heme Iron DNA-modifying enzymes
  • Collagenolysis and Matrix Metalloproteinases
  • Enzymatic Halogenation
Maryam Khaksari

Maryam Khaksari

  • Research Specialist

Research Interests

  • Developing LCMS Method for variety of applications
  • Analyzing LCMS data and formula assignment
  • Qualitative and quantitative analysis
Denise Laux

Denise J. Laux

  • Department Coordinator
Haiying Liu

Haiying Liu

  • Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Synthesis, characterization, biomedical sensing, imaging and therapeutic applications of water-soluble conjugated glycopolymers, glycodendrimers, glyconanopaticles, conjugated polyelectrolytes, small redox-active carbohydrate conjugates, and near-infrared fluorescent probes
Marshall Logue

Marshall W. Logue

  • Professor Emeritus, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Application of organic synthesis to carbohydrates, C-nucleosides, and nucleotide analogues
  • Reactions of carbohydrate cyclic ortho esters with organosilicon reagents
  • Developing short and high-yield syntheses for glycosyl alkynyl ketones
  • Synthesis of nucleotide analogues, including acyclic C- nucleotide analogues, that have phosphate group masked as phosphate esters
Rudy Luck

Rudy Luck

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Low-valent molybdenum complexes capable of activating dinitrogen
  • Synthesis and characterization of heteronuclear quadruply bonded metal-metal complexes
  • Molecular dihydrogen compounds
  • Catalytic applications of metal-oxo/peroxo systems in the area of epoxidation of olefins
  • Construction of metallo-framework cluster materials
Jerry Lutz

Jerry L. Lutz

  • Assistant Research Engineer / Scientist
Lynn Mazzoleni

Lynn R. Mazzoleni

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Understanding the identities, occurrence, and transformation of aerosol organic compounds
  • Identifying organic aerosol constituents from a variety of atmospheric environments
  • Exploration of new LC column chemistries with ultrahigh pressure pumps for fast and thorough separations
  • Aqueous reaction pathways
Kimberly McMullan

Kimberly McMullan

  • Office Assistant
Pushpalatha Murthy

Pushpalatha Murthy

  • Professor, Chemistry
  • Associate Dean, Graduate School

Research Interests

  • Structure, metabolism, and biological role of phosphoinositides in plant cells
  • Catalytic and structural aspects of phytases, including specificity of hydrolysis, molecular weight and subunit structure, amino acid sequence, and molecular biology
  • Biosynthesis, subcellular localization, and biological role of novel scyllo-inositol containing phosphoinositides
Charlene Page

Charlene Page

  • Office Assistant
Aparna Pandey

Aparna Pandey

  • Laboratory Associate
Kathryn Perrine

Kathryn A. Perrine

  • Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Surface chemistry and interfacial science
  • Reactivity of gases and solutions on metal oxide materials under model (ultra-high vacuum) and real (near ambient pressure) conditions
  • Designing metal-oxide architectures and nanostructures on various substrates; Atomic Layer Deposition and tailored growth approaches
  • Growth, properties and reactions on heterogeneous structures for energy and environmental applications
Lorri Reilly

Lorri A. Reilly

  • Lab Supervisor
Dean Seppala

Dean W. Seppala

  • Research Associate
Kelley Smith

Kelley M. Smith

  • Lab Supervisor
Dario Stacchiola

Dario Stacchiola

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Understanding the elemental chemical processes on simple model surfaces under pristine conditions
  • Synthesis of metal and oxide nanoparticles deposited on novel film oxides, and their multi-technique characterization by photoelectron and infrared spectroscopies and scanning probe microscopy, in combination with theoretical models
Momoko Tajiri

Momoko Tajiri

  • Research Assistant Professor
Marina Tanasova

Marina Tanasova

  • Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

  • Positions are open for undergraduate, M.S. and Ph.D. students and Postdocs

Research Interests

  • Synthesis of molecular probes for evaluating substrate selection by carbohydrate transporters
  • Development of platforms for tumor imaging and drug delivery
  • Design and synthesis of bioreductively-activated DNA repair inhibitors
Martin Thompson

Martin Thompson

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Understanding the molecular recognition features and assembly mechanisms of gene regulation
Ashutosh Tiwari

Ashutosh Tiwari

  • Associate Professor, Chemistry
  • Director, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) Program

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Protein misfolding and aggregation diseases
  • Consequences of protein misfolding in vitro and how it relates to misfolding in vivo
  • Molecular crowding
Laleh Vahdat

Laleh Vahdat

  • Instructor
Loredana Valenzano
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
—"Walden" - H.D. Thoreau

Loredana Valenzano

  • Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Reviewer for:

  • ACS: JACS, J Phys Chem Lett, J Phys Chem A/C, Inor Chem
  • RSC: J Mat Chem A/B/C, Dalton Trans, CrystEngComm, PCCP, New J Chem
  • Elsevier: Chem Phys Lett, J Solid State Chem, Appl Surf Science, Comp Mat Science, Physica B: Cond Matt
  • Springer: J Porous Mat
  • AIP: J Chem Phys
  • MDPI: Materials

Research Interests

  • Computational characterization of molecules and materials: energetic materials, nanoporous materials, cementing materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients, crystal growth, nucleation, surfaces, effect of defects on the structures and properties of materials, effect of water/solvents on material evolution and degradation, biomolecules
John Williams

John G. Williams

  • Professor Emeritus, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Modeling of Thermoset Cure
  • Phase-change mechanism and the properties of the resultant thermoset solid
  • Rheology of Curing Resins
  • Developing closed-loop control of composite processing
  • Molecular Basis for Deformation and Fracture in Polymers
Yinan Yuan
"The RNA regulatory system might have been essential prerequisite to both the evolution of developmentally sophisticated multicellular organisms and the rapid expansion of phenotyptic complexity into uncontested environment."

Yinan Yuan

  • Research Assistant Professor, SFRES

Areas of Expertise

  • Identification and characterization of natural antisense transcripts in woody plants
  • Alternative splicing and salicylic acid metabolism in populus
  • Sequencing complex plant genome through gene-enriched methods