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Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Faculty & Staff

Administrative Faculty

Laura Strauss

Department Head and Professor - Inorganic Chemistry

Faculty

John Bumpus

Professor - Biochemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Mycology
Martin Chin

Professor - Inorganic Chemistry
Shoshanna Coon

Associate Professor - Physical Chemistry
Dawn Del Carlo

Associate Professor - Chemical Education
Jeffrey Elbert

Associate Professor - Organic Chemistry
Nalin Goonesekere

Associate Professor - Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Structural Biology
Curtiss Hanson

Professor - Analytical Chemistry
William Harwood

Professor of Chemical Education
Kirk Manfredi

Professor - Organic Chemistry
Justin Peters

Assistant Professor, Biochemistry
Joshua Sebree

Associate Professor - Astrochemistry, Astrobiology
Ira Simet

Associate Professor - Biochemistry
Colin Weeks

Associate Professor - Inorganic Materials

Instructor

Karen Breitbach

Instructor
Brittany Flokstra

Instructor
Felicia Thadison

Instructor

Other Faculty

Carol Anderson

Instructor (Retired)
Duane Bartak

Retired Professor - Analytical Chemistry
James C. Chang

Retired
Bruce Early

Retired
James Macmillan

Retired
LeRoy A. McGrew

Retired
Linda Paar

Retired Laboratory Specialist
Erwin W. Richter

Retired
Paul Rider

Retired
Nancy Simet

Retired
Russell Wiley

Retired
Ching Woo

Retired

Staff

Kevin Culpepper

Electronics Technician
Kelli Gaffney

Lab Specialist
Barb Reid

Department Secretary
Linda Wilson

Laboratory Specialist

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry provides a challenging and exciting program of study. Students completing BS or BA degrees in Chemistry or Biochemistry routinely attend the best graduate or professional schools in the country to continue their education. Those earning chemistry teaching certification and chemistry-marketing degrees are sought after for positions in schools and industry.

Participation in undergraduate research is encouraged and all of our faculty have active research programs. We have excellent equipment that our students are trained on and use regularly. Each year, a large group of students attends the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society to present their research.

Class sizes are small and faculty are easy to get to know and to talk with for advising, research, or help understanding course material. Together our faculty and students have built a department that has produced more undergraduate chemistry majors than any other program in the State of Iowa.