Committee

Leslie Hicks
Co-Chair

Leslie Hicks is an associate professor of analytical chemistry. Her work primarily focuses on the study of proteomics and protein post-translational modifications using mass spectrometry, and identifying biologically active peptides in plants. She is co-chair of the SWELL committee and the NSF REU SUROC program.

Training: Safe Zone, Mental Health First Aid

Alexander Miller
Co-Chair

Alex is a Co-Chair of SWELL and Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry. His research interests include catalyst design for controlled and sustainable chemical synthesis. Alex is passionate about improving academic laboratory safety culture and promoting communication between institutions and with the chemical industry. His hobbies include basketball and DJing.

Training: Safe Zone, Mental Health First Aid

Dorothy Erie

Dorothy obtained her B.S. from Louisiana State University and her Ph.D. from Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey. Her research group is focused in two main areas: (1) Atomic force microscopy and fluorescence studies of protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions. (2) Mechanistic studies of transcription elongation.

Thomas Freeman

Thomas earned his B.S. in Biochemistry at Xavier University of Louisiana in 2003. Subsequently, he earned his Ph.D. at Tulane University in Biochemistry. He did his postdoctoral training at UNC as a SPIRE, Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education, scholar. He spent a year teaching biochemistry at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, and joined the faculty of the Chemistry Department at UNC in 2014 as a STEM Teaching Assistant Professor. Thomas serves as the Executive Director of the Chancellor’s Science Scholars program.

Training: Mental Health First Aid, Haven, Safe Zone

Kelsey Kean

Kelsey Kean is a SPIRE (Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education) post-doctoral scholar working in the lab of Dr. Marcey Waters. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from The University of Tulsa in 2012 and completed her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University under the direction of Dr. Andy Karplus in 2018. Beginning in January 2020, she will be spending a year teaching in the Department of Biological and Biomedical Science at North Carolina Central University in Durham.

David Lawrence

Professor Lawrence earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine and his PhD in Chemistry, organic synthesis, from UCLA. He was subsequently an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University in New York City. He is currently a Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor at UNC. In addition to his teaching and research duties in the Department of Chemistry, he is Chairman of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy, a Professor of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine, and an Investigator in the Lineberger Cancer Center.

Frank Leibfarth

Frank Leibfarth earned his BS from the University of South Dakota, in 2008 with degrees in Chemistry and Physics. He completed his Ph.D. at 2013, at the University of California, under the direction of Professor Craig J. Hawker. He pursued his postdoctoral studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the direction of Professor Timothy F. Jamison, and began his independent career in 2016 at the University of North Carolina. Frank enjoys working with graduate students and undergraduates in his group to develop methods for the synthesis of novel polymers with application to sustainability and human health.

Training: UNC CFE Mentoring Training & the HHMI Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching Practices

Kathleen Nevins

Kathleen Nevins grew up in Buffalo, NY and attended Canisius College where she earned her BS in chemistry in 2006. After participating in a year-long volunteer program in New York City, she went back to SUNY Buffalo where she earned her PhD in Chemistry in 2012. She has been working as an instructor and supervisor of undergraduate laboratories in the Department of Chemistry since 2013. She has taught a variety of lab and lecture courses and has a passion for curriculum development and to improve the overall student learning experience, including student wellness. Her hobbies are going to OrangeTheory Fitness and chasing her young children around!

Training: Mental Health First Aid, Haven, Safe Zone, Green Zone, Coach Approach

Kathleen Riley

Kathleen Riley grew up in Memphis, TN and later attended Mississippi State University where she earned a B.S. in Chemistry in 2018. She currently works in the Gagné Lab on a project aimed to use Pd-Si⁺ complexes to cleave sp³C-O bonds. She is The SWELL graduate student liaison from AM-Wise and is passionate improving graduate student wellness and STEM outreach.

Paul Soma

Paul earned a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Biochemistry from West Chester University of Pennsylvania while working as a forensic chemist at the Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Center. In 2016, he began graduate research at UNC under Professor Gary L. Glish, whose research focuses on investigating the conformational space of gas-phase ions and ion-molecule interactions with ion mobility-mass spectrometry.