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Last Updated: April 2021

Joanna Atkin

Department of Chemistry
Assistant Professor

Carribeth Bliem

Department of Chemistry
Teaching Assistant Professor

Anna Curtis

Department of Chemistry
Teaching Assistant Professor

Elizabeth Brunk

Department of Chemistry
Assistant Professor

Jillian L. Dempsey

Department of Chemistry
Associate Professor

https://dempsey.web.unc.edu

Dr. Dempsey is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina. She joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012. She has received numerous awards including the Harry B. Gray Award for Creative Work in Inorganic Chemistry by a Young Investigator (2019), the J. Carlyle Sitterson Award for Teaching First-Year Students (2017), a Sloan Research Fellowship (2016), and a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering (2015). Outside of the lab, Jillian enjoys running, cooking, yoga, and watching her two-year-old Orin play basketball.

Research in the Dempsey group aims to address challenges associated with developing efficient solar energy conversion processes. They are particularly interested in charge transfer processes associated with solar fuel production, including proton-coupled electron transfer reactions and electron transfer across interfaces. Dr. Dempsey’s research program bridges molecular and materials chemistry and relies heavily on methods of physical inorganic chemistry, including transient absorption spectroscopy and electrochemistry.


Dorothy Erie

Department of Chemistry
Professor

Leslie Hicks

Department of Chemistry
Associate Professor

https://chem.unc.edu/faculty/hicks-leslie/

Dr. Hicks received her B.S. in Chemistry at Marshall University, summa cum laude, and Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where she was the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. She was an Assistant Member and Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and an adjunct professor in the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis prior to assuming her current role as a professor in the Department of Chemistry at UNC. She has a research interest in proteomics, post translational modifications, and mass spectrometry.

The ability to exquisitely differentiate biological molecules dictating metabolism and its underlying biochemistry is a challenging and meaningful endeavor, as it underpins both fundamental biological research and applied bioengineering. With an interest in extending biological frontiers using advanced technologies, the Hicks lab aims to establish methods, methodologies, and concepts to set the foundation for clever, practical, and meaningful applications of mass spectrometry in addressing and answering important biological questions.


Abigail Knight

Department of Chemistry
Assistant Professor

https://www.abigailsknight.com/

Dr. Knight returned to the UNC Chemistry Department in the summer of 2018 – she completed her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with minors in Mathematics and Biology as a UNC undergraduate, and she completed an undergraduate research in Prof. Marcey Waters’ research group developing new ligands for RNA and DNA structures. After graduating from UNC, Dr. Knight pursued a PhD in the chemical biology program at the University of California, Berkeley in the lab of  Prof. Matthew Francis. Her PhD research focused on the development of a platform applying combinatorial libraries for the identification of selective metal ligands to address major challenges in water and environmental remediation and metal poisoning. During her postdoctoral position with Prof. Craig Hawker at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she designed smart nanomaterials with unique architectures and both biological and materials applications. These pursuits provided expertise in materials characterization, supporting the Knight Research Group’s mission to design synthetic nanomaterials that rival the binding capabilities of proteins.

The selective binding ability of proteins is currently unparalleled by synthetic nanomaterials, yet nanomaterials are comparatively unrestrained in chemical diversity and thus offer numerous advantages. Dr. Knight’s research team aims to design novel macromolecular materials with unrestrained chemical diversity and fine-tuned binding profiles inspired by biological systems.


Bo Li

Department of Chemistry
Associate Professor

Nancy Thompson

Department of Chemistry
Professor

Marcey Waters

Department of Chemistry
Glen H. Elder, Jr., Distinguished Professor
Former WOWS Scholar

https://chem.unc.edu/faculty/waters-marcey/

The Waters group focuses on problems of molecular recognition in biological and biomimetic systems using organic chemistry, with a focus on application to epigenetics.

Dr. Waters is passionate about science, education, nature, animals, and her kids.


Danielle Zurcher

Department of Chemistry
Teaching Assistant Professor
Dr. Zurcher received a Bachelor of Science from Wayne State University, 2010; a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, 2016; followed by a year as a Postdoctoral Researcher/Lecturer, at the University of Michigan, 2016-2017 before coming to UNC-CH in 2017.

Her current interests lie in curriculum development for large introductory courses. She is committed to finding and implementing effective teaching methods that promote student engagement and develop their critical thinking skills.