New Fall 2022 Faculty

2022-09-14

These faculty members and lecturers are joining us fall 2022:

Jeffrey Dick, Richard B. Wetherill Associate Professor of Chemistry
Professor Jeffrey Dick earned a PhD from UT Austin with Al Bard in 2017 and started his independent career at UNC Chapel Hill in 2018. Jeffrey's research program focuses on developing new measurement science tools to address the following questions: (1) How does chemistry change in tiny volumes? and (2) How does Nature take advantage of such changes?

Bryon Drown, Assistant Professor – Chemical Biology/Analytical and Organic Chemistry
Professor Bryon Drown combines interest and expertise in protein mass spectrometry and drug discovery. Initially hailing from Massachusetts, Bryon moved to the Midwest to study at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL where he conducted both organic and computational chemistry undergraduate research. Upon graduation, he moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to earn a PhD in Chemistry. His thesis work focused on the development of new antibiotics effective against Gram-negative bacteria and probes of the post-translation modification ADP-ribosylation. With a deepened interest in protein post-translational modification, Bryon conducted postdoctoral training as an NCI NRSA Fellow at Northwestern University in mass spectrometry method development and top-down proteomics. Bryon is eager to establish a research program that uses top-down mass spectrometry and organic synthesis to answer challenges in the drug discovery space.

Hannah Starr, Assistant Professor of Practice
Professor Hannah Starr is an inorganic chemist who comes to us from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she graduated in 2017 with a B.S. in Chemistry and in 2022 with her PhD. As an undergraduate, she worked for Jillian Dempsey on PbS quantum dot ligand exchange reactions and solar cell optimization. As a graduate student, she worked for Mike Gagné on silsesquioxane and silica-supported fluoroarylborane catalysts for C-O bond reduction in biomass derivatives. At UNC, she served on many committees including DEI, Strategic Planning, Undergraduate Studies, and Safety. She also taught general and inorganic chemistry. She is excited to join the faculty here at Purdue where she plans to work on inorganic curriculum development and study/implement evidence-based teaching practices, such as active learning. Additionally, she understands the huge roll TAs have in undergraduate education, so she is also interested in improving TA training to ensure that TAs are comfortable and effective in their positions.

Mallory Kern, Chemistry Lecturer
Dr. Mallory Kern received a B.S degree in chemistry from Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA) in 2016. She then went on to pursue her doctoral studies at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) under the guidance of Nicola Pohl, and received her PhD in organic chemistry in May 2022. Her graduate work focused on the synthesis of thioglycosides using an automated solution-phase platform. During her time at Purdue, Mallory will work to improve our undergraduate laboratory courses, and hopes to integrate some more modern techniques such as continuous flow chemistry.