College of Arts and Sciences

- Applied computational mapping software to predict key binding sites on target proteins- Validated developmental software to account for side chain and backbone flexibility when identifying ligand binding sites- Developed applications in drug discovery and fragment-based approaches as related to computational mapping- Provided scientific expertise to software developers to design code for FTSite and FTMap programs- Assisted in preparation and review of manuscripts for publication

- Developed coursework related to modern biochemical techniques and applications, such as those related to disease and drug development. - Course administrator and oversaw weekly adjunct training meetings.

- Used spectroscopic and computational techniques to elucidate the role of second-sphere hydrogen-bonding interactions in tuning the metal ion reduction potential in metal-dependent superoxide dismutases (SOD)- Characterized the physical chemical properties of small molecule interactions with Fe(III)SOD by applying spectroscopic and computational methods- Gained experience designing in silico experiments using various density functional theory (DFT) and semi-classical methods to rationalize reactivity of superoxide dismutases- Employed quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) calculations to obtain accurate active site geometric and electronic structure descriptions of SOD species- Learned experimental techniques and theory associated with electronic absorption, circular dichroism (CD), magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), variable-temperature variable-field MCD and resonance Raman spectroscopies

- Studied oxidation of mercapto-organics via in situ generated hydrogen peroxide from Pd catalysts- Investigated catalytic mechanism of amino-acid condensation under aqueous conditions driven by Pd-catalyzed oxidation of carbon monoxide- Gained experience with NMR spectroscopy, gas chromatography, Parr pressure bombs, and Schlenk techniques