Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty

FACULTY DIRECTORY

The tenured and tenure-track faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry are listed below.  


picture of Brenda Rounds

Brenda Andrade Rounds
Assistant Professor
323-343-2356
bandrad7@calstatela.edu

Office: ASCB 221C; Lab: ASCB 243

Dr. Andrade earned her Ph.D. at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2019. Organic/Physical Organic Chemistry. Supramolecular chemistry and the structure-function-relationship of cyclodextrins with the aim of scavenging toxic agens from different environments.


Photo of Yong Ba

Yong Ba
Professor
323-343-2360
yba@calstatela.edu

Office: BIOS 308; Lab: ASCB 148/155

Dr. Ba earned his Ph.D. at Gerhard Mercator University, Duisburg in 1995. Physical/Biophysical Chemistry. Development and application of magnetic resonance techniques for the studies of important physicochemical properties of biological/biomedical, porous, includion, and nanostructured materials. Current research projects cover molecular mechanism of anti-freeze proteins and anti-freeze fluids for medical and industrial applications, and molecular drug carriers, nanoparticles, and hydrogels for drug delivery applications. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Krishna Foster

Krishna Foster
Professor (Department Chair)
323-343-2309
kfoster@calstatela.edu

Office: BIOS 336

Dr. Foster earned her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1998. Physical Chemistry- Characterization of environmentally significant aqueous phase photochemical reactions using ion chromatography and mass spectrometry. Click here for her faculty research website.


Photo of Frank Gomez

Frank Gomez
Professor (Currently Executive Director of STEM-NET at California State University)
fgomez@calstatela.edu

Dr. Gomez earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles.  His primary area of specialization is inorganic chemistry.  Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Michael L. Hayes

Michael L. Hayes
Associate Professor (Associate Chair)
323-343-2144
mhayes3@calstatela.edu

Office: ASCL 271/ Lab: ASCL 260/261

Dr. Hayes earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 2008. Biochemistry- Biochemistry of sequence specific RNA binding proteins and C-to-U RNA editing mechanisms. Investigating nuclear and organelle genome coordination. Development of new biotechnological tools that can specifically alter RNA transcripts. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Yangyang Liu

Yangyang Liu
Associate Professor
323-343-2323
yliu114@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 221E/ Lab: ASCB 247

Dr. Liu earned her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in 2014.  Inorganic/Materials Chemistry- Design and synthesis of nanoporous materials (e.g., Metal-Organic Frameworks) for applications, including energy storage, renewable energy, solar cells, carbon capture, catalysis, sensing, drug delivery, and semiconductors. Our group is also interested in exploring new hybrid materials and studying the structure-property relationship through collaborations with computational scientists and the industry. Click here for her faculty research website. 


Photo of Alison McCurdy

Alison McCurdy
Professor (currently Associate Dean for College of Natural and Social Sciences)
323-343-2362
amccurd@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall, Room 223

Dr. McCurdy earned her Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology.  Her primary area of specialization is organic chemistry. Click here for her faculty research website.


Photo of Jamil Momand

Jamil Momand
Professor 
323-343-2361
jmomand@calstatela.edu

Office: BIOS 336 / Lab: ASCL 247/248

Dr. Momand earned his Ph.D. at the University of California Los Angeles.  His primary area of specialization is biochemistry. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Scott Nickolaisen

Scott Nickolaisen
Professor
323-343-2382
snickol@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 122A/ Lab: ASCB 147/ 160

Dr. Nickolaisen earned his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in 1991.  Physical Chemistry- Photolysis/infrared lasers to study the kinetics and mechanism of the photochemical reactions of alkyl peroxy radicals. Click here for his faculty research website.


photo of James Rudd

James Rudd
Professor
323-343-2219
jrudd@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 121A / Lab: ASCB 156

Dr. Rudd earned his Ph.D. at Iowa State University in 2001. Chemistry Education - Investigate science teaching and learning across a range of contexts, such as instructional methods in college classrooms, professional support for K-12 teachers, and institutional change within college and university science departments. Click here for his faculty research website.


picture of Brenda Rounds

Caitlin Scott
Assistant Professor
323-343-2314
cscott37@calstatela.edu

Office: ASCL 251; Lab: ASCL 120

Dr. Scott earned her Ph.D. at California Institute of Technology in 2014. Computational and Biological Chemistry- development of drugs to target proteins in the brain using molecular dynamics, docking, and virtual ligand screening.


Photo of Matthias Selke

Matthias Selke
Professor
323-343-2347
mselke@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 222B / Lab: ASCB 248/255

Dr. Selke earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995. Organic Chemistry- Mechanistic organic, bioorganic, and organometallic chemistry; detection of reactive intermediates in oxygenation reactions; models for oxygen activation in enzymatic reactions; organic and organometallic photochemistry, especially the chemistry of singlet oxygen; history and philosophy of science. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Olaseni Sode

Olaseni Sode
Associate Professor
323-343-2372
osode@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 222C / Lab: BIOS 167

Dr. Sode earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2012.  Computational/Theoretical Chemistry- Development and implementation of ab initio electronic and vibrational structure methods for molecules and solids. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Linda Tunstad

Linda Tunstad
Professor
323-343-2307
ltunsta@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 222D/ Lab: ASCB 241

Dr. Tunstad earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1990. Organic Chemistry- Host-guest complexation chemistry; synthesis of receptor compounds (hosts) for the recognition of charged or uncharged substrates (guests). Click here for her faculty research website.


Photo of Robert L. Vellanoweth

Robert L. Vellanoweth
Professor (current graduate advisor)
323-343-2148
vllnwth@calstatela.edu

Office: ASCL 272/ Lab: ASCL 241

Dr. Vellanoweth earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. Biochemistry- Characterization and biochemical and molecular genetic events governing lifespan in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Petr Vozka

Petr Vozka
Assistant Professor
323-343-2368
pvozka@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 122E / Lab: BIOS 346

Dr. Vozka earned his Ph.D. at Purdue University in 2019. Analytical Chemistry- Method development for complex chemical mixtures (e.g., alternative fuels, microplastics, oil spill) using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Click here for his faculty research website.


Photo of Yixian Wang

Yixian Wang
Associate Professor
323-343-2353
ywang184@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 122D/ Lab: ASCB 153/161/162

Dr. Wang earned her Ph.D. at the City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center in 2013.  Analytical Chemistry- Development of novel analytical imaging and sensing tools for a broad range of applications in biomedical, nanomaterials, and environmental sciences. Click here for her faculty research website.


Photo fo Xin Wen

Xin Wen
Professor
323-343-2310
xwen3@calstatela.edu

Office: Rosser Hall 122C/ Lab: ASCB 159/160

Dr. Wen earned her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester, New York in 2005.  Biophysical, Bioanalytical, and Bioinorganic Chemistry- Integration of chemical and biophysical tools to tackle biological problems. Protein-ligand interactions at solid-liquid interface and in solution and the applications in biomedical fields. Click here for her faculty research website. 


Photo of Feimeng Zhou

Feimeng Zhou
Professor
323-343-2390
fzhou@calstatela.edu

Office: BIOS 305/ Lab: ASCB 162/258

Dr. Zhou earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin.  His primary area of specialization is analytical chemistry. Click here for his faculty research website.