This new Assistant Chair position is designed to promote the research mission of the department by leading the preparation and submission of programmatic grant applications for federal and foundation awards, multi-PI proposals, instrumentation grants, and other department programmatic awards. The Assistant Chair will also serve as a liaison with University research centers, and lead special projects in the department.
Dr. Prorok received her B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in medicinal chemistry in 1982 and her Ph.D. in chemistry in 1990, both from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She conducted postdoctoral research at Brandeis University from 1990 to 1993 as a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow and at the University of Notre Dame from 1994 to 1997 as an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellow, before joining the faculty of the University of Notre Dame in 1998.
Dr Prorok has been associated with the Keck Center since its inception on campus. The Director of the Keck Center, Dr Frank Castellino commented: "While we will surely miss her contributions to our research programs in the Keck Center, I am fully supportive of her promotion to Assistant Chair and expect that she will do a great job, as she has done with me in various capacities over the last 16 years. Mary has unique talents that should serve the department and college well."