The department is pleased to announce the promotion of Brandon Ashfeld to professor, Jessica Brown to associate professor with tenure, and Kelley Young to associate teaching professor.
Brandon Ashfeld joined the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry in 2007 after completing a Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University. His research program centers around the development of new methods to synthesize materials and complex natural products. Applications investigated in his group include covalent carbon capture and designing brain and central nervous system chemotherapeutics. Ashfeld received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Texas-Austin.
Jessica Brown joined the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry in 2016. Her laboratory works to understand the structural, biochemical, and cellular roles of RNA triple helices using MALAT1 triple helix as a model. This model is of particular interest as MALAT1 is implicated in multiple forms of cancer and promotes tumor growth. Brown received her B.S. in chemistry and biological sciences at Wright State University and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from The Ohio State University before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Kelley Young joined the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry in 2016. In addition to teaching, she also serves as the director of the Mary E. Galvin Science and Engineering Scholars Program, a program designed to bolster the academic success of students majoring in science or engineering. Young received her B.S. in chemistry from Adrian College and her Ph.D. in chemistry from Michigan State University.