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Office Hours

M 04:00 PM-05:00 PM
T 10:00 AM-11:30 AM
W 04:00 PM-05:30 PM
F 10:30 AM-11:30 AM

After receiving a bachelors degree in chemistry (with a minor in environmental science) from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, I attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where I worked with Veronika Szalai characterizing the Cu(II) binding site of the Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide of Alzheimer’s Disease.  Before moving to Siena, I was a Post-Doctoral Faculty Fellow at Boston University where I supported both their General Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry courses.  While at BU I worked with John Caradonna to characterize the non-heme iron center of Phenylalanine Hydroxylase (PAH), an enzyme which has been linked to Phenylketonuria (PKU).

Degree Program University
Ph.D. Chemistry University of Maryland, Baltimore County
B.S. Chemistry State University of New York College at Plattsburgh

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

 "In education it isn't how much you have committed to memory.... It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know and it's knowing how to use the information you get." William Feather

What I Love About Siena

I like teaching at Siena because of the sense of community its faculty tries and foster for their students.  Being able to get to know my students takes them from being just “a line in a grade book” to young scholars.  This also allows me the opportunity to watch them grow and develop throughout their academic careers, which I truly appreciate as an educator.  

My Favorite Courses to Teach

  • General Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Physical Biochemistry
  • Biochemical Mechanics
  • Advanced Biochemical Methods

My Professional Experience

Year Title Organization
2016 - Now Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Siena College
2010 - 2016 Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Siena College
2008 - 2010 Postdoctoral Faculty Fellow Boston University

Current Research

My research pursuit has always been to better understand the roles of metal ions in biological systems; more specifically the way some metal ions act as toxins and how they cause various diseases.  Currently, my research projects center on elucidating the affect(s) Pb(II) has on different biological systems and determine the ways this metal ion is responsible for the symptoms exhibited by a person afflicted with lead poisoning.

Articles & Book Reviews

  • Synthesis and Characterization of Thermochromic Metal Complexes with A Near Room Temperature High-Spin to Low-Spin Crossover
    Chemical Educator, vol. 20
    2015
  • Synthesis and Characterization of Thermochromic Metal Compounds With a Near Room Temperature High-Spin to Low-Spin Crossover
    Chemical Educator, vol. 20
    2015
  • Local Structure and Global Patterning of Cu2+ Binding in Fibrillar Amyloid-β [Aβ(1–40)] Protein
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 134
    2012
  • Cu(II) Binding to Monomeric, Oligomeric, and Fibrillar Forms of the Alzheimer's Disease Amyloid-β Peptide
    Biochemistry, vol. 47
    2008
  • Role of Aspartate-1 in Cu(II) Binding to the Amyloid-β Peptide of Alzheimer's Disease
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 129
    2007
  • N-Terminal Deletions Modify the Cu2+ Binding Site in Amyloid-β
    Biochemistry, vol. 44
    2005
  • Amyloid-β Binds Cu2+ in a Mononuclear Metal Ion Binding Site
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 126
    2004

Books & Book Chapters

  • Communication in Chemistry
    American Chemical Society (ACS)
    2019
  • McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology, 2010
    McGraw-Hill Professional
    2010

Presentations

  • An Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory Experience Independent of Discipline
    2016
    2016 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Greeley, Colorado
  • Developing a Thermodynamic Ruler for Predicting Protein Unfolding
    2016
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Probing the Structural Difference Between Ca(II) and Pb(II) Bound Syt1
    2016
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Probing the structural difference between Ca(II) and Pb(II) bound syt1
    2016
    251st American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, California
  • Synthesis and Characterization of Thermochromic Metal Complexes With Near Room Temperature Spin Crossover: An undergraduate laboratory experiment
    2016
    2016 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Greeley, Colorado
  • Tourism and Revitalization in the Arbor Hill Neighborhood of Albany
    2016
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Writing Research Proposals Across the Undergraduate Curriculum: Adapting a VIPEr Learning Object For Use in Multiple Courses
    2016
    2016 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Greeley, Colorado
  • Writing research proposals across the undergraduate curriculum: Adapting a VIPEr Learning Object for use in multiple courses
    2016
    251st American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, California
  • Investigation of the Metal-Binding Properties of Synaptotagmin-1
    2015
    7th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Probing the Metal Induced Association Between Synaptotagmin-1 and Syntaxin-1A
    2015
    Siena College Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Preparing PUI Students for Critical Thinking, Writing, and Presentation Skills Applicable to Graduate School
    2014
    2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Allendale, Michigan
  • Redesigning the General Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum to an Atoms-first Approach
    2014
    2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Allendale, Michigan
  • Spectrophotometric and Calorimetric Characterization of Syt1 in the Presence of Ca(II) and Pb(II)
    2014
    6th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Synthesis and Characterization of Thermochromic Metal Complexes with a Near Room Temperature Spin Crossover
    2014
    6th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • The Effect of Pb2+ on the Association Between Membrane Bound Synaptotagmin-1 and Syntaxin 1A
    2014
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Characterization of Pb2+-bound Synaptotagmin-1
    2013
    5th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Characterization of the Metal-induced Interaction of Syntaxin-1A and Synaptotagmin-1
    2013
    5th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Characterization of the Pb(II) Coordination Environment in Synaptotagmin-1
    2013
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Synaptotagmin Purification and Metal-Induced Changes
    2013
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Synthesis and Characterization of Thermochromic Metal Compounds With Room Temperature 5T2g -> 1A1g Crossovers
    2013
    5th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Characterization of Pb2+ Bound Synaptotagmin 1
    2012
    4th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Characterization of Pb2+ Bound Synaptotagmin 2
    2012
    243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, California
  • Characterization of Pb2+-bound Synaptotagmin-1
    2012
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Characterization of the Quaternary Structure of Synaptotagmin-1
    2012
    Siena Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
  • Optimization of the Overexpression and Purification of the Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase Enzyme
    2012
    4th Annual Eastern New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York