Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Dr. Hee-Seung Lee, Assistant Professor, received both his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Seoul National University (Korea) before coming to the United States and attending The Ohio State University, where he earned his PhD in Theoretical Chemistry in 2001.  Since then he has completed highly successful postdoctoral research experiences under John C. Light at The University of Chicago and Mark Tuckerman at New York University.  Professor Lee is the author or coauthor of nineteen publications in the most prestigious journals in his discipline, and brings a wealth of experience in all aspects of physical chemistry.  In addition to teaching undergraduate courses in general and physical chemistry, he will be involving students in projects that address his current research interests, which include oxidation/reduction reactions on fuel cell electrodes and organic functionalization of semiconductor surfaces. 

Dr. Ralph N. Mead, Assistant Professor, received his PhD in Chemistry from Florida International University in 2003, and served as a postdoctoral research associate under M. A. Goni at the University of South Carolina from 2003 – 05.  Since 2005 he has held the position of assistant professor at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami.  Dr. Mead has an impressive research record which includes six publications and twenty research presentations, and is co-pi of research grants totaling over $1.7 M currently pending with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  Dr. Mead will teach introductory organic chemistry and advanced techniques in organic chemistry, and continue his research interests, which compliment those of other marine science faculty in the department.

Dr. Jeremy B. Morgan, Assistant Professor, was an Eli Lilly Graduate Fellow (2004)  at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where he received his PhD in Chemistry in 2004.  Since that time he has served as National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow and Group Coordinator of the L. E. Overman group at the University of California, Irvine.    Dr. Morgan is author or coauthor of seven publications in highly respected journals, and has presented papers at three national meetings of the American Chemical Society, as well as a poster at the 2004 Gordon Conference in Stereochemistry.  Dr. Morgan will teach introductory organic chemistry, and has sought funding from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation to support his research in Catalytic Enantioselective Cohalogenation of Unactivated Alkenes.