Hello!
I am a passionate, eager and well balanced chemist with the courage and drive to teach. Over the course of my graduate studies in biophysical chemistry and my prior industry experience, I have gained broad expertise in analytical, organic, physical and biological chemistry. I am an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Montevallo and I am always looking for ways to innovate, explore and assess new methods of teaching chemistry. After studying Biology and Chemistry at the University of Montevallo as an undergraduate, I took a position at Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc where I worked developing and validating analytical methods for GMP/GLP lipid products using a variety of instrumentation from NMR to HPLC. After 3 years at Avanti, I decided to continue my education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where I earned my MS in Chemistry, teaching higherEd certification through CIRTL at UAB, and my PhD while working for Dr. David Graves characterizing the structure and thermodynamics of non-helical DNAs.
After finishing my PhD, I spent 8 years teaching Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Introductory Chemistry at Birmingham-Southern College before returning to my alma mater to teach. |
I currently call Birmingham, Al. home and have lived here since I was 16 years old after my father, Jeffery Lanier, lost his battle with cancer. Once my father was diagnosed with brain cancer, I decided to dedicate my academic research life to help eradicate this disease. I personally believe that the only "cure" to cancer is early detection. If we can develop a point of care diagnostics that is simple, cheap and accurate then we can detect cancer at its earliest stages dramatically increasing the likelihood of survival.
When I am not teaching in the classroom or working in lab, I am blessed to spend time with my wonderfully supportive husband, Patrick, and my rambunctious toddler, Wesley. We love to spend time outdoors, going out to eat, and taking weekend trips. And in my spare time I also enjoy photography, reading non-science related books, and knitting. |