Faculty and Staff
The faculty in the Department each have the terminal degree in their field of study. We pride ourselves on how we work with students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the classroom, the laboratory, and outside of the academic setting. Click on our names to learn more about what we do.
Faculty in the Department
Michael D. Mosher, Interim-Chair and Professor, Ph.D., Texas Tech University, Organic Chemistry. Synthetic
organic chemistry, heterocyclic chemistry of 2-isozazolines, acridine-based anti-cancer
drug design, and organic reactions during the brewing process.
Email: Michael.Mosher@unco.edu
Aaron Apawu, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Wayne State University, Analytical Chemistry. Interactions
of external environmental contaminants on brain chemistry.
Email: Aaron.Apawu@unco.edu
Corina Brown, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado, Chemical Education. Biochemical
education, assessment tools to measure student success in an academic setting, virtual
reality labs, equity in chemistry , drug analyses.
Email: Corina.Brown@unco.edu
Aichun Dong, Professor, Ph.D., Colorado State University, Biochemistry; Editor-in-Chief, International
Journal of Biological Macromolecules. Protein structure; structure function relationship;
protein folding/unfolding; protein denaturation, stabilization, and formulation; protein
infrared database.
E-mail: Aichun.Dong@unco.edu
Bob Houser, Professor, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Inorganic Chemistry. Synthetic inorganic
chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, coordination chemistry, coordination polymers.
E-mail: robert.houser@unco.edu
Murielle Watzky, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Wayne State University, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry.
Use of the optical and electrochemical properties of silver nanoparticles to understand
the mechanisms involved in their antimicrobial action.
E-mail: Murielle.Watzky@unco.edu
Melissa Weinrich, Associate Professor, Ph.D., University of Arizona, Chemistry Education. Eye-movement
modeling examples, eye-tracking, student conceptions in organic chemistry, organic
assessment practices.
E-mail: Melissa.Weinrich@unco.edu
Adjunct Faculty
Stefanie Barnett, Adjunct Lecturer. Stefanie teaches courses in the general chemistry, science education,
and organic chemistry curriculum.
Email: stefanie.barnett@unco.edu
Alyssa Johnson, Adjunct Lecturer. Alyssa teaches courses in the general chemistry, science education,
and organic chemistry curriculum.
Email: alyssa.johnson@unco.edu
Staff in the Department
Sean Johnson, Assistant Brewer. Sean assists in the teaching, recruiting, and curriculum development
for the brewing laboratory science program and in the maintenance and operation of
the brewery on campus.
Email: sean.johnson@unco.edu
