Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Dr. Matthew Crawford, Chair

Associate Professor

Office: 339C Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.4940
Email: mjcrawford@frostburg.edu

Research Interests:

• Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis and Analysis Using Natural and Unnatural Amino Acids
• Local Honey Analysis
• Developing Safer Methods to Determine Lead Content in Paint Using Microwave Digestion
• Soil and Water Analysis.

• Additional Information

  Bio

  A native of Allegany County, Dr. Matthew Crawford was raised in the small town of Flintstone, Maryland.

  He received his Bachelors Degree in Chemistry with a Minor in Biology from Frostburg State University in 2006. Being a first generation college student, Dr. Crawford was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar while at Frostburg. It was through this program that led him to pursue a Ph. D. at Carnegie Mellon University.

  Dr. Crawford received his doctorate of philosophy in Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the spring of 2011. During his time at Carnegie Mellon, he received the Solomon Fellowship and the Graduate Student Teaching Award for his time spent as a teaching assistant. He conducted research in Bioorganic Chemistry focusing on structural characterization of γ- modified peptide nucleic acid and invasion of microRNA. His work has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Molecular Biosystems, and the Journal of Nucleic Acids.

  Dr. Crawford is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at his alma mater of Frostburg State University.

  Degrees

  Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
  B.S., Frostburg State University

Dr. Holly Currie

Associate Professor, Director Center for Teaching Excellence

Office: 347 Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.4359
Email: hncurrie@frostburg.edu

Research Interests:

• Detection of pharmaceutical compounds in milk

• Additional Information

  Degrees:

  Ph.D. West Virginia University, 2014
  B.S. California University of Pennsylvania, 2008

Dr. Robert Larivee

Professor

Office: 351A Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.4091
Email: rlarivee@frostburg.edu

Research Interests:

• Supercritical carbon dioxide to extract natural gas from Marcellus Shale
• Chemometric analysis of gas chromatography including retention time prediction and trace component elution
• Gold nanoparticles as delivery devices

• Additional Information

  Bio

  Dr. Larivee is a professor of analytical chemistry. He obtained his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Rhode Island College in 1976. He was commission a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1976 and served as an Airborne Ranger in the Infantry until 1981. After working in industry for a few years he continued his education obtaining his graduate degree working under Steve Brown with a specialty in Chemometrics from University of Delaware in 1989. After graduation he obtained a teaching position at Frostburg State University Department of Chemistry. Dr. Larivee’s specialties include environmental chemistry, chemometrics, chemical instrumentation, and chemical education, especially training elementary and middle school teachers in the physical sciences. He is currently the Chair of the Chemistry Department and the Chemical Hygiene Officer.

  Degrees:

  Ph.D., University of Delaware
  B.A., Rhode Island College

Dr. Benjamin Norris

Associate Professor

Office: 309 Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.4157
Email: bnnorris@frostburg.edu

Research Interests:

• Development of biorenewable alternatives to petrochemicals
• Conjugated small molecule chemosensors
• Application of data analytics to student success and retention

• Additional Information

  Bio

  Dr. Benjamin Norris graduated with honors from Frostburg State University with a B.S. in Chemistry (minor in Mathematics) in May 2004. As a student at Frostburg, Dr. Norris received the prestigious Regent’s Scholarship, was president of the Student Members of the American Chemical Society, and received the Class of ’59 Leadership Award.

  Dr. Norris pursued graduate studies in Organic and Polymer Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh from Fall 2004 through Summer 2010. He defended his thesis in January 2011, and received his Ph.D. in May 2011. His research included studies toward the development of new palladium-catalyzed multicomponent coupling reactions and the synthesis of sequenced phenylene-vinylene oligomers and copolymers. His development of a new strategy for the iterative synthesis of oligo(para-phenylene-vinylene)s using olefin metathesis has been published in Organic Letters. His study of the relationship between sequence and optoelectronic properties of oligo(para-phenylene-vinylene)s has been published in Macromolecules. While a graduate student at Pitt, Dr. Norris was a Teaching Fellow and received the Hurd Safford Teaching Award.

  Dr. Norris returned to his alma mater as an Instructor of Chemistry in Fall 2010. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in Fall 2011 and to Associate Professor in 2016. He won the FSU Faculty Achievement Award for University and Community Service in 2015. Dr. Norris also holds a Microsoft professional program certification in data science. Dr. Norris served FSU as Chair of the Faculty from 2017 to 2021 and Interim Associate Provost from 2021 to 2023. He is active in NACADA (the Global Community for Academic Advising), serving on the editorial board of the NACADA Journal, the advisory board for the NACADA Assessment Institute, and the steering committee for the Faculty Advising Community. Dr. Norris was recognized as a NACADA Emerging Leader in 2022. 

  Degrees

  Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
  B.S., Frostburg State University

Dr. Frederick Senese

Professor

Office: 354 Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.4153
Email: fsenese@frostburg.edu

Research Interests:

• Applications of artificial intelligence in chemical education
• Development of web-based narratives and construction kits for chemical education
• Remote control and access of instrumentation
• Environmental chemical analysis applied to problems in ethnobotany

• Additional Information

  Degrees:

  Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  B.S., The Pennsylvania State University

   

• Additional Information

  Degrees:

  Ph.D., University of California
  B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

   

Dr. Katie Gares

Lecturer

Office: 339B Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.3020
Email: klgares@frostburg.edu

 

• Additional Information

  Degrees:

  Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
  B.S., Frostburg State University

   

• Additional Information

  Degrees:

  Ph.D., Guangxi University
  M.S., Guangxi Normal University
  B.S., Guangxi Normal University

   

Staff 

Ms. Hayley Baer

Academic Laboratory Manager

Office: 357 Compton Science Center
Phone: 301.687.3131
Email: hbbaer@frostburg.edu

Emeriti Faculty

• Dr. Paul Hunt
• Dr. James Martin
• Dr. Mary Mumper
• Dr. Don Weser
• Dr. Peggy Biser