Who We Are
Lauren Webb, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin
Executive State Director, Welch Summer Scholar Program
WSSP UT-Austin Site Director
Lauren J. Webb is an Associate Professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin. She obtained her A.B. in chemistry (music minor) from Bowdoin College in 2000. She entered graduate school at the California Institute of Technology supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and earned her Ph.D. in chemistry in 2005. She did her graduate work in the laboratory of Dr. Nathan Lewis, where she studied chemical and electronic properties of functionalized silicon(111) surfaces. From 2005 to 2008 she was a NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Boxer in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. Her research focused on quantifying electro- static fields in proteins using vibrational Stark effect spectroscopy. Dr. Webb moved to UT-Austin in 2008, where she has developed a research program based on her training in both surface and biological chemistry. Her research interests are centered on understanding and manipulating the mechanisms of interaction, organization, and self- assembly of biological macromolecules in both natural and artificial environments. She is an Arthur P. Sloan Fellow and the recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, the College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, and the Iota Sigma Pi Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award.
Joshua Crowell, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington
WSSP UT-Arlington Site Director
Dr. Crowell received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2015. He joined the faculty at UTA in 2016 and became the WSSP Site Director at UTA in 2019.
Amandeep Sra, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Texas at Dallas
WSSP UT-Dallas Site Director
Dr. Sra received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the Bhabha Research Center in 2001. She went on to hold a postdoctoral fellow position in the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. She joined the faculty of UDallas in 2001 and became the WSSP Site Director there in 2024. She has won multiple teaching awards including the Board of Regents Outstanding Teaching Award.
Steve Baldelli, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, University of Houston
WSSP University of Houston Site Director
Dr. Baldelli received his B.S. degree from Framingham State College in Massachusetts in 1992 and his Ph.D. from Tufts University in 1998 under the direction of Mary Shultz. After spending three years at the University of California, Berkeley, with Gabor Somorjai and Phil Ross, he moved to University of Houston, where he is now a Professor of chemistry. His interests center on using linear and nonlinear spectroscopic and microscopic methods to study surface chemistry problems including liquid and solid interfaces of ionic liquids, SAMs, electrochemical interfaces, and problems in corrosion.
Coran Watanabe, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
WSSP Texas A&M Site Director
Dr. Watanabe received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1998 and went on to be a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow at Scripps Research Institute. She joined the faculty of Texas A&M in 2003 where she is now a professor of chemistry. Her research program is broadly defined as biosynthesis and mode of action of natural products. Current projects include biosynthesis of the anti-tumor agent azinomycin and its applications in gene therapy, biosynthesis of cycloterpenals and its relatives, natural products produced by the milk protein betalactoglobulin, including cycloretinal and A2E linked to causing age-related macular degeneration, and the development biochemical and genetic methods to activate biosynthetic pathways that are silent within their respective genomes
John Gorden, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Texas Tech University
WSSP Texas Tech Site Director
Dr, Gorden received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001 and went on to a hold postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley. He joined the faculty of Auburn University in 2005 and moved to Texas Tech University in 2020 where is an Associate Professor. Broadly, his research program focuses on structural inorganic chemistry, main group catalysis, x-Ray crystallography, and selective late-stage functionalization.