Three new lecturers were added to the chemistry department faculty in August 2016, to teach general chemistry and organic chemistry. They each bring unique skills and perspectives to our department that we highly value. Here is some more information about them. Welcome!
Dr. Laura Lanni, a new chemistry lecturer, completed her doctorate at the University of South Carolina in 2010. She has taught general and organic chemistry at Newberry College and USC, and researched boronate ester-linked polymers of intrinsic microporosity at Newberry College. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a high school advanced placement chemistry teacher for 11 years. With a B.S. in engineering chemistry from Oakland University, her first professional position was as a development chemist in automotive coatings at BASF. Her two daughters both graduated from Clemson, and the whole Lanni family, especially her husband, are crazy Clemson football fans. Besides her love for chemistry, Dr. Lanni writes fiction—her debut novel, OR NOT TO BE, was published in 2014.
Will McWhorter’s initial interest in chemistry was sparked by his Spartanburg High School chemistry teacher’s, Mrs. Nancy Bane and Mr. Troy Bridges. As an undergraduate at Clemson University, he became interested in organic chemistry as he studied and carried out undergraduate research under the direction of Prof. John Huffman (Clemson University, emeritus) graduating with a B.S. in 1978. At Harvard University, he studied natural products synthesis under the guidance of Prof. Yoshito Kishi, participating in the synthesis of palytoxin. He also studied organic syntheses in the classroom under Prof. Elias J. Corey. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1984, Dr. McWhorter carried out postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zuerich) under Prof. Albert Eschenmoser and at the Suntory Institute for Bioorganic Research in Osaka under Prof. Koji Nakanish. He worked as a medicinal chemist at the Upjohn Company and its successors in Japan and Kalamazoo, MI and later worked as a research and development chemist at Milliken and Company in Spartanburg, SC. Dr. McWhorter is teaching general chemistry (CH1010 and CH1020). He is a masters swimmer and enjoys serving as a USA and YMCA swimming official at meets.
Dr. MyCia Cox is a Nanoscale Scientist who obtained her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. Her research background is in Design and Characterization techniques of Optical Metamaterials and Nanoscale Materials. She enjoys spending time with her family, Astronomy, and constructing new teaching paradigms for her classes and beyond.
