Robin Macaluso (University of Texas at Arlington)

Robin teaches general and inorganic chemistry at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Texas at Arlington. She enjoys mentoring undergraduate and graduate (MS and PhD) student in solid-state chemistry and materials research. Robin is particularly interested in teaching and research involving synthesis and neutron and X-ray scattering of solid-state materials. Robin completed her postdoctoral research in the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Robin is a member of the first cohort of VIPEr Fellows.

Nicole Crowder (University of Mary Washington)

Nicole is a professor at the University of Mary Washington (Fredericksburg, VA). Nicole did her undergraduate work at Sweet Briar College and earned her Ph.D. at Princeton University. After a one year visiting position at Bucknell University, Nicole came back home to Virginia with the position at UMW, where she teaches General Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and occasionally Senior Seminar. She has an active research program with her undergrads working on tethering transition metal catalysts to metal oxides. Nicole is a member of the IONiC VIPEr leadership council and administraton team for the VIPEr website.

Chip Nataro (Lafayette College)

Chip has been at Lafayette since 1999. He and his students perform research in organometallic chemistry with a particular fondness for bis(phosphino)ferrocene ligands. The group studies the electrochemistry, catalytic activity and coordination modes of these ligands. Nataro earned his PhD at Iowa State where he studied the protonation of M-M bonds. He went to the University of Vermont for his post doc where he split time learning about inorganic polymers and electrochemistry. Nataro teaches inorganic and general chemistry at Lafayette. He is a member of the leadership council of IONiC VIPEr, has participated in writing inorganic exams for the ACS exams institute and is a preceptor recipient of the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research in 2013. He has also taught a first-year seminar course on baseball and coaches the club baseball team at Lafayette.

Hilary Eppley (DePauw University)

Hilary is a founding member of IONiC VIPEr and has been teaching at DePauw University since 1999. She teaches first year and advanced level inorganic courses and directs undergraduate research on inorganic reactions in ionic liquids. She also teaches a grant writing course for undergraduates applying for nationally competitive fellowships and a First Year Seminar course on the chemistry of art. She is currently finishing up a sabbatical at the Indianapolis Museum of Art where she is investigating the conservation properties of phosphorescent pigments. On the IONiC VIPEr leadership team, she helps to keep the website running and is helping to reach out to new audiences. She is an avid trail runner and has completed multiple ultramarathons including her first 100 mile race last fall.