Faculty & Staff
Below are the faculty and staff for the University of Washington Master of Science in Applied Chemical Science & Technology.
Sharon Durfy
Director
Sharon Durfy is the director of the Master of Science in Applied Chemical Science & Technology (MSACST) program. She earned a bachelor's degree in pharmacology and biochemistry and a Ph.D. in molecular and medical genetics, both from the University of Toronto. Her doctoral research explored the molecular structure, sequence and evolution of X chromosome centromeric DNA in humans and primates. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, and subsequently, an assistant professor of medical history and ethics at the University of Washington, where she conducted research and developed training programs on genetics ethics and human subjects research ethics. Before joining MSACST and the UW Department of Chemistry, Durfy founded and led successful businesses, then returned to academics. Her experience includes serving as senior advisor for research education at the UW Department of Neurological Surgery, where she instructed trainees and administered medical research education programs.
Dan Fu
Co-Director and Admissions
Dan Fu is an associate professor in the UW Department of Chemistry. His main research interests are the development and applications of quantitative chemical imaging tools to study various pathophysiological processes of living biological specimens at single-cell resolution. These tools involve state-of-the-art laser engineering, innovation in ultrasensitive signal detection, and novel machine learning/deep learning-based data analysis. Leveraging these powerful tools, the Fu lab aims to drive biomedical applications in three areas: new early detection and intraoperative methods for cancer diagnosis, understanding brain metabolism and brain dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases, and understanding drug resistance mechanism in tissue. Fu earned his doctorate in physical chemistry from Princeton University. He is a recipient of the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the NSF Career Award, the NIH MIRA Award and the Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award.
Robert E. Synovec
Co-Director and Academic Adviser
Robert E. Synovec is a professor in the UW Department of Chemistry and is the co-director of the Master of Science in Applied Chemical Science & Technology program. He leads a research group that pioneers the development of analytical instrumentation, chemometric data analysis software and methodology based upon fundamental separation science implemented at a problem-solving level. Synovec earned his Ph.D. in 1986 from Iowa State University and joined the UW faculty later that year. He served as an associate chair of the Chemistry Graduate Education Program from 2007 to 2020, and as the faculty director for the Center for Process Analytical Chemistry (CPAC) from 2007 to 2011. Synovec received the Marcel Golay Award at the 40th International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography Conference (ISCC) in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in capillary chromatography.
