Dr. Mira Kanzelberger

Senior Research Scientist of Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics

Dr. Mira Kanzelberger serves as a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Collaborating with Dr. Jeffrey Rohde, she has been conducting research in synthetic organic chemistry since 2015 to further FISH and FIWH initiatives. The research projects fall in the general area of Medicinal Chemistry, with an emphasis on neglected diseases and the synthesis of small molecules of interest to the pharmaceutical industry, and provide excellent opportunities for interested students to gain hands-on research experience in organic synthesis. She has also been teaching primarily organic chemistry lab courses.

Before coming to Franciscan, she worked in medicinal chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry and taught chemistry at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, WA. She holds a Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey; Ph.D., Chemistry, 2004
- Dissertation: C—H Bond Activation and Related Chemistry of PCP-Pincer Ligated Iridium; Advisor: Alan S. Goldman
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California; B.S., Chemistry, 1987

Recent Experience

Wyeth-Ayerst Research, Princeton, New Jersey; Associate Chemist, Medicinal Chemistry, 1992 – 1996
- More than a hundred novel compounds submitted for biological testing, mostly in half-gram or gram quantities. Hundreds of additional intermediates synthesized, isolated, and characterized.
Wyeth-Ayerst Research, Princeton, New Jersey; Staff Chemist, Analytical Department, 1991 – 1992
- Developed, maintained, and ran an in-house version of a spectrophotometric enzymatic binding assay for rapamycin analogs. Elemental analysis, IR, Karl Fisher.

Industrial Experience

Instructor, Franciscan University of Steubenville Fall 2015 – present
Taught a survey of mathematics course for liberal arts students satisfying their core requirement; calculus for business majors; and abstract algebra, ring theory, linear algebra, and discrete mathematics for mathematics, computer science, and pre-engineering majors.
Instructor, Saint Vincent College Fall 2009 – Spring 2015; Taught first, second and third calculus courses, all for math, science or engineering majors; and first and second calculus courses for business, biology, and pharmacy majors. Also a methods of proof transition course for math majors and minors; linear algebra; and a first semester of abstract algebra.
Instructor, Colby College Fall 2008 – Spring 2009; Taught an intro to mathematical logic course for math majors, and a second calculus course. Also, a calculus with pre-calculus course, which started in the fall semester and continued into the January term, covering the same material as a regular first calculus course but with more background and thus requiring more time.
Reading Group Leader, University of Notre Dame Spring 2007; Met weekly with a small group of interested undergraduate students and led them through an introduction to mathematical logic and Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem.
Instructor, University of Notre Dame Summer 2006 – Fall 2007; Taught an introductory calculus course for first-year business students. Also twice taught a terminal calculus course for arts and letters students, intended for an audience with math backgrounds which are insufficient for business, science, or engineering calculus, and students required permission from the dean to enroll.

Other Experience

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Spring 2003 – Spring 2005
- Instructor in Inorganic Chemistry (upper division), Summer 2005
- Instructor in General/Organic Chemistry (for non-majors), Winter 2004

Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
- Lab Teaching Assistant, Organic Lab for non-majors, Spring 2001, Spring 2002
- Recitation Instructor, General Chemistry, Spring 2000, Fall 2001
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, Fall 1987 – Spring 1988
- Graduate Student Instructor, Physical Chemistry Lab, Fall 1987

Honors

J. R. L. Morgan Fellowship, 1997-2000
Graduate School Fellowship, 1998-99
University Excellence Fellowship, 1997-98
Caltech Kodak Scholar, 1984-86
Tau Beta Pi, 1984
Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, 1983

Affliliations

American Chemical Society

Select Publications

Dinitrogen Complexes of Pincer-Ligated Iridium. R. Ghosh, M. Kanzelberger, T. Emge, G. S. Hall, and A. S. Goldman. Organometallics 2006, 25, 5668-5671.
Selective Addition to Iridium of Aryl C—H Bonds Ortho to Coordinating Groups. Not Chelation-Assisted. X. Zhang, M. Kanzelberger, T. Emge, and A. S. Goldman. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126(41), 13192-13193.
Distinct Thermodynamics for the Formation and Cleavage of N—H Bonds in Aniline and Ammonia. Directly-Observed Reductive Elimination of Ammonia from an Isolated Amido Hydride Complex. M. Kanzelberger, X. Zhang, T. Emge, A. S. Goldman, J. Zhao, and J. F. Hartwig. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 13644-13645.

Full List

Combined Computational and Experimental Study of Substituent Effects on the Thermodynamics of H2, CO, Arene, and Alkane Addition to Iridium. K. Krogh-Jespersen, M. Czerw, K. Zhu, B. Singh, M. Kanzelberger, N. Darji, P. Achord, K. Renkema, and A. S. Goldman. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124(36), 10797-10809.
DFT/ECP Study of C—H Activation by (PCP)Ir and (PCP)Ir(H)2 (PCP = eta3 -1,3- C6H3(CH2PR2)2). Enthalpies and Free Energies of Associative and Dissociative Pathways. K. Krogh-Jespersen, M. Czerw, M. Kanzelberger, and A. S. Goldman. J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 2001, 41, 56-63.
Addition of C—H Bonds to the Catalytically Active Complex (PCP)Ir (PCP = eta3 -2,6- ( t Bu2PCH2)2C6H3). M. Kanzelberger, B. Singh, M. Czerw, K. Krogh-Jespersen, and A. S. Goldman. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122(44), 11017-11018.
Azole Phenoxy Hydroxyureas as Selective and Orally Active Inhibitors of 5-Lip-oxygenase. M. S. Malamas, R. P. Carlson, D. Grimes, R. Howell, K. Glaser, I. Gunawan, J. A. Nelson, M. Kanzelberger, U. Shah, and D. A. Hartman. J. Med. Chem. 1996, 39(1), 237-245.