Sidney Hecht Professor

Hecht played a key role in the development of Hycamtin, a drug used to treat ovarian and lung cancer, as well as the study of the mechanism of the anti-tumor agent bleomycin. In a career spanning more than three decades, Hecht has held both academic and industrial research positions. He joins ASU from the University of Virginia, where he was a professor of both chemistry and biology. From 1981 to 1987, he concurrently held leadership positions in research and development for Smith Kline and French Laboratories. Prior to his 28 years at the University of Virginia, he was a faculty member at MIT. Hecht is the co-founder of Edison Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company focusing on inherited mitochondrial disorders. He earned a BA in chemistry from the University of Rochester and a PhD in chemistry with emphasis in biochemistry from the University of Illinois.

Gary Cabirac Lecturer

Gary earned his bachelor and doctorate in chemistry from ASU and University of Californian San Diego, respectively. He was Senior Research Scientist and Research Manager at the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center in Denver and adjunct faculty in the Biochemistry, Genetics, & Biophysics department at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His research involved investigations into the mechanisms of virus latency, neurovirulence, and autoimmunity. After a brief adventure into the world of small business he returned to industry and teaching. Over the last few years he has been devoted full time to teaching.

Randall Robinson Lecturer

As an undergraduate Randall attended Texas Lutheran College in south Texas, majoring in chemistry. After graduating he moved on to graduate study at the University of Utah and completed a doctorate in physical/organic chemistry. The University of Oregon was the next stop in his professional journey where he began an ongoing association and love affair with azulene chemistry that continues today. Two years later, Dr. Robinson relocated to Luther College, a four-year private college in rural Iowa, where he taught for 21 years. For most of this time he was the entire organic division. In addition he taught general chemistry, nursing chemistry, biochemistry, chemical kinetics, as well as two courses for non-science majors which he developed. During these years he took leaves of absence at Tufts, UT-Austin, and Kansas doing research and teaching organic or organic lab. He also wrote a lab manual for the micro-scale organic lab. Since leaving Iowa he has worked in various research labs at KU and ASU and additionally had some interesting experience in two commercial environmental analysis labs.

In his own words..."This all brings me here to ASU to lecture in organic chemistry and oversee organic labs. On a personal note, I am married (35 years) and have two grown children, Tad a Philosophy Prof. at Muhlenberg and Zac an aspiring engineer and Army reservist heading to Iraq for the third time as I write. Whenever time, and temperature in the garage permit, I sculpt in stone, mostly marble and alabaster."

Allan Scruggs Lecturer

Allan was born and raised in El Paso, TX, and received his bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1999. He then came to ASU and received his PhD in Chemistry working with Dr. Neal Woodbury. After post-doctoral research at the BNI in Phoenix, and at ASU, Allan began teaching general chemistry classes at ASU. He has a lovely wife (Monica) of 5 years, and in April they welcomed addition of a new baby boy (Simon) to their family. Allan joined the full-time staff as a Lecturer in General Chemistry in August in order to support the little guy.

Brandon Forrest Instructor

Brandon was born and raised in Georgia. In 2005, he received a bachelor of science in chemistry from North Georgia College and State University, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Shortly thereafter, Brandon loaded up his car and sped across the country to Arizona State University. He completed his graduate research under the guidance of Professor John Kouvetakis. Brandon's projects included both molecular inorganic synthesis and chemical vapor deposition of semiconductors. In 2008, he completed his master's thesis and graduated with a masters degree in chemistry. He brings with him a successful resume as a teaching assistant and assistant lab coordinator, including impressive student evaluations and a teaching award. Currently, Brandon enjoys teaching general chemistry recitations in our new Chemistry Collaborative Learning Center.

Heide McILwraith Instructor

Heide McILwraith is originally from the Chicago area of Illinois. She started her undergraduate career at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and finished at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois obtaining a bachelor of science in chemistry. After starting a family she returned to school fulltime here at ASU. She completed her Masters degree in Chemistry and stayed to teach fulltime as an instructor in general chemistry. Heide is married with two children and two cats.

Zachary Laughrey Research Professional

Zach received his doctorate from the University of New Orleans where he studied organic and supramolecular chemistry with Prof. Bruce Gibb. He then moved to the University of North Carolina in order to work with Prof. Marcey Waters and examine carbohydrate-pi interactions in water using a beta hairpin as a scaffold. His current interests include topologically complex molecules and knotted proteins and peptides. He is the new director of the Protein Facility.

Robert Scavetta Lab Safety Inspector

Robert holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a doctorate in biochemistry. He has worked in both academic and non-academic settings where he has managed labs as well as research facilities. His duties included developing and maintaining safety programs. While in academics, Robert’s research interests enveloped macromolecular X-ray crystallography and structure-based rational drug design.

Marco Flores   Research Professional

Marco Flores was born in Peru where he earned a bachelor of science degree in physics at the National University of Engineering (Lima, Peru). After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree Marco Flores won a CAPES scholarship to support his graduate research in the Biophysics Group at the Brazilian Center for Research on Physics (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In Brazil, he studied the ligand structure in heme proteins and received his doctorate degree in biophysics in 2000. For his postdoctoral work Dr. Flores challenged himself by joining the renowned research group of Professor George Feher in La Jolla (CA, USA) where he worked on the elucidation of the primary processes in bacterial photosynthesis. After his training in USA, Dr. Flores decided to join the Max-Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry (Germany) and investigated the structure and function of the enzyme [NiFe] hydrogenase. This enzyme is important for a future biologically-based hydrogen production technology. He is currently focused on the structure and function of metalloproteins (e.g. heme proteins, hydrogenase and wateroxidase) and related model systems studied by modern electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques. He is the new director of the EPR Facility.