Sherine Obare

Obare spent her childhood in Germany, where she attended a British high school.[1] She studied chemistry, mathematics and physics.[1] She majored in engineering, but decided to focus on chemistry because of her college roommate.[1] She eventually began her bachelor's degree in chemistry at West Virginia State University and graduated in 1998.[2] She applied for a job at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, but was convinced by her professor to she would enjoy graduate school.[1] She joined the University of South Carolina for her doctoral studies and earned her PhD in 2002.[2] She worked under the supervision of Catherine J. Murphy.[3] With Murphy, Obare developed a new approach to fabricate polystyrene and silica coated gold nanorods as templates for hollow nanotubes.[4] Hollow nanotubes are useful for drug delivery, cell and enzyme transplantation, removal of contaminated waste and gene therapy.[4] To create the gold nanorods, Obare used nanoparticles as a seed in a growth solution that contained cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, sodium hydroxide and ascorbic acid at a controlled pH (3.5).[5] She demonstrated that gold nanoparticles functionalised with 1,10-phenanthroline could be used to sense lithium ions in solution. The ligands of 1,10-phenanthroline bind to the lithium ions, forming a complex that causes the nanoparticles to aggregate.[5] Obare explored several ligands, including dipyridophenazine (DPPZ) which changes colour when it binds to lithium ions.[6] The nanorods can form liquid crystalline phases.[7] Obare was a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation fellow at Johns Hopkins University working under the supervision of Gerald Meyer.[3]

In 2004 Obare joined Western Michigan University as an assistant professor and promoted to tenure in 2009. She also works on nanomaterials for drug delivery and chemical sensing.[8] She investigated fluorescent chemosensors to monitor for organophosphorous.[9] Organophosphorous can inhibit cholinesterase and can have severe environmental and health impacts.[10] Obare was awarded an National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2006.[11] This allowed her to develop multi-electron transfer catalysts.[11] Obare is interested in multi-electron transfer.[11] She has investigated electron transfer from heme-functionalised titanium dioxide to organohalide pollutants.[12] She demonstrated that organohalides degrade via multi-electron pathways.[13] She has explored new techniques to synthesise and characterise monodisperse nanoparticles.[14] The nanoparticles can be used to detect bacteria in waterborne diseases.[14]

Obare was appointed associate dean at Western Michigan University in 2015. She was responsible for research, education, diversity and global engagement across the university.[1] She believes that early authentic research is essential for underrepresented groups to gain rational view of the world.[15] From 2017 Obare served as Associate Vice President for Research at Western Michigan University.[16][17]

Obare is an associate editor for the Journal of Nanomaterials.[3] She moved to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as dean of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.[8] Obare chairs the American Chemical Society Award for Incorporation of Sustainability into the Curriculum.[18]

• 2006 National Science Foundation CAREER Award[11]
• 2007 American Chemical Society Dreyfus Lectureship Award[19]
• 2009 Haenicke Institute for Global Education International Faculty Development Award[19]
• 2009 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Young Observer Award[19]
• 2009 National Science Foundation Materials Grant[14]
• 2010 American Competitiveness and Innovation (ACI) Fellowship[20]
• 2010 NOBCChE Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award[21]
• 2010 Science Spectrum Magazine Trailblazer Award[3]
• 2012 National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers President’s Award[1]

• 2018 The Power and Promise of Early Research[22]