maria nagan

Associate Dean for Curriculum
Professor, Department of Chemistry

Dr. Maria Nagan facilitates interdisciplinary curricular initiatives within the College. Nagan is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry. She attended Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) where she earned her BA in Chemistry and went on to earn her PhD in biological and physical chemistry from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Nagan was a tenured, full professor and Director of the Office of Student Research at Truman State University until 2013. She then moved to New York to become Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Adelphi University. In the last 20 years, she has mentored over 90 undergraduate students in research and won over $2 million in grants. Her research at Stony Brook is carried out with her team of 20 undergraduate students and focuses on computational studies of ribonucleic acid recognition in the cell. A recipient of the 2020 Godfrey Award for Excellence in Teaching, Dr. Nagan has a passion for teaching undergraduate chemistry and working with underrepresented students in the sciences. She is also the Director for SBU's newly NSF-funded Chemistry Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site. As someone who has been brought up in the liberal arts, Dr. Nagan looks forward to working with the diversity of CAS faculty and facilitating interdisciplinary curricular initiatives outlined in the CAS Grand Challenges Areas.

Email: Maria.Nagan@stonybrook.edu