Jillian Dempsey
Prof. Jillian Dempsey received her Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology in 2011 and did postdoc research at University of Washington. She started her faculty position at UNC in 2012, and bought her first potentiostat that same year (she now owns three!). Jillian’s research program employs electrochemistry and spectroscopy to interrogate electron transfer reactions that underpin renewable energy technologies. She is the Deputy Director of the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE) as well as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Chemistry. In her free time, she enjoys running, cooking, yoga, and spending time with her two kids.
Alex Peroff
Dr. Alex Peroff received his Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 2014, where he worked on surface-enhanced Raman spectroelectrochemistry. After a post-doc at SUNY Albany, he started at Pine Research Instrumentation in 2016 as an Electroanalytical Sales Scientist. Alex leads the social media, SEO, and content strategy for Pine Research Instrumentation. In particular, he helps manage the Pine Research Twitter and YouTube pages while also generating website content designed to help support electrochemical scientists. In his spare time he enjoys, martial arts, cooking, hiking, and has recently taken up composting. If you need compost please let him know, he’s got bags of compost. Seriously, he just enjoys making compost, he doesn’t have a place to put it.
Megan Jackson
Prof. Megan Jackson received her Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2019 and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the chemistry department at UNC in 2022. Her research group focuses on bringing molecular-level understanding to heterogeneous electrocatalysis. In addition to thinking about protons and electrons, Megan loves being outdoors, listening to musical soundtracks, and eating chocolate.
Neil Spinner
Dr. Neil Spinner received his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut and was a post-doctoral research associate at the Naval Research Laboratory before joining Pine Research in 2016 as an Electrochemical Engineer. Neil has extensive knowledge of batteries and is an expert in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. He manages many of the technical writing projects at Pine Research, including authoring many user guides, technical, and application notes. Neil is the star on the popular EIS Webinar Series which recently finished its second season, and has led to the popular spinoff Advanced EIS Circuit Fitting Webinar Series. Originally from New Hampshire, Neil enjoys following his wildly successful Boston sports teams and is running out of space in his closet for the scores of championship T-shirts.
Tim Paschkewitz
Dr. Tim Paschkewitz is the Principal Electrochemist at Pine Research Instrumentation. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in 2012 under the tutelage of Professor Johna Leddy. Tim works on software, product, and website development, providing valuable insight to our engineering staff as to what new products and software features are needed in the electrochemical community. He has pioneered new product lines and helped design both software and website with the scientist engagement in mind. In his spare time, Tim enjoys long walks on the beach during a calm sunset pondering what additional brushed nickel (plated chrome) items to bring into his house. Tim enjoys coffee and people mispronouncing his first name.
Frank Dalton
Dr. Frank Dalton is the General Manager of Pine Research Instrumentation. He earned his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1990. Prior to working at Pine, Dr. Dalton was a chemistry professor at Grove City College for many years. His areas of interest include software and electrical engineering pertaining to chemical instrumentation, custom product manufacturing for scientific research, and small business development. Dr. Dalton is also a barbecue aficionado with the goal of visiting every barbecue establishment in North Carolina. During your time at CV bootcamp, we encourage all questions related to the field of barbecue be addressed to Dr. Dalton.
Kathleen Nevins
Dr. Kathleen Nevins earned her BS in chemistry from Canisius College and her PhD in chemistry from SUNY Buffalo. Between undergraduate and graduate school she participated in a year-long volunteer program in New York City. After graduate school she began her role at UNC Chapel Hill as Supervisor of Undergraduate labs and lecturer. She is now the Director of Undergraduate Labs at UNC. In her role she focuses on safety, curriculum development, improving the overall student learning experience, mentorship and student wellness. Her hobbies are traveling, working out, spending time with friends and family and chasing her young children around!
Michael Smith
Michael is a communications graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and prefers to hide his graduation date. Prior to returning to UNC, he worked in publishing, marketing, and event planning for SAS, the largest privately owned software company in the world. He joined the chemistry department at UNC in 2022 as an Events and Special Programs Coordinator. He is happy to be supporting the CV Boot Camp for the second summer in a row.
