Cassandra L. Fraser is an American synthetic chemist with an interest in biomedicine and

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

. She is a

Full Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

of Chemistry at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Early life and education

Fraser completed her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree at

Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo College is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Founded in 1833 by American Baptist Churches USA, Baptist ministers as the Michigan and Huron Institute, K ...

in 1984 and her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

. Following her PhD at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1993, she accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

. Fraser conducted her postdoctoral studies under the guidance of

Robert H. Grubbs Robert Howard Grubbs ForMemRS (February 27, 1942 – December 19, 2021) was an American chemist and the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. He was a co-recipient o ...

Career

Fraser joined the department of chemistry at the

in 1995. In this role, she received a 1998

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

for "outstanding research in metal-core macromolecules and redesign of undergraduate and graduate courses." As a full professor of chemistry, Fraser led a graduate student laboratory where she co-developed one class of biomaterials with the potential to impact imaging techniques. She also crossed a light-emitting dye with a corn-based polymer which revealed that the biomaterial not only had bright fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light but also had vivid phosphorescence. She tested whether the oxygen nanosensor that couples a light-emitting dye with a biopolymer could improve tumor imaging. In 2010, Fraser and her graduate student Guoqing Zhang focused on synthesizing and fabricating light-emitting biomaterials and chemicals. They co-founded Luminesco, a company, with the idea that these compounds could be used as high-tech "mechanosensors" and possibly in forensic and security applications. Following this, she was chosen to be an inaugural member of the University Academy of Teaching. As a result of her research, Fraser was elected a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. In 2017, Fraser was one of three professors awarded the Jefferson Scholars Foundation's Excellence in Teaching Award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Cassandra Living people American chemists Harvard Divinity School alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Virginia faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Year of birth missing (living people) Kalamazoo College alumni Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers