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By Joy Vann

As a nuclear machinist’s mate in the United 91����Ƶs Navy, Rochester, New York native Shannon Stephens developed a love of chemistry.

She completed six years of naval service as she was finishing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Indiana 91����Ƶ and decided that Old Dominion 91����Ƶ was the perfect place to conduct post baccalaureate work in chemistry to prepare her for a doctoral degree.

“ODU is an up-and-coming university that allows students of diverse backgrounds to develop as professional chemists,” she said. “I personally chose ODU because of its convenient location in Hampton Roads and because of its professors, Dr. Craig Bayse and Dr. Kyle Lambert, whose research interests overlap with my own.”

In the summer of 2021, Stephens joined ODU’s which studies the development of novel synthetic methods, leveraging computational and experimental results to better understand chemical reactivity. Her area of scientific research is computational chemistry which combines mathematics and chemistry. Stephens is the only computational chemist in the group which she said makes for an interesting work dynamic. While everyone else works on chemistry reactions in a huge lab in ODU’s state-of-the-art 110,000 square-foot Chemistry Building, she works on her computer on the side.

“Computational chemistry allows me to predict chemical reaction outcomes using high performance computing and machine learning,” she said. “The skills I’m learning at ODU will allow me to join the workforce in designing new pharmaceuticals.”

She said that getting a doctorate is a prolonged process starting with two years of studying classroom theory followed by two or three years of experimental, hands-on learning. After nearly 15 years of work and study, she is thrilled to see her doctoral degree on the horizon.   

“ODU is an up-and-coming university that allows students of diverse backgrounds to develop as professional chemists,” said Shannon Stephens, a doctoral candidate in chemistry at ODU.

Last spring, as a graduate researcher, Stephens was selected as a Virginia Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Her research focuses on computational modeling changes in dissolved organic carbon as it travels through water ways and into the ocean. She’s also a teaching assistant and teaches a chemistry recitation course, an interactive class that she describes as guided homework to help strengthen the students’ knowledge.

In addition to elective courses, ODU chemistry doctoral candidates become well-versed in the core curriculum including biochemistry and analytical, environmental, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry. With all the coursework and research that she has completed at ODU, in addition to the skills she acquired in the Navy, Stephens is confident that she’s prepared to enter the pharmaceutical industry and she’s more than ready to serve.