Nanette M. Wachter
Nanette M. Wachter is an associate professor in the Chemistry Department at Hofstra University. She also directs Hofstra University’s Summer Science Research Program (HUSSRP). Dr. Wachter is an organic chemist and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Connecticut in 1995. Her dissertation research involved the design of reactive organolithium species for the synthesis of more complex polycyclic molecules. Since joining the Hofstra faculty, Dr. Wachter has mentored scores of undergraduate students in research projects. For three years she served as a counselor on the Council on Undergraduate Research, a national intercollegiate organization promoting high-quality student-faculty research activities. Dr. Wachter has been actively involved in the American Chemical Society, having served as chair of the Long Island subsection of that organization and as a member of the New York section’s committee on undergraduate research. She has received support from The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation and Merck/AAAS. She also was co-principal investigator on an NSF Major Research Instrument grant.
In 2000 Dr. Wachter began laying the groundwork for HUSSRP, a summer program that places science-oriented high school students with Hofstra faculty mentors. In eight years, the program has produced 16 Intel semifinalists. For the past two summers, HUSSRP has received support from National Grid to promote research in energy sustainability and areas of environmental concern.
As a graduate student, Nanette Wachter used NMR spectroscopy to structurally characterize the compounds she synthesized. Her more recent interest in intramolecular hydrogen bonds arose when she synthesized a surprisingly colorful yet relatively simple molecule in her laboratory at Hofstra. According to Professor Wachter, “Its color was so brash and gaudy, it just screamed for attention.”
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