About the author

Michelle Francl-Donnay is a professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and a writer.  These days she balances teaching chemistry at all levels with co-directing Bryn Mawr College's first year seminar program -- which has a heavy emphasis on writing.  

She is a regular essayist for the  Nature Chemistry. Her essays have appeared in several collections, including Professing and Parenting and The Open Laboratory 2009. 

Her research area is computational chemistry, particularly molecules with unusual structures, including Moebius strip molecules and reaction transition states. The Culture of Chemistry blog began as part of an NSF grant to write materials for teaching physical chemistry that incorporate both modern research and the "culture of chemistry." She was elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2009.