Kendra Joseph
My name is Kendra Joseph and I was welcomed into the Department of Chemistry as a Laboratory Instrumentation Specialist in December 2024. Prior to joining IU Indianapolis, I was an HPLC-MS Field Service Engineer at Thermo Fisher Scientific. I’ve also worked as an analytical chemist/consultant in a few start-up toxicology laboratories, as well as a youth volleyball coach.
I chose to join IU Indianapolis because I saw an opportunity to use my current skillset at respected institution in my community. As an Instrumentation Specialist, my job is to address any issues that affect the equipment and instruments in the Department of Chemistry. I also handle auxiliary tasks such as ordering gases and programming access to card-swipe locks. I’ve enjoyed getting acquainted with everyone in the department, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you see me.
Nitai Giri, Ph.D.
I was born and brought up in West Bengal, India. I finished my earlier education, including an M.Sc. in Chemistry in India. In 2007, I moved to the USA to pursue a PhD in Chemistry. In 2013, I obtained my PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I have held postdoctoral research positions in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas at San Antonio (2013-2016) and Texas A&M University, College Station (2016-2019). Then, I spent about 2 years teaching at the Central Institute of Petrochemical Engineering and Technology, Raipur and Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science, Andhra Pradesh in India.
In 2023, I received an opportunity to teach inorganic chemistry and do research in Prof. Basu’s lab at IUPUI. During that time, I learned several things about teaching so when an opportunity came, I joined the Department as a lecturer. Now, I teach inorganic chemistry, the chemistry of life and inorganic chemistry lab. I also do research that focuses on molybdoenzymes, which play important roles in human health and environments. Very recently, we have published a paper on elucidating the mechanism of periplasmic nitrate reductase.