Dr. Jessica Kisunzu grew up in the Midwest, spending most of her youth in northern Illinois. In high school, she became interested in a career in forensic science, which led her to study chemistry in college. While pursuing her B.S. in Chemistry at Southern Adventist University, Dr. Kisunzu got excited about the puzzles and possibilities offered in the field of organic chemistry and decided to explore it further. During graduate studies at the University of California Berkeley, she studied natural product total synthesis with Prof. Richmond Sarpong. These studies focused on the study of C20-diterpenoid alkaloids, specifically those of the hetisine and hetidine structural types. Upon completing her Ph.D., she then conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Helma Wennemers at the ETH Zürich, focusing on methodology development and structural analysis of peptide catalysts. Dr. Kisunzu’s independent career began at Colorado College in 2017. When not in the lab or teaching, she enjoys listening to and making music, reading, and hiking!
More about Dr. Kisunzu on the web:
– 
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9316-6429
– ACS Scholars profile
– Vanguard STEM profile
Contact Information
Office: Barnes Science Center 324
Tel: (719) 389-6046
Fax: (719) 389-6182
E-mail: jkisunzu@coloradocollege.edu
Colorado College Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
