Faculty Profiles

Valerie S Ashby
Valerie S Ashby
Professor of Chemistry
Office: 
421 Chapel Drive - 104 Allen, Durham, NC 27708
Phone: 
(919) 684-4510
valerie.ashby@duke.edu
Research Interests: 

Valerie Sheares Ashby is the Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke University. She received her B.A. and her Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill and completed her postdoctoral research at the Universitat Mainz, Germany in 1994 as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and NATO Postdoctoral Fellow.

Ashby came to Duke from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where she chaired the Department of Chemistry from 2012-2015. As a faculty member at UNC since 2003, she has held numerous leadership positions and has experience at all levels of academic administration. She served on the UNC Arts & Sciences Foundation Board of Directors, and on the UNC Research Advisory Council tasked with strategic planning on interdisciplinary research development. She chaired the university’s Institutional Conflict of Interest Committee as well as the UNC College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Diversity Task Force. She served on the UNC Faculty Executive Committee and advised administration on aligning university priorities with the university mission. She engaged in all aspects of the undergraduate educational experience, including curriculum and advising, in her role as the Chemistry Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies. And, she directed the UNC National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented students completing doctoral degrees and continuing into the professoriate in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and social, behavioral and economics (SBE) fields.

As a researcher, Ashby’s work focused on synthetic polymer chemistry with a present focus on designing and synthesizing materials for biomedical applications such as X-ray contrast agents and drug delivery materials. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Career Development Award, the DuPont Young Faculty and 3M Young Faculty Awards.

As an educator, she was recognized with the UNC Chapel Hill General Alumni Association Faculty Service Award, the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching and research, the J. Carlyle Sitterson Freshman Teaching Award, the UNC Student Undergraduate Teaching Award, and the Johnston Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching.

Overview

Education:

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1994

B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1988

Research Areas:
Physical, Nanoscience and Materials

Anderson, B. C., et al. “Synthesis and characterization of diblock and gel-forming pentablock copolymers of tertiary amine methacrylates, poly(ethylene glycol), and poly(propylene glycol).” Macromolecules, vol. 36, no. 5, Mar. 2003, pp. 1670–76. Scopus, doi:10.1021/ma0211481. Full Text

Anderson, Brian C., et al. “Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composites as biomaterials for acetabular cup prosthetics..” Biomaterials, vol. 23, no. 8, Apr. 2002, pp. 1761–68. Epmc, doi:10.1016/s0142-9612(01)00301-5. Full Text

Bloom, P. D., and V. V. Sheares. “Synthesis of poly(p-phenylene) macromonomers and multiblock copolymers.” Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry, vol. 39, no. 20, Oct. 2001, pp. 3505–12. Scopus, doi:10.1002/pola.1331. Full Text

Wu, L., and V. V. Sheares. “Polar, functionalized diene-based materials. V. Free-radical polymerization of 2-[(N-benzyl-N-methylamino)methyl]-1,3-butadiene and copolymerization with styrene.” Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry, vol. 39, no. 19, Oct. 2001, pp. 3227–38. Scopus, doi:10.1002/pola.1305. Full Text

Beery, M. D., et al. “Polar, functionalized diene-based materials. 4. Polymerization studies of 2,3-bis(4-ethoxy-4-oxobutyl)-1,3-butadiene and copolymerization with styrene.” Macromolecules, vol. 34, no. 8, Apr. 2001, pp. 2469–75. Scopus, doi:10.1021/ma001491a. Full Text

Bloom, P. D., and V. V. Sheares. “Novel poly(paraphenylene)s via nucleophilic aromatic substitution of poly(4′-fluoro-2,5-diphenyl sulfone).” Macromolecules, vol. 34, no. 6, Mar. 2001, pp. 1627–33. Scopus, doi:10.1021/ma0011791. Full Text

Luzinov, I., et al. “Bilayer nanocomposite molecular coatings from elastomeric/rigid polymers: Fabrication, morphology, and micromechanical properties.” Macromolecular Symposia, vol. 167, Jan. 2001, pp. 227–42. Scopus, doi:10.1002/1521-3900(200103)167:1<227::AID-MASY227>3.0.CO;2-U. Full Text

Sheares, V. V., et al. “Polar, functionalized diene-based material. III. Free-radical polymerization of 2-[(N, N-dialkylamino)methyl]-1,3-butadienes.” Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry, vol. 38, no. 22, Nov. 2000, pp. 4070–80. Scopus, doi:10.1002/1099-0518(20001115)38:22<4070::AID-POLA70>3.0.CO;2-P. Full Text

Jing, Y., and V. V. Sheares. “Polar, functionalized diene-based materials. 2. Free radical copolymerization studies of 2-cyanomethyl-1,3-butadiene with styrene and acrylonitrile.” Macromolecules, vol. 33, no. 17, Aug. 2000, pp. 6262–68. Scopus, doi:10.1021/ma0002287. Full Text

Jing, Y., and V. V. Sheares. “Polar, functionalized diene-based materials. 1. Bulk, solution, and emulsion free radical polymerization of 2-cyanomethyl-1,3-butadiene.” Macromolecules, vol. 33, no. 17, Aug. 2000, pp. 6255–61. Scopus, doi:10.1021/ma9918046. Full Text

Pages

Rusch-Salazar, L. A., and V. V. Sheares. “Synthesis and characterization of functionalized poly(arylene phosphine oxide)s..” Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, vol. 223, AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2002, pp. D63–D63.

Rusch-Salazar, L. A., et al. “Controlled polymerizations of functionalized 1,3-butadienes.” American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, vol. 43, no. 1, 2002, pp. 722–23.

Hagberg, E. C., and V. V. Sheares. “Poly(2,5-benzophenone) coil-rod-coil block copolymers and their phase separation behavior.” American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, vol. 43, no. 2, 2002, pp. 1055–56.

Hagberg, E. C., and V. V. Sheares. “Polymerization and copolymerization of 2,5-dichloro-3-(2-thiophenecarbonyl) thiophene by nickel(0)-catalyzed coupling.” American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, vol. 43, no. 2, 2002, pp. 1176–77.

Hagberg, E. C., and V. V. Sheares. “Synthesis of poly[3-(2-thiophenecarbonyl)-2,5-thiophene] via nickel(0)-catalyzed coupling.” American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, vol. 43, no. 1, 2002, pp. 543–44.

Liu, Y., et al. “A novel polyamide 12/Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal composite.” Materials Research Society Symposium  Proceedings, vol. 702, 2002, pp. 339–44.

Bloom, P. D., et al. “Development of Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal-poly(p-phenylene sulfide) composites.” Materials Research Society Symposium  Proceedings, vol. 643, 2001.

Anderson, B. C., et al. “Synthesis and characterization of water soluble block copolymers for pH-sensitive delivery.” Materials Research Society Symposium  Proceedings, vol. 662, 2001.

Rusch-Salazar, L. A., et al. “Synthesis of functional poly(arylene phosphine oxide)s..” Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, vol. 222, AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2001, pp. U331–U331.

Bloom, P. D., et al. “Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene quasicrystal composites for hip arthroplasty femoral components..” Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, vol. 222, AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2001, pp. U394–U394.

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