Faculty

Visiting Professor of Chemistry & Physics

Education

• University of Washington, Seattle, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Director - Peer Mentoring and Student Research Assistants - Valerosos y Curiosos HSI STEM Program

Dr. Lindsay Kane-Barnese (Ph.D.) graduated from Concordia University Irvine with B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Chemistry. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Kane-Barnese’s doctoral work and current research interests involve a protein involved in some cases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She teaches a variety of classes, ranging from introductory to advanced biology and chemistry courses. Dr. Kane-Barnese also advises students in research pertaining to ALS or other biochemistry or molecular biology related research. She enjoys working with students to learn complex biological and chemical topics in their classes and research and helping them explore the intersection of faith and science in their chosen field.

Education

Ph.D. - University of California, Los Angeles, 2010

Professor Emeritus of Chemical Physics

Biography

Dr. Kenney is an award winning teacher and scholar noted for his contributions to both chemical education and to chemistry / chemical physics research. He is known for his passionate, enthusiastic, energetic, and innovative hands-on teaching style, for the depth and rigor of his classes, for his involvement of students in high-level scientific research, and for his ability to transform the lives of his students and inspire them to achieve their professional and personal goals. “There’s nothing more spectacular than getting a privileged view of God’s creative genius, either at the microscopic scale or the cosmological scale,” states Kenney.

Education

• University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Ph.D. 1979

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Biography

Professor Montana Mellody earned her B.S in Biochemistry with a minor in Mathematics from Vanguard University in 2017. Mellody then earned her M.S. in Biochemistry at California State University, Fullerton in 2023. Professor Mellody teaches introductory to advance chemistry courses here at Concordia University Irvine! Professor Mellody is researching the important role that RNA binding proteins play in controlling the process alternative splicing. This mechanism is important to regulate protein expression in response to changes in environments. The RNA binding proteins she is studying is the polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTBP) family. Two members of this family share high structural similarity but have distinct tissue-specific expression patterns and functions that are critical for the process of brain development. My research is focused on trying to understand how these two related, highly similar proteins can have different biological functions.