People

Erin S. Baker

Principal Investigator

Email: ebaker@ncsu.edu

Erin was born and raised on a farm/ranch in central Montana. She attended the same school in Winifred, MT from kindergarten to her senior year of high school where she competed in basketball, volleyball and track and played the flute in concert band and the baritone in pep band. She received her B.S. in chemistry and a minor in mathematics from Montana State University in Bozeman. At MSU, Erin performed undergraduate research in Eric Grimsrud’s lab using ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and grew to love the structural separations possible with this technique. She pursued IMS even further during her Ph.D. research in Michael Bowers’ Group at the University of California – Santa Barbara where she evaluated DNA duplexes and quadruplexes by coupling IMS with mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) measurements. Erin then traveled to Tricities, WA where she was a post-doctoral researcher and then a scientist in Richard Smith’s group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. During this time, she evaluated multidimensional separations for high-throughput proteomic, metabolomic, lipidomic, glycomic and exposomic measurements and worked with different software groups to develop programs to assess the complex data. Erin has published >110 manuscript on applications and methods using IMS-MS to evaluate complex environmental and biological systems. In her free time, she loves camping, hiking, whitewater rafting and snuggling with her dogs.

James Dodds

Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: jndodds@ncsu.edu

James is a postdoctoral scholar in the Baker Lab and is currently developing analytical methods for quick solid phase extraction prior to IMS-MS analysis. Applications of these methods are currently focused on studying perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their isomeric diversity. He completed his B.S. in chemistry in 2013 at the University of North Georgia where he was an undergraduate researcher under the advisement of Dr. Dan Thompson focusing on developing an interface between a thermogravimetric analyzer and a single quadrupole mass spectrometer. He then went on to further study mass spectrometry with a focus on characterizing ion mobility separations under the advisement of Dr. John McLean at Vanderbilt University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry in 2018. In his free time James enjoys watching college football, eating at Taco Bell, and most importantly watching The Bachelor franchise.

Allison Stewart

Graduate Student

Email: akstewar@ncsu.edu

Allison was born and raised in Raleigh, NC.  She received a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in chemistry both from UNC-Wilmington.  Allison worked as a Research Specialist for over a decade in the Biomolecular Discovery Group of MARBIONC at UNC-Wilmington before joining METRIC at NCSU in April 2018 as Lab Manager and Metabolomics Research Scientist.  Allison joined the Baker Lab in 2019 as a PhD student in analytical chemistry and her research interests include multi-omics investigations of the brain-gut connection.  Outside of her love for science, Allison enjoys music, fashion, traveling, reading, cooking, and spending time with her son.

Kaylie Kirkwood

Graduate Student

Email: kikirkwo@ncsu.edu

Kaylie grew up in a small town outside of Cleveland, Ohio then moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in high school. She completed her B.S. in chemistry with a minor in biological sciences here are NC State University. She found her passion for biological mass spectrometry while conducting undergraduate research with Dr. David Muddiman on toxins associated with neurodegeneration using CE-MS. In her free time, Kaylie loves listening to music and podcasts, crafting, hiking/kayaking, and spending time with her dog Stella.

Jack Ryan

Graduate Student

Email: jpryan3@ncsu.edu

Jack was born and raised in Housatonic, Massachusetts, a small town about 15 minutes from the New York State border. He completed his B.S. in chemistry with a minor in history at Boston College. After graduating in 2018 he began working as a research associate at Proteostasis Therapuetics Inc., a biotechnology company located in Boston. At PTI Jack worked primarily as a member of the electrophysiology department, with a special focus on PTI’s drug development pipeline. In his free time Jack enjoys golfing, reading, cooking, and is an avid Boston sports fan.

Rebecca Beres

Graduate Student

Email: rlberes@ncsu.edu

Rebecca was born and raised in Kirtland, Ohio, a small town about 45 minutes east of Cleveland. She completed her B.S. in Biochemistry at Ohio Northern University in May 2020.  While at Ohio Northern, she found her passion for analytical chemistry while conducting research with Dr. Christopher Spiese focused on detection of environmental molecules by developing analytical methods on instruments such as UPLC and LC-MS. Besides her passion for chemistry, Rebecca enjoys listening to music, watching movies, and spending time with her family and friends.

Anna Boatman

Graduate Student

Email: akboatma@ncsu.edu

Anna grew up in Wisconsin and received her B.S. in Pharmacology/Toxicology and Biology from UW-Madison in 2013. She worked as a production chemist, project manager, and production planner at MilliporeSigma in Madison before starting grad school at NCSU in 2020. When she’s not in the lab getting excited about analyzing environmental toxicants, you can find her hiking, biking, and climbing around Raleigh and out in the mountains.

Jessie Chappel

Graduate Student

Email: jrchapp3@ncsu.edu

Jessie grew up in Edwardsville, IL, a suburb 30 minutes east of St. Louis, MO. She attended undergrad at Greenville University were she double majored in biology and chemistry. During this time, she worked on a research project studying the neurological effects of the kava plant using a C. elegans model. While working on this project, she realized that her true interest is in data analysis, rather than conducting experiments. For this reason, she decided to pursue a PhD in bioinformatics, which she began at NC State in fall of 2020. Outside of school, Jessie enjoys reality TV, playing with cats, and trying new restaurants.

Lab Alumni

Doctoral Students

  • Dr. Melanie T. Odenkirk (Chemistry PhD, 2022) – Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Arizona in the Marty lab (Publications)
  • Dr. Karen E. Butler (Chemistry PhD, 2021) – Postdoctoral Associate at the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (Publications)

Masters Students

  • Michael Doyle (Chemistry MS, 2022)

Undergraduate Students

  • Haley Ellis
  • Hailey Hammonds
  • Gemma Grant
  • Beth Furry (B.S. Chemistry, 2022)
  • Nancy Abdelrahman (B.S. Chemistry, 2021) – Chemist I at BASF
  • Michael W. Christopher (B.S. Biochemistry, 2021) – Graduate student at University of Florida
  • Iliana Claudio (B.S. Biochemistry and B.S. Marine Sciences: Biological Oceanography, 2021) – Graduate student at Universidad Autonoma de Baja California
  • Carolina Cottam (B.A. Criminology, 2021) – Graduate student at NYU Silver School of Social Work
  • Caitlin Hodges (B.S. Chemistry, 2020)