Dr. Chriss McDonald joined the Department of Chemistry in 1988 after a one-year teaching position at Berea College in Kentucky. He received his doctorate in organic chemistry from Miami where he focused on the synthesis of highly oxygenated natural products. At Lycoming he teaches General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Organic and Biological Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Chemistry Research Methods, and team teaches Biochemistry. He is particularly interested in the development of new inquiry-based laboratory experiments for his various organic courses.

Like all members of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. McDonald directs undergraduate research. The two main thrusts of his research group at Lycoming have always been the development of new organic synthetic methods and the use of carbohydrates in the synthesis of natural products. Currently students in his research group are working on a novel method for the synthesis of FGAR, an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the nitrogen bases adenine and guanine. Over the years his research has been funded by the Petroleum Research Fund, the Merck Foundation, and the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Dr. McDonald has two sons, Matt (age 23, a graduate student at the University of Delaware in Mechanical Engineering and a poet), and Jim (age 16, a sophomore at Loyalsock Township High School in Williamsport who is an enthusiastic participant in Odyssey of the Mind). In his free time, Dr. McDonald enjoys playing basketball, tennis and biking.

His personal website can be found at http://www.lycoming.edu/chemistrydept/mcdonald.htm