Kendra Adams is a 5^th-year doctoral student in FIU’s Forensic Chemistry program. A native of Burnt Hills, NY, Kendra earned a B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Forensic Science from SUNY Albany in 2013. At FIU, Kendra is specializing in Analytical Chemistry.

Kendra, a member of UAlbany’s Division I track and field team during her four years there, became interested in analytical chemistry during her junior year. That year, she took a forensic science class where she had the opportunity to use mass spectrometers to design her own research project.

“After learning about the capabilities of mass spectrometry, I became very interested in pursuing research and joined a research group as an undergraduate,” Kendra said. The work resulting from Kendra’s undergraduate research project was published in a peer-reviewed journal, Drug Testing and Analysis.

Kendra has continued her mass spectrometry work and has published four papers as a graduate student at FIU. Her doctoral work involves using trapped ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry (TIMS-MS) to weigh molecules and experimentally determine their size and shape. This process enables her to measure and identify compounds in complex mixtures.

“Specifically, I have done research looking at various endocrine disruptors, drugs of abuse, and lipids in biological matrices,” Kendra said. TIMS-MS facilitates separating and identifying these types of compounds.

Kendra became interested in FIU because of the forensic track offered in the chemistry doctoral program. “Although I haven’t pursued the traditional forensic route with my research, the analytical work I do can be applied to forensically relevant questions and research,” she said.

After defending her dissertation, Kendra will work as a postdoctoral associate at Duke University, where her research will be focused on Alzheimer’s disease.