Dr. Greg Springsteen, Furman University

Dr. Greg Springsteen serves as an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Furman University. He earned a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from North Carolina State University and a BA in Biology from the University of Virginia. Springsteen completed additional training at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) studying molecular evolution. His research and scholarship has focused on applying the principles of mechanistic organic chemistry towards understanding and teaching about life and its origins.

Springsteen began his professional career at Furman in 2006. He teaches at the interface of chemistry and biology in classes spanning from general chemistry to advanced biochemistry. Springsteen applies his diverse training to teach an array of classes, including Organic Chemistry, Bio-Organic Chemistry, Foundations of Chemistry, Biological Chemistry, Advanced Biological Chemistry, Experimental Techniques, and a first-year seminar in Molecular Gastronomy.

In the last five years, undergraduate students in the Springsteen lab have published seven research articles in Nature Communications, the German Chemical Society’s Angewandte Chemie, and in other research journals. With 4-6 undergraduate researchers each year, Springsteen’s lab collaborates with the Center for Chemical Evolution, an NSF/NASA research consortium, which is comprised of 15 research labs from across the country with diverse abilities to jointly tackle questions related to the chemical origins of life.

Springsteen’s guiding principle in the classroom is to take full advantage of the fact that the joy of learning and exploration is irresistibly infectious to both faculty and students.