New Faculty
We are excited to welcome three new members of our faculty! Jeffrey Dick, Sidney
Wilkerson-Hill, and Abigail Knight began their appointments on July 1, 2018 and
bring their research strengths to challenges in Analytical, Organic, Polymer, and
Biological chemistry.
Jeffrey E. Dick was born in Muncie, Idiana, in June 1990. After receiving his B.S. from Ball State University, Jeffrey attend-
ed the University of Texas at Austin, where, in 2017, he earned a Ph.D. in electrochemistry, under the mentorship of Allen J. Bard.
After Ph.D. studies, Jeffrey studied cell biology as a NIH CORE Postdoctoral Scholar at UT Austin. As an Assistant Professor at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jeffrey has built a research group that is passionate about fundamentally understanding
the reactivity of single atoms and clusters as well as how life works at the single cell level.
Abby Knight grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia before attending the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as an un-
dergraduate student. Here she completed a major in Chemistry with minors in Mathematics and Biology, and pursued bioorganic
chemistry research in the lab of Marcey Waters, developing ligands for RNA and DNA structures. Abby then pursued her Ph.D. as a
student in the chemical biology program at the University of California, Berkeley in the lab of Matthew Francis.
During graduate school Abby developed a combinatorial screening platform for identifying peptoid ligands with the ability to selec-
tively bind metal ions of interest in various applications. Abby’s postdoctoral work at the University of California, Santa Barbara with
Craig Hawker focused on developing polymeric materials with unique architectures and both biological and materials applications.
In the summer of 2018 Abby returned to UNC to join the Chemistry Department as an assistant professor with research developing
materials with the functionality of biological molecules and physical properties of synthetic polymers.
Sidney Wilkerson-Hill was raised in Kinston, North Carolina and conducted undergraduate studies at North Caroli-
na State University. There, he obtained a B.S. in Polymer and Color Chemistry through the College of Textiles, a B.S. in Chemistry
through the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in 2010.
In 2015, Sidney received his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Richmond Sarpong from the University of California, Berkeley,
where his researched focused on using transition metal-catalyzed cycloisomerization reactions to access natural product scaf-
folds. As a UNCF-Merck postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Huw Davies at Emory University, his research focused on developing cyc-
loaddition reactions using N-sulfonyltriazoles and rhodium tetracarboxylate catalysts for C–H functionalization reactions. Sidney is
also actively involved in diversity initiatives such as the Berkeley Science Network, California Alliance, and NOBCChE programs to
address disparities facing minorities pursuing careers in the physical sciences.
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