Sherine Obare

About

Dr. Sherine Obare became UNCG’s Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement in 2024. A professor of nanoscience, she previously served five years as dean of the UNCG NC A&T Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.

A fellow of the American Chemical Society since 2019, Obare was named a 2021 Trailblazer by Chemical and Engineering News, a 2020 Outstanding Women in Business by the Triad Business Journal, and a Triad Business Journal Triad Power Player in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019 for shepherding and executing game changing initiatives that are moving the Triad economy forward. In 2024, she received the NC Biotechnology Center’s Academic Development Excellence Award.

Under Obare’s leadership at JSNN, UNCG became home to the newly established Innovative Collaborative Laboratory for Nanotechnologies to Empower the Future Soldier, a collaboration with the Soldier Center of the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. ICONS focuses on research breakthroughs to support the future of defense, as well as the workforce development for the scientists and engineers who will create national security innovations. She also founded the Joint School’s Institute for Research Technologies, focused on strengthening partnerships between the university and industry. JSIRT was recognized with the 2022 University Economic Development Association Award of Excellence in Innovation and the 2022 Biotechnology Center Service Excellence Award.

Obare’s own research at the intersection of environmental chemistry and engineering and has led to innovations in environmental contaminant detection and remediation; the development of nanoscale materials for drug delivery, healthcare, biomass conversion, and alternative energy; and an increased understanding of the fate, transport, and toxicity of anthropogenic nanomaterials.

She has published over 100 articles and has received several prestigious research awards such as the National Science Foundation CAREER award and the NSF Division of Materials Research American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellowship. In total, her work has garnered over $20 million in grant funding, with other sources of support including the Department of Defense, the Army Research Office, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and the UNC System.

Obare was an associate editor for the Journal of Nanomaterials and has edited five books, including “Chemistry Education for a Sustainable Society (2020),” “Green Technologies for the Environment (2014),” and “The Power and Promise of Early Research (2016).”

Over her career, Obare has trained more than 100 students in her laboratory, and she is highly active in promoting science to elementary and middle school students at the local and national levels.

Prior to her career in North Carolina, she served as associate vice president for research at Western Michigan University and as associate dean for research in the College of Arts and Sciences. Obare began her career at WMU in 2004, becoming an associate professor in 2009 and a full professor in 2014. In 2013, she was named one of the top 25 Women Professors in Michigan.

Obare was a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral fellow at The Johns Hopkins University, earned her doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of South Carolina, and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in biology from West Virginia State University.

Office

1601 MHRA Building