Hannah Kruse

My hometown is Peoria, Illinois but I moved to Carbondale, Illinois to pursue my undergraduate degree in chemistry at Southern Illinois University, along with minors in forensic science and criminal justice. While there, I did an internship with the USDA working on understanding the effectiveness of different catalysts on the cyclization of oleic acid with the goal of integration into jet fuel. Additionally, I was involved with research on campus studying the metabolism of methane formation in various archaea. Student community was also important to me as an undergraduate, as I served as a mentor for the queer mentorship program as well as a transfer student transition leader.

As a second year graduate student at Penn State, I work with Dr. Campbell on novel psychoactive substance research on nitazenes, a synthetic opioid, using LC/MS/MS. Along with that, I am Vice President of Delta Delta Epsilon, the forensic science honor society.