Rate My Professor Cindy Strong

Cindy Strong is the William Deskin Professor of Chemistry at Cornell College, a position she has held since the endowed chair was established in 2012 with a $1.5 million gift honoring her mentor, William Deskin. She joined Cornell College in 1989 and previously served as chair of the Chemistry Department. Strong earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1989 and her B.A. in Chemistry with a minor in Biology from Whitman College in 1982. Before Cornell, she was a Dreyfus Teaching/Research Fellow at Occidental College from 1988 to 1989, a Research Associate at Pomona College from 1982 to 1983, and a summer Research Chemist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1982. She teaches a range of courses, including Chemical Principles I and II, Accelerated General Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Advanced Analytical Chemistry, Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, and The Environment and Global Health.

Strong's research specializations include analytical chemistry applied to archaeological artifacts and bioinorganic chemistry. With students, she uses X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to analyze trace metals in pottery from Iowa sites like Glenwood Locality, Correctionville, and Mill Creek (circa 800-1000 years old), collaborating with the Office of the State Archaeologist at the University of Iowa. Key publications from this work include 'Caddo or Cahokian? Stylistic and compositional analyses of a fine-engraved vessel from Northwest Iowa' in Plains Anthropologist (2021, 66, 86-119) and an appendix 'X-ray fluorescence analysis of ceramics from the Glenwood Locality and Correctionville' in Correctionville and the Oneota Tradition (2023). She also studies mineral and protein content in fruits for Mariana fruit bat conservation. Earlier contributions appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2008, 105, 18663) on ALS-linked superoxide dismutase fibrillation and Journal of Biological Chemistry (2015, 290, 30624). Additional publications feature in Inorganic Chemistry (1992, 1994, 1997), Journal of Chemical Education (2004, 81, 1706), and Cancer Research (1986, 46, 744). Strong has received external grants, such as from Iowa Private Academic Libraries for Open Educational Resources (2021, $2000) and Associated Colleges of the Midwest for molecular modeling projects. Her faculty-student collaborations result in numerous poster presentations at American Chemical Society national meetings and Plains Anthropological Conferences, enhancing undergraduate research and contributing to archaeological and biochemical insights.