Rate My Professor Sarah Soltau

Sarah Soltau is an Associate Professor of Chemical Sciences in the Department of Chemical Sciences at Bridgewater State University, having joined the faculty in the Fall of 2016. She holds a BA from Skidmore College, an MA and PhD from Boston University, and completed postdoctoral training at Argonne National Laboratory. In her teaching role, Soltau instructs General Biochemistry I and II, General Biochemistry I Laboratory, Chemical Principles I and II, and Survey of Chemistry I and II. She advises the Chemistry Club and mentors undergraduate researchers, promoting conference presentations and independent scientific inquiry.

Soltau's research specializes in electron transfer processes within metal-containing proteins, employing molecular biology, biochemistry, and analytical techniques. Her projects include engineering protein-catalyst hybrids for solar-driven hydrogen production and carbon dioxide reduction, utilizing photosensitizers and electron relay proteins, characterized via spectroscopies and chromatographic methods. She also investigates protein-protein interactions and electron transfer in the 3-ketosteroid-9α-hydroxylase (KshAB) enzyme from Mycobacterium tuberculosis using assays, chromatography, and mutagenesis. Notable achievements include a National Science Foundation Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant (Award #2247052, 2023) supporting student research on photocatalytic systems for sustainable fuels. Key publications encompass "Light-driven hydrogen production from Photosystem I-catalyst hybrids" (Utschig et al., 2015, Current Opinion in Chemical Biology), "Ru–protein–Co biohybrids designed for solar hydrogen production: understanding electron transfer pathways related to photocatalytic function" (Soltau et al., 2016, Chemical Science), "Z-scheme solar water splitting via self-assembly of photosystem I-catalyst hybrids in thylakoid membranes" (Utschig et al., 2018, Chemical Science), and contributions to biohybrid catalysis for renewable energy. Her scholarship has garnered significant citations and fosters impact through undergraduate involvement and outreach initiatives.