Michelle E. Farkas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
B.A., Wellesley College (2001)
Ph.D., California Institute of Technology (2010)
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley

Michelle grew up in Northern New Jersey and was an undergraduate
chemistry major (and economics minor) at Wellesley College. During
her undergraduate years, she spent several months at the University
of St. Andrews, Scotland, U.K. where she did not meet Prince William
or Kate (then Middleton). Upon graduation, Michelle joined the
Discovery Chemistry group at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Wallingford, CT,
where she worked on anti-viral compounds and methods development.
Michelle then traveled west and obtained her Ph.D. under the direction of Professor Peter Dervan at Caltech in 2010 followed by postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley in the laboratory of Professor Matthew Francis as a DOD BCRP Postdoctoral Fellow. Michelle joined the faculty at UMass, Amherst in Sept. 2013, and was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in Sept. 2021.

Selected Honors and Awards:

• Recipient, Committment to Diversity Award, University of Massachusetts Amherst Graduate School, 2022

• Fellow, Chemical Machinery of the Cell Scialog, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2020

• Finalist, Beckman Young Investigators Program, 2017

• Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2010-2013

• Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) Dissertation Award, 2008-2009

• Novartis Graduate Fellowship in Organic Chemistry, 2007-2008