Elissia Franklin, PhD

Elissia Franklin, PhD has a wealth of experience in research, teaching, and advocacy. Elissia began their career in 2012 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where they conducted studies on the genetics of soybean seeds and maintained a greenhouse room. Elissia also served as a Leadership and Professional Development Instructor and Research Staff Member. In 2015, Franklin began working as a Graduate Research Assistant at Purdue University, where they executed charge inversion of glycerophospholipids via gas-phase ion/ion reactions, collaborated with the Jeffrey Smith research group at Carleton University, and executed one to two-step in-solution syntheses. In 2018, they became a Visiting Senior Research Scholar for the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University, where they expanded the traditional HPLC-MS apparatus for glycerolipids, identified over 80 glycerolipid species present in biological samples, and targeted potential biomarkers for type II diabetes in Asian human plasma samples. In 2020, Franklin became a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Purdue University, where they combined in-solution and gas-phase reactions for structural characterization of lipids, developed methods for gas-phase photochemical reactions, and explored novel reagents for gas-phase ion/ion reactions with in-tact complex lipids. In 2021, Franklin began working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Northeastern University and Silent Spring Institute. At Northeastern, they are part of a NIEHS T32 training program that yields collaborations between Northeastern University, Silent Spring Institute, and community organizations. At Silent Spring Institute, they lead community-based participatory research projects centered around environmental justice for women of the African diaspora, converts data into actionable insights about potential disparities in chemical exposure due to occupation and consumer product use, and develops, drafts, and enhances grant proposals for science-based collaborations and research. Additionally, in 2019 Franklin founded Research Her, LLC, where they collaborate with multidisciplinary research teams to design and execute research on marginalized groups, advocates for and supports a community of women researchers at all career stages, and manages and hosts the organization's podcast, The Research Her.

Elissia Franklin, PhD holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Analytical Chemistry and Lipidomics from Purdue University, obtained in 2019. Elissia also holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Science, Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, obtained in 2015. Franklin also has several certifications, including Public Speaking with Canva from Coursera obtained in 2022, Scientific Teaching Certification from Macmillan Learning and The National Institute on Scientific Teaching obtained in 2020, Cultural Intelligence from Macquarie University obtained in 2020, and Peer Review Lab from the American Chemical Society obtained in 2019.