Lesli Mark is an Accelerator Manager at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), overseeing the annual technology innovation fund of $2.5 million since April 2022, following a role as Accelerator Associate. Prior to WARF, Lesli served as Scientist III at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, leading research in sustainable catalysis and mentoring graduate students. Recognized as the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow in 2021, Lesli engineered high-pressure cells for spectroscopic characterization. During a postdoctoral tenure, Lesli developed a benchmark carbon-based boron catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane, significantly outperforming previous catalysts. Educational accomplishments include a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
