Allotta, Paula
Professor
(216) 987-3939
Department: Chemistry
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SHCS 250A
Education: Ph.D. in Chemistry, Northwestern University
B.S. in Chemistry, Eastern Michigan University
About: Paula Allotta teaches General Chemistry I and lab, General Chemistry II and lab, and Honors General Chemistry I and II at Tri-C.
She served as an assistant professor of chemistry for five years at Dalton State College in Dalton, Georgia, before moving back home to Ohio. During graduate school, Allotta performed physical chemistry research using Raman Spectroscopy to look at catalyst deactivation.
Allotta has two sons — one whom she said dressed as carbon dioxide for Halloween when he was 6 because “he wanted to be something scary, and global warming is scary.”
Brathwaite, Ormond
Professor
(216) 987- 4317
Department: Chemistry
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MSHC 307F
Education: Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Graduate School of the City University of New York
M.S. in Medical Laboratory Technology, City University of New York
B.S. in Medical Laboratory Technology, City University of New York
About: While studying for his doctorate in biochemistry at the Graduate School at City University of New York, Ormond Brathwaite’s research interest was porphyrin biosynthesis. From 1991 to 1994, he focused on molecular oncology during a postdoctoral fellowship at New York University Medical School. During this period, he taught part-time at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York.
Brathwaite joined the faculty of Tri-C in 1994. He has been a mentor with Tri-C’s Bridges Program since 1996. Several of his mentees have gone on to graduate school. From 2007 to 2016, he taught in Case Western Reserve University’s lecture and laboratory sections of general and organic chemistry as an associate adjunct professor. In 2011, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Fellowship at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in St. Lucia, West Indies. From 2016 to 2022, he served as the associate dean of STEM at the Western Campus. Ormond returned to the chemistry faculty at the Metropolitan Campus in Fall 2022.
Tri-C awarded him the 2009 Ralph M. Besse Award for Teaching Excellence. His research collaborations have included the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University and Zinn Technologies. Ormond was selected as the 2006 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Ohio Professor of the Year.
Distler, Anne
Professor
(216) 987-3936
Department: Chemistry
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SHCS 250G
Education: B.S., University of Notre Dame
Ph.D., Michigan State University
Gatica, Norma
Professor
(216) 987-5169
Department: Chemistry
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B140
Education: B.S., UNT, Argentina
M.S., UNS, Argentina
M.A., State University of N.Y., Buffalo
Ph.D., State University of N.Y., Buffalo
Hansen-Polcar, Lois
Professor
(216) 987-5497
Department: Chemistry
Office Location: Western Campus, WSS G226A
Education: A.A., Cuyahoga Community College
B.S., Cleveland State University
M.S., Cleveland State University
Ph.D., Cleveland State University
Kamel, Haidy
Associate Professor
(216) 987-2392
Department: Chemistry
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2314
Education: B.A., Suez Canal University
Ph.D., University of Mississippi