Ryan Fortenberry

Ryan C. Fortenberry is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator of Chemistry at the University of Mississippi. He was previously Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Georgia Southern University beginning in 2013, earning tenure in 2018 before departure. Ryan earned a BS in Mathematics working in chemistry research with Prof. David H. Magers and a MS in Communication from Mississippi College working with Prof. Cliff Fortenberry; received a Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in Theoretical Chemistry working with Prof. T. Daniel Crawford; and was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California working under the supervision of the late Dr. Timothy J. Lee. Ryan has previously been Chair of the ACS Astrochemistry Subdivision and the Ole Miss Campus Coordinator for the Mississippi Space Grant Consortium. Ryan has over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications, received several NASA research grants, was selected as the Virginia Tech College of Science 2019-2020 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award, the Mississippi College Dr. Cliff Fortenberry Department of Communication Alumnus of the Year in 2021, has been published in Scientific American as well as featured in C&E News as well as Science News, and is the author of Complete Science Communication, a text on how to write and talk about science both to expert and non-expert audiences alike. When not doing science, Ryan enjoys the outdoors, travel, and time with family (including coaching soccer and conducting children’s choir). He has dreams of climbing the highest point in each of the 50 states.