Susan Ensel is Professor and Whitaker Chair of Chemistry at Hood College in Frederick, MD. In her time at Hood, she has served as the chair of the Department of Chemistry & Physics and represented the faculty as Chair of the Faculty Senate. Dr. Ensel has provided service to the college in many forms ranging from her post as the NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative to chairing committees such as Curriculum, Academic Standards & Policies and Faculty Development. She also serves on the Honors Program Advisory Board and as a faculty sponsor for numerous student groups.

Dr. Ensel's specialty is teaching organic chemistry, but she has classroom teaching experience in general chemistry, nutrition, and Honors courses.

She holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Union College and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University where her dissertation research focused on the synthesis of plant polyphenols.

Dr. Ensel held a two year Dreyfus Teaching/Research Fellowship at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) where she taught undergraduate courses such as organic chemistry and chemical literature. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Ensel spent 3.5 years with the Peace Corps in Kenya where she taught at the high school level and developed an interest in native medicinal plants. She has followed that interest by guiding several trips to Kenya and Tanzania as part of an NIH-MIRT summer research program for undergraduate science students, sponsored by Hampton University. In addition, she has developed an Honors course called Nature's Medicine Chest to expose non-science Honors students to the importance of natural products in the drug-development process. She regularly works with undergraduate students on summer research initiatives and has frequently taken participating students to regional and national conferences to present their work. This summer, Dr. Ensel will be working with a chemistry major and future high school science teacher who will be investigating the inclusion of microwave technology in the chemistry curricula.

Dr. Ensel will be on sabbatical this fall, working at USAMRIID at Fort Detrick where she will be working on synthesizing drugs against botulism neurotoxins.

In her free time, Dr. Ensel roots for the NY Mets, hangs out with her partner and their 3 cats, and attempts to convince people that Snape is truly the best character in Harry Potter.