Carlos Spears, Chemistry Professor

Biography

Professor Carlos Spears was born and raised in New Orleans, La. After receiving his master's degree, he began his career as a research scientist in the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., where he worked on the alkylation of DNA by mustard gas.

After serving at the NIH, Spears accepted the position of senior research scientist at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in its biochemistry laboratory, where he specialized in the purification of proteins and enzymes. While at Roche, he also participated in the Black Executive Exchange Program, which gave him the opportunity to teach chemistry at various black colleges in the South.

After 20 years of scientific research and 37 publications in various scientific journals, Spears accepted the position of project manager in the area of pharmaceutical drug development while continuing to teach as an adjunct professor.

Professor Spears later moved to Florida and continued teaching at Valencia Community College and, eventually, Seminole State, where he joined the faculty as a full-time professor in 2006.

Outside of teaching, Spears' major interests are the arts and traveling.