CNAS celebrates Women's History Month with women making history in the sciences. Over the month of March, learn more about women scientists in the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences at UC Riverside who are making history today.

Name: Chia-en Chang
Title: Professor of Chemistry
Chang Group Website

Please share with us a brief description of your research.
Our research focuses on use of computational methods and theories to understand molecular binding, including binding kinetics and thermodynamics, protein dynamics and function, and rational design of chemical compounds and proteins. Molecular binding plays a critical role in drug development; however, the complex nature of biological systems makes drug development very challenging. Therefore, the group has been developing new strategies to understand binding and apply their new findings to computer-aided drug design. 

How do you hope your research will impact the world around us?
My research allows us to more efficiently develop new drugs to treat diseases. 

What inspires you? 
Basic physics and chemistry that govern complex biological systems.

Who are the instrumental women in your life and why?
My 9th-grade science teacher. She believed that I had potential to do very well in higher education.