Carol A. Bessel has shared responsibilities for the Chemical Catalysis and Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Programs within the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Prior to her position at NSF, she was a Professor of Chemistry at Villanova University.

She completed a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Naval Research Laboratory and was awarded a Mary Ingraham Bunting Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at Harvard University in 1999-2000.

Bessel received both her B.S. and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

• Undergraduate Research Collaboratives: Turning Undergraduates into Investigators (June 29, 2006)