Dr. Karina Kapusta
Assistant Professor at Tougaloo College
Dr. Karina Kapusta joined the faculty of Tougaloo College in September 2022 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. A native of Ukraine, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical chemistry from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University in Dnipro, Ukraine. In 2015, she began her graduate studies at Jackson State University in the research group of President’s Distinguished Fellow Professor Jerzy Leszczynski. She completed her Ph.D. in computational chemistry in 2018. At Tougaloo College, Dr. Kapusta teaches a range of courses, including General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry.
She is also the lead instructor for the Introduction to Natural Sciences interdisciplinary course. Her current research focuses on computer-aided drug discovery, virology, and biochemistry. A strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in research, mentorship, and education, Dr. Kapusta has received external and internal funding to support underrepresented undergraduate student research in computational biomedical sciences. Dr. Kapusta is one of the principal investigators for the NSF-funded E-RISE RII project: Establishment of the Mississippi Nano-bio and ImmunoEngineering Consortium (NIEC). In this capacity, she actively contributes to three research focus areas and leads efforts of the Diversity and Culture of Inclusion team. Additionally, she served as an organizing committee member for the Kincheloe Symposium (Tougaloo, MS) in 2024 and as Chair of the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering section at the Mississippi Academy of Science Annual Meeting (Biloxi, MS) in 2024. Dr. Kapusta enjoys photography, painting, and traveling in her spare time.
Thank you Dr. Kapusta