Biography

David Randall is a professor of chemistry at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. He joined the faculty in 2009. Since the summer of 2019, he has served as chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.

Born in Los Angeles country, California, Randall graduated from Andrews University in 1991 with a BS in Chemistry. At Andrews, he did an honors thesis on the spectroscopy of alkali metal atoms in matrices of noble gases. Continuing his education at UC Davis, he and earned a PhD in 1996 with a thesis entitled: Pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Studies of Tyrosine and Manganese Complexes: Insights into Photosynthetic Oxygen Evolution. Upon completing studies on the location where O₂ forms in plants, at UC Davis, Randall was the recipient of an NIH post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University. There he studied copper-containing electron transfer centers using a multifaceted spectroscopic and computational chemistry approach. At Andrews, he has mentored student researchers in projects in computational chemistry, analytical chemistry, and green chemistry in the analytical chemistry lab. Through this academic journey, he has had the opportunity to contribute over 22 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., J. Phys. Chem., Biochemistry, Mol. Phys., J. Biol. Inorg. Chem., Coord. Chem. Rev., Pure and Applied Chem, J. Appl. Chem., and J. Chem. Educ.

Prior to joining the faculty at Andrews, Randall worked in the semiconductor equipment industry for KLA, a Fortune 500 company, where he held positions of increasing responsibility. Both at KLA and in academics, he had the opportunity to develop close working relationships with colleagues from around the world: Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Israel, Palestine, India, and of course the USA. While at KLA, he contributed to two patents and 4 papers.

David Randall is a member of the American Chemical Society. His professional interests are in the area of the physical chemistry of metal atoms in biological systems, using computational chemistry to learn about those systems, chemistry in the semiconductor industry, analytical chemistry, and considering ways to reduce use of toxic materials used in chemistry education.

He and his wife have a daughter and a son.