Dr. Lee Cremar was born in Laredo and raised in Mission, TX. He earned his B.S in Chemistry from the University of Texas-Pan American in 2006. Following his internships at NASA Ames and Northwestern University in nanomaterials, he pursued his doctoral studies in mechanochemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). In 2009, Dr. Cremar continued his graduate studies in theoretical and computational mechanochemistry as a visiting scholar at Stanford University. At Stanford, he received the Bing mentorship award for supporting undergraduate research.
After receiving his Ph.D. from UIUC in 2012, he pursued his postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) at the Nanotechnology Center for Excellence. His postdoctoral work focused on producing antibacterial fibers and low-cost non-woven carbon fiber mats using Forcespinning technology; his contributions resulted in two U.S. patents and several publications. At UTRGV, Dr. Cremar was a Chemistry Lecturer and participated in the NSF's Innovation Corps, an entrepreneurial program that brings inventions to market. In addition, he received a mentorship award for UTRGV's Research Scholar Program. In 2017, Dr. Cremar was a visiting professor at Valencia College in Orlando, FL, and received his Associate Faculty Certification in Chemistry. He later joined IDEA Public Schools as the ACT/TSI Science Interventionist and taught the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Biomedical Science programs.
Dr. Cremar joined the Department of Chemistry at the HECM in the Fall of 2022. His current research interests are computational materials science and chemistry education, which involves writing chemistry test prep books and lab manuals. In his spare time, Dr. Cremar enjoys mountain biking with his wife Nikki and spending time with his family. He also enjoys working on classic muscle cars, roasting coffee, playing classical guitar, and watching sci-fi shows.
