Organic chemistry The development of reaction methodology Supramolecular organic chemistry Natural product isolation The total synthesis of biologically active natural products Chemical ecology Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 2009-2011 Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2009 B.S., New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2003 Bill Collins is an assistant professor of chemistry at Fort Lewis College. He joined the college in 2011. Dr. Collins’ research interests include synthetic organic chemistry, natural product isolation, and chemical ecology. His research work has focused on the development of plant-based natural products to improve honey bee health. To this end, his group is currently involved with the synthesis of modified monoterpenoid molecules that can be fed to honey bees to defend against parasitic mites that transmit viruses. He is currently in collaborations with apiculturists to investigate the efficacy of these molecules in bee hives. Prior to joining Fort Lewis, Dr. Collins was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, studying graphene and carbon nanotube chemistry.

“Natural Product Isolation of Thymol, Camphor and Citral: Monoterpenes Sharing a Unified Biosynthetic Precursor” McLain, K. A.; Miller, K. A.; Collins, W. R. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92, 1226-1228. “Synthesis of Glycosylated Thymol as a Potential Acaracidal Protective Agent for Honey Bees” Robison, A.; Park, J.; Collins, W. R. Poster Presentation, 242nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2014. “Natural Product Isolation of Thymol, Camphor and Citral: Monoterpenes Sharing a Unified Biosynthetic Precursos” McLain, K.; Miller, K. A.; Collins W. R. Poster Presentation, 242nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2014. “Cyclobutene-C60 Adducts: N-Type Materials for Organic Photovoltaic Cells with High Voc” Han, G. D.; Collins, W. R.; Andrew, T. L.; Swager, T. M. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2013, 24, 3061-3069. “Claisen Rearrangement of Graphite Oxide: A Route to Covalently Functionalized Graphene” Collins, W. R.; Lewandowski, W.; Schmois, E.; Walish, J.; Swager, T. M. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 8848-8852. “Graphene Oxide as an Electrophile for Carbon Nucleophiles” Collins, W. R.; Schmois, E.; Swager, T. M. Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 8790-8792.