My name is Leo Fontenot, Jr. and I am a native of Brusly, Louisiana, a small town just across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge. After graduating high school in 2010, I started my undergraduate journey in chemistry at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana before transferring to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. I received by BS in chemistry in December 2014 and spent the next 2 ½ years working as a quality control chemist at Valero Energy and the Renewable Energy Group, both in South Louisiana.

Realizing I wanted a more meaningful and rewarding career in chemistry, I returned to LSU Chemistry to pursue my PhD in August 2017. I joined Professor Mario Rivera’s research group where I am currently a doctoral candidate. I am an analytical chemist with technical expertise in biological NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Our research is focused on understanding and validating iron metabolism as a target for antibiotic development, and my goal is to profile the metabolic response of P. aeruginosa to induced iron starvation by studying metabolomics and proteomics. To date, I have three co-authored publications, with one first-author publication in preparation. I am anticipating defending my dissertation this summer of 2023. I am also in the process of accepting a position as a postdoctoral research fellow in cancer metabolism and translational research. 

Outside of the lab, I am a proud member of ACS and NOBCChE; I have served as the National Student Representative of NOBCChE since 2021. I have also volunteered as a mentor with BRDGE Alliance, a non-profit aimed at encouraging STEM students at HBCUs to pursue graduate degrees.