Dr. Michael Tarselli currently serves as the Scientific Director for Society for Lab Automation and Screening (SLAS), a global interdisciplinary scientific society. In this role, Mike engages a 19,000-member worldwide community of scientists and engineers to determine “What’s Next?” in their fields, then plans strategic events, online education, peer-reviewed publications, and outreach campaigns.
Mike received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, a Ph.D. in organometallic chemistry from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and completed postdoctoral studies at Scripps Research, studying antinociceptive natural products. Prior to SLAS, Mike was an Associate Director of Information Systems at Novartis, conducted bench science and business development at a start-up, Biomedisyn, worked for a year in contract research, and made medicinally-relevant molecules at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Ariad, both in Boston. He has blended his work experiences with volunteer roles on non-profit boards, student mentoring, and community outreach.
For his scientific and community work, Mike has been recognized as a 2018 Wikipedia Fellow, a winner of the 2017 Novartis “What’s Possible?” contest, a UMass VIP Mentor, an ACS Leadership Development awardee, a Scripps Research Alumni Spotlight, and an NSF Chemistry Communications Leadership Fellow. He has mentored over 70 students, postdocs, and young professionals, and delivered 30+ posters, seminars, and career panels. Mike is an author on 24 peer-reviewed publications, on topics such as total synthesis, gold catalysis, titanium coupling, data science, recommender systems, and science policy.
Mike is an active member of AAAS, ACS (18 years), and the UMass and UNC Alumni Associations. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, daughter, dog, and cat.
