Marya Lieberman

Marya Lieberman is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on developing cost-effective chemical analysis tools for low-resource environments, including paper analytical devices (PADs) used globally to detect counterfeit pharmaceuticals and environmental pollutants.

Her work spans chemical diagnostics, paper-based biosensing, and automated sampling technologies, with applications in public health and environmental monitoring. She earned her BS in Chemistry from MIT and her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Washington, followed by NSF-sponsored postdoctoral research in surface chemistry at Caltech.

Scientific Awards:

• NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

Marya leads a research group designing PADs deployed in Kenya, Ethiopia, Liberia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Bangladesh to combat poor-quality pharmaceuticals. In the U.S., these devices track environmental contaminants, air pollution, and illicit drug supply chains.