Claudia Schmidt-Dannert

BTI Director

schmi232@umn.edu

Distinguished McKnight Professor, Dept. Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics.

The Schmidt-Dannert Lab

Dr. Claudia Schmidt-Dannert joined University of Minnesota faculty in 2000 and became the Director of the BioTechnology Institute in 2022. She is a Distinguished McKnight Professor and Kirkwood Chair of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics.

Claudia completed her B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry and Genetics at the TU Braunschweig and finished her PhD research at the National Research Center for Biotechnology in Braunschweig. She then moved to the University of Stuttgart as habilitant and group leader of the Molecular Biotechnology group and subsequently joined 2018 Chemistry Nobel Laureate Prof. Frances Arnold’s group at the California Institute of Technology to carry out her research on “molecular breeding of pathways” funded by a fellowship from the German Science Foundation. Since then, she has collected many notable achievements, such as a Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering and McKnight Fellow- and Professorships.

In her free time Claudia loves all things outdoors, including birds, hiking, cycling, and canoeing. She is also known to regularly run marathons, and sometimes, triathlons.

Amy Angel

Accountant

angel188@umn.edu

Non-sponsored account set up and balances, procurement cards, department deposits for BTI

Amy has been working at the University for over five years and lives northwest of the Twin Cities. In her spare time, she likes to travel and go camping, hiking, and bicycling. Amy has two chihuahuas and fosters dogs for a local animal rescue.

Keara Carpenter

Principal Office and Administrative Specialist

carpe803@umn.edu

Front desk support, package receiving and sending, e-mail list updates, U Market orders, audio/visual equipment and room scheduling.

Keara began working in the SPAC Office at the beginning of the 2022 school year. Previous to her joining the Cluster staff, she worked as a preschool teacher at a small Catholic school in Edina. As much as she loved her experience as a teacher, she decided in 2020 that it was time for a career change. This ultimately led her to her current role as the SPAC Office Administrative Assistant. Outside of work, Keara enjoys many outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and nordic skiing. Keara is also a dog mom to a sweet and somewhat quirky lab-pit mix named Ruby.

Lori Nicol

Executive Accounts Specialist

l-nico@umn.edu

Grant Proposal preparation, status of grants and grant management, close-out of grants at project end, effort Certification, REU/participant payments

Lori has worked at the U of M in CBS for 33 years starting as a secretary and then working through accounting to Grants Management. She started in what is now the department of Plant & Microbial Biology in part because of her love of plants, and she has enjoyed being a part of BTI and CBS Finance for the last seven years. Lori has three daughters who have grown up in and around CBS in various ways, and they still have a healthy interest in science, as does her husband. Outside of work, Lori enjoys running, biking, crocheting, knitting, reading, traveling and music. She also loves cats and currently has two: a Bombay short-hair and a medium-hair tabby. Ask about her menagerie of Amigurumi that she created over the course of 2020!

Michael Ouverson

Graduate Coordinator
Graduate Program in Microbial Engineering

ouver005@umn.edu

Departmental purchasing, employee reimbursements, and general accounting requests for BTI, EEB and PMB.

Ruth Weleczki

Project Specialist

rweleczk@umn.edu

Coordinates faculty annual review and P&T processes; coordinates and manages faculty searches; provides and oversees web and print communication for seminars.

Ruth lives in St. Paul with her husband and quirky pandemic puppy. She (often) likes running, cross-country skiing, and reading detective stories. During the pandemic, she has mastered her baking and fire-pit skills, and before it is over, she hopes to learn to play Cribbage.