Leah Isseroff Bendavid received her BE in chemical engineering from The Cooper Union in 2007 and her PhD in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 2013. After completing postdoctoral research at Stanford University, Dr. Bendavid joined the Vassar College Chemistry Department in 2015.

Dr. Bendavid’s research focuses on innovating and advancing state-of-the-art solar energy technologies using computational quantum chemistry. Her research leverages the power of computational chemistry to probe the physical, optical, electronic, and chemical properties of materials and molecules on an atomic level. She is particularly interested in novel nanocomposite photovoltaic and photocatalytic materials and interface modification in hybrid organic-inorganic photovoltaics.

Dr. Bendavid teaches General Chemistry (108/109) and Physical Chemistry (352).