I’m from Portland, Oregon (so I’m a fan of great coffee, good beer, and outstanding food). I studied for one year at Northeastern University in Boston, but left abruptly to help support my family during the Great Recession. After a few years I transferred to the University of Oregon to continue my undergraduate education. I was drawn to chemistry with the hope that I could better understand the chemistry of beer fermentation (zymurgy). I discovered my passion for organic chemistry at that time and began conducting independent research under the tutelage of Professor David R. Tyler. During that time I worked on a number of projects centered around the air-free synthesis of phosphines and their use as ligands in transition metal complexes. In the Denmark Lab, I work on the synthesis and application of chiral phosphines to enantioselective catalysis. I’m also a classically trained cellist and self-taught jazz guitarist & bassist.
B.S., Chemistry, University of Oregon