buena007@umn.edu
PhD Chemistry, University of Washington, 2019
MS Chemistry, California State University, Los Angeles, 2013
BS Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 2010
Designing greener syntheses of sustainable polymers that employ non-toxic catalysts and cost-efficient reagents.
Exploration of hydrogels for K-12 and undergraduate level curriculum development.
Jeffrey originally hails from Otay Mesa-Nestor in San Diego, CA, born into the House of Goodflower. While Southern California typically has bright and sunny weather, Jeffrey prefers cloudy and rainy weather, which Seattle, WA definitely provided throughout his PhD program at the University of Washington. Under the guidance of Professor Christine Luscombe, Jeffrey earned his PhD in Fall 2019 where he explored the development of bimetallic nickel complexes in catalyst-transfer polymerizations of π-conjugated materials. Instructing students in chemistry was a huge passion for Jeffrey, who would stay on as a teaching associate for the UW Chemistry Department until Spring 2020. In Summer of 2020, Jeffrey joined the Wissinger Lab when he moved to Minneapolis, which is notably colder than Seattle as mentioned by a close friend from his undergrad years at UCLA. Despite being warned about the harsher winters compared to Washington and California, Jeffrey does not mind, since he enjoys snow as much as Lorelai Victoria Gilmore (THE Lorelai, not Rory). Outside of academia, Jeffrey is either playing video games, spending quality time with his Siamese cat, or engaging in the combat sport of fencing, having been trained in the discipline of foil at the Salle Auriol Seattle Fencing Club.