Networking Lunches

Zack Buchan - Moderator (he/him)

Crop Protection Discovery & Development (CPD&D) Recruiting Leader

Corteva Agriscience

Zack earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan before joining Discovery Chemistry at Corteva Agriscience (formerly Dow AgroSciences) in 2011. Over the past decade, he has contributed to two fungicide lead optimization programs and served on the Natural Products Synthetic Team.

He has held leadership roles in both technical and recruiting capacities and is currently involved in a natural product herbicide project. In addition, he manages external collaborations aimed at advancing Corteva’s Crop Health pipelines through the Natural Products platform.

Tay Rosenthal (he/him)

Process Chemistry Group Leader

Corteva Agriscience

Tay holds a B.Sc in Chemistry from the University of Virginia and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Michigan, where his research focused on organocatalysis and natural product derivatization. He joined Corteva in 2018 as a process chemist. Over the years, he has taken on increasing leadership roles, currently serving as both a group leader and a project leader. In these roles, he lead teams to innovate and solve complex chemistry problems that support Corteva's mission of advancing sustainable solutions for agriculture. 

Brandi Hudson (she/her)

Remix Therapeutics

Computer-aided drug design of Lirafugratinib, a highly selective, covalent small molecule inhibitor of FGFR2 

Brandi Hudson is a Principal Scientist in Computational Chemistry, utilizing in silico modeling and structure-based drug design to discover therapies for cancer and rare diseases. She spent two years at Remix Therapeutics, applying a model-first approach to hit validation, fragment X-ray screening, and lead optimization across RNA-targeting programs. Prior to that, she spent five years at Relay Therapeutics, where she contributed to the discovery of Lirafugratinib (RLY-4008), a highly selective FGFR2 inhibitor now in the global ReFocus trial with FDA breakthrough therapy and orphan drug designations. Beyond her scientific contributions, Brandi is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion. In January 2020, she launched Relay’s Diversity, Equity, Belonging, & Inclusion (DEBI) initiatives, leading efforts for over three years and overseeing the creation of two employee resource groups, company-wide DEI training, inclusive meeting practices, and year-round diversity celebrations. Her impact earned her a place on Google Ventures’ Impact List in 2021. Brandi completed postdoctoral training in structural biology at UCSF (2018), earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Davis (2016), and received a B.S. in Chemistry from the College of Charleston (2011). Between college and graduate school, she worked as a chemist at o2si, a chemical standards company and as an adjunct organic chemistry lab instructor at Trident Technical College.

Yamini Krishnan - Moderator (she/her)

Process Development Engineer

Corteva Agriscience

Role: Process Development Engineer and Group Leader 

Education: B.Tech. (Hons.) (Chemical Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay 

M.S. (Chemical Engineering Practice), Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

PhD (Chemical Engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Dr. Yamini Krishnan joined Corteva in September 2020 after completing her PhD in chemical engineering at MIT. Her PhD research focused on cartilage-targeted drug delivery for osteoarthritis. At Corteva, she has led the development of crystallization processes, continuous flow technology, scale-up of intermediates and actives to the pilot plant and commercial manufacturing, and an initiative to increase the implementation of statistical design of experiments. She currently leads a team of process scientists while also actively contributing as a lab scientist. 

Vijayagopal Gopalsamuthiram (he/him)

Global Technology Guardian

Corteva Agriscience

Vijay joined Corteva Agriscience in 2022 as a process chemist in the Discovery Process Sciences department and has since made significant contributions to route invention and process research for multiple late-phase projects. Vijay earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2005, where he discovered the triple annulation reaction to synthesize calixaranes, chiral calixaranes, and homocalixaranes. During his post doctoral work as University of Wisconsin-Madison, he was instrumental in the total synthesis of two natural products Dictystatin and Phorboxazole B. Over the next 15 years, he held various roles at DuPont, Syngenta, and Adesis in Discovery and Process Chemistry. Outside of work, Vijay enjoys spending time in the gym and spending time with his family, including his two kids.

Sudipta Pal (she/her)

Associate Research Scientist

Dow

Bio coming soon!

Maureen Onyeziri (she/her)

R&D Scientist and Award-Winning Talent Development Professional

Maureen was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Lagos State University, then moved to the United States where she obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology (Genetics minor) from Indiana University Bloomington in 2021. Following her Ph.D., Maureen began her industry career as a research scientist at Corteva Agriscience – first supporting herbicide tolerance gene discovery efforts, then leading discovery assessment teams for early-stage crop genome engineering projects. While in the lab, she passionately pursued her interest in people and organizational development. In late 2023, she transitioned to lead talent development for Biotechnology R&D at Corteva. In this role, she works closely with her leadership team and collaborates across the organization and externally to develop and execute talent recruitment, hiring, onboarding, learning and development, and engagement strategies to support the over 700 scientists and employees in Biotechnology R&D at Corteva. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband, Derek, and their fur-baby, Ava (Boston Terrier/Pitbull Mix dog).

Isaiah Speight (he/him)

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

College of William & Mary

Dr. Isaiah Speight is a native of Portsmouth, Virginia in the Hampton-Roads area. He earned his B.S. in chemistry in 2016 from Norfolk State University as a DNIMAS Scholar. During this time, he did undergraduate research in polymer synthesis with Prof. Olufemi Oyesana at NSU and carbohydrate synthesis at Vanderbilt University with Prof. Steve Townsend. Isaiah then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he completed his Ph.D. as a Provost’s Graduate Fellow at Vanderbilt University with Prof. Timothy Hanusa. During his time as a Ph.D. student, Isaiah developed new mechanochemical methods for making inorganic and organometallic compounds. Isaiah’s post-graduate work includes a postdoctoral research position at UC Irvine and a visiting scientist position at AbbVie. Currently, Isaiah is an Assistant Professor of chemistry at William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. His research group focuses on sustainable chemistry by developing new mechanochemical methods, 3D printing of research equipment, exploring metal organic framework chemistry, and more. His group is also a part of the NSF Center for Mechanical Control of Chemistry, a group dedicated to solving the critical questions behind mechanochemistry and mechanochemical implementation. Additionally, Isaiah is a faculty fellow for the WM SURE program which support first year students in their endeavors in the research space and is also the chapter advisor for the W&M NOBCChE Chapter.

Beverly Chu Horton (she/her)

Marketing Leader, Turf & Ornamentals

Corteva

Beverly Chu Horton received her BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas and relocated to Indianapolis for her career at Dow AgroSciences, now Corteva Agrisciences. Beverly spent 18 years of her career in Supply Chain and Operations for both the Crop Protection and Seeds Business Platform where she received her Six Sigma Black Belt Certification and APICS Certification in Production and Inventory Management. 

Shes held the North America Commercialization Leader role, responsible for driving new product launch innovation. Currently, as Marketing Leader for T&O, Beverly develops portfolio marketing strategy, branding, communications and new product innovation launch plans with aspirations to become the market share leader in the Specialty Market.

Using her experiences in Innovation Management, Supply Chain, technical Chemical Engineering, and passion to make a difference, she works globally to implement Business Strategy to deliver solutions to customers.   Beverly rallies people around a new idea or technique and works to remove obstacles to growth, by unleashing the potential in others.

Beverly is Co-Chair for Corteva’s Global African Heritage Alliance BRG), is active in recruiting initiatives at Engineering and minority conferences as well as collaborates with community partners to teach youth groups about STEM and Agriculture.  

Beverly is actively engaged in Community and Civic Leadership: 1) member, Alpha Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.; 2) Treasurer, Indy Chapter of the Links Incorporated, supporting community scholarships and programming.

She serves on the Advisory Board for the Central Indiana Community Foundation Women’s Fund (5 yrs) and has joined the Board of Directors for Leadership Indianapolis. Her accolades include: 2015 Distinguished Achievement Award in S&T from the Center of Leadership Development; 2024 Technology Rising Star Outstanding Achievement Award from the Women of Color Magazine, Apple, Google, and RTX. She is a graduate of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series Class 46. 

Beverly has been married to Dr. Andrey Horton DDS for 17 years and is the proud mother of Bryce (Stepson - 25), Phoenix (daughter - 13), and Braxton (son - 9). In her spare time, she loves to travel, design, and create costumes, plan events, engage with youth and the community, and spend time with her family.

Amber Maynard (any pronouns with respect)

Senior Director of Global IDE&A
Elanco Animal Health

Amber Maynard is the Senior Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility at Elanco Animal Health. 

A popular speaker and thought leader for I-D-E-A, Amber holds degrees from Ball State University and a certificate in diversity, equity and inclusion from Cornell University. 

A native Hoosier, Amber and her partner of 27 years, make their home in Edgewood, Indiana.. Amber uses any pronouns with respect.