Meet the Panelists

Susie Cox (she/her)

Leader, Compound Screening & Repository

Corteva

Susie has been with Corteva Agriscience since 2019. She joined the company as a formulation scientist, developing a microplastic free water dispersible granule for Europe. In 2021 she took on leadership of the Formulation Support and Characterization Team (FSC) and shortly after, she formed the Enabling Capabilities Group in Product Science and Technology. In < 5 years. Susie built out the FORCE (Formulation Optimization Research Capability Enablement) lab to support formulation development and characterization on the bench as well as via high throughput automation. Susie currently leads the Compound Screening and Repository team, supporting sample storage and initial screening for discovery compounds.

She was externally recognized as a C&EN Talented 12 honoree in 2023 for her work in automation & HTE for development of sustainable product solutions. And nominated in 2024 for the Rising Star LLA Awards. Susie holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Purdue University and a BS in Chemistry from Butler University. She is a member of the WIN, PLAN, and PRIDE BRGs. Outside of work, Susie volunteers at Brooke's Place and enjoys running outdoors.

Nikki Goodwin (she/her)

Director, Discovery Chemistry

Merck & Co.

Nikki earned her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Delaware where a two-year undergraduate research experience with Doug Taber cemented her love of organic synthesis.  She went on to earn her Ph.D. from Caltech working with Dave MacMillan on the development and total synthesis applications of novel organocatalytic strategies.  Her industrial career began at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, where she was instrumental in developing Inpefa™, an FDA-approved dual SGLT1/2 inhibitor for Type 1 Diabetes and heart failure.   In 2014, Nikki joined GSK where she worked in GSK’s respiratory therapy area, focusing on inhaled treatments for COPD and asthma. In 2019, she transitioned to the Discovery High-Throughput Chemistry group, where she advanced new technologies in reaction development, automation, and high throughput experimentation (HTE).  In 2023, Nikki moved yet again into a different area and led the Oligonucleotide Chemistry Innovation group, developing a robust platform to advance oligonucleotide therapeutics at GSK.  In 2025, Nikki made the weighty decision to leave behind everything she knew at GSK and move to Merck where she is currently a Director in Merck’s West Point Discovery Chemistry group.

Nikki takes immense pride in her commitment to the chemistry community. In 2024, she was elected Vice Chair of the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry and is currently the program chair for 2025-2026 term. She has organized the ACS First Time Disclosures, the Princeton ACS Fall Organic Chemistry Symposium and will be an organizer for the 2026 National Medicinal Chemistry Symposium in Atlanta. Nikki is on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. She has received the 2022 ACS WCC Rising Star Award and the 2017 Edison Patent Award.

Stephanie Castillo (she/her)

Multimedia Producer & Scientific Communicator
Phuture Doctors 

Dr. Stephanie Castillo is an award-winning multimedia producer with a Ph.D. in science communication from Vanderbilt University. Her expertise lies in bridging science communication theory with practice and understanding how science and scientists are perceived in science media. With her chemistry background, teaching experience, and training in science reporting and filmmaking, Dr. Castillo creates factual and engaging multimedia science stories tailored for audiences aged 13 and up.

Joy Rutherford (she/her)

Beauty Care Synthetic Chemist

Croda

Joy Rutherford was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She graduated with honors from Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. While at MSU, she conducted undergraduate research synthesizing valuable chiral catalysts under the guidance of Professor Babak Borhan and worked under Professor Greg Swain developing electrochemical analysis techniques for detecting amino acids. Joy then completed her graduate studies at The Ohio State University under the direction of Professor David Nagib, where she was awarded a National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Fellowship. Her graduate research focused on developing novel synthetic strategies to synthesize prevalent motifs in medicine utilizing photochemistry, carbenes, and radical-mediated pathways. Currently, Joy works as a research scientist at Croda’s Princeton, New Jersey location, where she is involved in long-term innovation to design and synthesize new molecules for beauty care applications. 

Matt Russell (he/him)

Senior Technologist

Corteva Agriscience

Matt Russell, Senior R&D Technologist in Crop Protection Process Development & Implementation for Corteva Agriscience, has been a chemical technical professional in the areas of formulation science, analytical chemistry, process chemistry automation, and solids handling. Matt joined Corteva Agriscience 30 years ago, after serving in the US Air Force analyzing samples from other countries nuclear weapons testing and working in a QC lab for Eli Lilly and Company on a manufacturing site producing antibiotics for humans and animals.  He is always interested in the next technical challenge, from thermal analysis of a new molecule to automation of instrumentation and anything else that comes his way. Matt was awarded the ACS 2022 National Chemical Technician Award and today is his last day of work at Corteva before beginning retirement.

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.   

Victoria Parker (she/her)

Research Scientist & Consultant

Bio coming soon!

Nicholas Babij (he/him)

Process Chemist

Corteva Agriscience

Nicholas Babij is a Principal Scientist at Corteva Agriscience in Indianapolis, IN. He received his Ph.D. in 2014 from the University of Michigan under the direction of Dr. John Wolfe. At Corteva, he has worked on several crop protection programs since joining the Process Chemistry group in 2014. Nick has served as Corteva’s point of contact for the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable to advance the development of sustainable manufacturing processes. In 2022, he was named an Associated Laureate and has participated on the Laureate Mentoring and External Recognition teams. Nick has been an active member of Corteva’s Women’s Inclusion Network (WIN) Business Resource Group (BRG) at Corteva since 2018. Within WIN, he has co-led the Accelerating Gender Equity focus team, the WIN Indianapolis chapter and currently leads the WIN Allyship chapter.

Susana Sorina Lopez (she/her)

Senior Scientist, Chemistry

Penguin.Bio

Bio coming soon!

Ryan Daley - Moderator (he/him)

Process Chemistry

Corteva Agriscience

Ryan Daley (he/him) is a process chemist at Corteva agriscience, where he has worked on both early-stage route development and manufacturing process improvements. Additionally, he serves as the outreach lead for the PRIDE Business Resource Group. He majored in chemistry and researched C-H activation with Dr. Dipannita Kalyani at St. Olaf college. He then obtained a PhD from the University of Minnesota with Dr. Joe Topczewski, focusing on palladium and gold catalyzed decarboxylative cross-coupling. While in graduate school, he was a founding member of Queer Science, an organization that provides science events for queer and trans high school students. Additionally, he completed a PostDoc at Scripps with Dr. Donna Blackmond on mechanistic elucidation of a variety of metal catalyzed reactions. Outside of lab, he enjoys being outside hiking, backpacking, and rock climbing.