Awards

2022 – University of Houston Undergraduate Research Mentor Award 

2018  – NSM Junior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research

2018 – NSF CAREER Award

2015 – Younger Chemist Award, American Chemical Society–Greater Houston Section 

2011 – Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA), NIGMS-NIH

2006 – Robert T. Haslam Presidential Graduate Fellowship, MIT

2006 – Joseph E. Mayer Award, UCSD

2004 – UCSD Physical Science Dean’s Undergraduate Award for Excellence

2002 – University of California Regents Scholar

I grew up in California, where I obtained a B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). I conducted undergraduate research with Prof. Seth M. Cohen at UCSD on supramolecular chemistry and Prof. Stephen J. Lippard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on conjugated fluorescent probes for reactive nitrogen oxide species. For my graduate studies, I returned to MIT to complete a doctoral degree under the tutelage of Prof. Lippard, working on synthetic diiron protein modeling chemistry. My interest in organometallic chemistry led me to pursue postdoctoral training with Prof. John E. Bercaw at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where I investigated the mechanism of selective ethylene trimerization by homogeneous chromium complexes. I joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Houston in September 2013 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2019 and to Professor in 2024.