Adam Jesse Sowers was born and raised in central Illinois in the small, charming town of Mattoon which is set amongst the prairies. In high school, when he and his twin brother weren’t setting town records for track or cross country he was fostering his love for discovery and experimentation in the classroom. Adam and his unbridled passion for science joined the ranks of the Fighting Illini at the flagship institution of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. There he had his most important formative experiences in chemistry through an unmet diligence in the classroom and undergraduate research experiences. Under the leadership of Dr. Paul Hergenrother, he sought to unearth new molecular scaffolds targeting multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Adam then left the coziness of his home state for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and is currently a 5^th year PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. Marcey Waters. He is currently designing stimuli-responsive small molecule systems towards the goal of untangling complex non-covalent interactions and free energy relationship in nature. When Adam is not in lab you can find him checking the salinity and mineral levels of his salt water aquarium, being a Tar Heel sports super fan, or plucking his banjo (which was by no means purchased on impulse).