Graduate Students
Doris Mai
Ph.D., Caltech, 2024 B.S., Stanford University, 2019 Doris was born in Shenzhen, China. She obtained her B.S. in Computer Science at Stanford University, where she conducted research under Prof. Vijay Pande. Doris likes collecting postcards and random stuff and finding the best boba place in town. |
Tiffany Hung
B.S., Emory University, 2021 Tiffany was born in NYC and raised in Long Island, New York. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry at Emory University where she worked under Professor Frank McDonald synthesizing analogs of a compound connected with treating trauma-induced vision loss. She also worked under Professor Simbarashe Nkomo studying the influence of heterogeneity and time-delay on the emergence of chimera states in small coupled Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) chemical oscillator systems. Outside of lab, she enjoys hiking, cooking, and napping. |
Steven Zhao
Ph.D., Caltech, 2024 B.S., Peking University, 2019 Steven was born and grew up in Changchun, a city in Northeast China. Later he moved to Beijing and earned his B.S. in Chemical Biology at Peking University, where he conducted research on metabolic labeling of non-natural sugars in Professor Xing Chen’s group. Despite living in the cold north since his birth, he decided to make a change and come to sun-soaked SoCal. He loves going to the beach, hiking, and having authentic Chinese food in LA. |
Josh Signore
B.A., Wesleyan University, 2019 M.A., Wesleyan University, 2021 Josh was born in Guatemala and raised in Bristol, CT. He earned a B.A. and M.A. in chemistry from Wesleyan University and studied small exotic molecules via microwave spectroscopy under the supervision of Stewart E. Novick. He left Connecticut to escape the humidity and bask in sunny Southern California. Outside of the lab, he enjoys running, hiking, and playing the piano, especially Chopin. |
Conner Wells
B.A., Pitzer College, 2021 Conner was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. He earned a B.A. in Chemistry at Pitzer college where he conducted research under Professor Anna Wenzel. As an undergrad he also spent time at the University of California Santa Cruz conducting research there under Professor Glenn Millhauser. A Californian through and through he moved the 40 minutes from Claremont to Pasadena to study at Caltech where he now works in the Nelson lab. Outside of lab he likes to ride or work on his bikes and spend time with his friends and family. |
Krista Dong
B.A., Wellesley College, 2020 Krista was born and raised in the great state of New Jersey. In search of more snow and more fun accents, she attended Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA and earned her B.A. in Chemistry in 2020. During her time there, she worked with Prof. Alison E. Wendlandt (MIT) on the arylation of unprotected sugars. After graduating, Krista spent two years in Cambridge, MA working for Amgen’s late-stage process development group. In her free time she enjoys backpacking, playing soccer, watching the Ocean’s Eleven movies on repeat, and sending people pictures of her cat, Wormy Pete. |
Jocelyn Zhang
B.S., Columbia University, 2022 Jocelyn was born in China. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry at Columbia University, where she studied singlet fission in organic molecules and CO2 capture into value-added polymers under the tutelage of Professor Luis Campos. Outside the lab, she enjoys petting strangers’ dogs and looking for the best NY style pizza in LA. |
Dr. Jessica Burch
Ph.D., UCLA, 2021 B.S., UT San Antonio, 2015 Application scientist at Rigaku Jessica completed her B.S. at The University of Texas at San Antonio and performed research in the laboratory of Dr. Oleg Larionov. In the summer of '17, Jessica left the great land of Tex-Mex cuisine behind and began graduate school at UCLA. She avoids LA traffic by commuting via horse and uses "y'all" unironically. |
Isabel Hernandez Rodriguez
B.A., Barnard College, 2021 Isabel was born in Mexico and raised in Seattle, Washington. She earned her B.A. in Chemistry at Barnard College, where she conducted research under Professor Latha Venkataraman, studying electron transport in single-molecule devices. Outside of lab, Isabel enjoys cooking, being outdoors, and showing people pictures of her dog. |
Christopher Jones
Ph.D., Caltech, 2023 M.S., San Jose State University, 2017 B.S., CSU East Bay, 2013 Chris was born and raised in Rochester, NY. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, he moved to the Bay Area to pursue a B.S. in computer engineering at CSU East Bay. He then pursued his M.S. in Chemical Engineering at San Jose State University while concurrently working at Sandia National Laboratories in the energy nanomaterials department. Chris is now pursuing his PhD in Chemistry. His hobbies include working out and mixing gratuitous amounts of whey protein into any drink. |
Ernesto Millan Aceves
M.S., Caltech, 2023 B.S., San Diego State University, 2021 Ernesto was born in San Diego, California and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry at San Diego State University and conducted research on regioselective methodologies under Profesor Jefferey Gustafson. He likes to spend his free time watching MMA and getting good at video games to never play them again. |
Woojin Lee
Ph.D., UCLA, 2023 B.S., UC Berkeley, 2016 Postdoc at Katritch Lab at USC Woojin was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. After he finished his mandatory military service, he started studying abroad in the United States. He attended a community college in Kansas and transferred to UC Berkeley, where he obtained a B.S degree in chemistry and also worked on the deoxydehydration/hydrogenation of sugar acids under the guidance of Professor F. Dean Toste. Outside of lab, he likes to learn stock trading, watch Youtube videos, and ride a bike on Santa Monica beach. |
Sepand Nistanaki
Ph.D., Caltech, 2023 B.S., UC Berkeley, 2016 Postdoc at Jacobsen Group at Harvard University Sepand was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland and raised in Irvine, California. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley, where he conducted research under Professor Christopher Chang. In 2017 he moved back down to Southern California to attend UCLA and begin working in the Nelson lab. Some of Sepand's hobbies include coffee brewing and tasting, advocating for Peaky Blinders as the best show ever, recommending yogurt soda to his lab mates, and calling his mother. |
Chloe Williams
Ph.D., Caltech, 2023 B.S., DePaul University, 2018 Scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb Chloe was born and raised in Valparaiso, Indiana. She graduated from DePaul University in 2018 where she conducted research with Professor Paul Vadola working on gold(I)-mediated cyclization reactions. Despite her love for Chicago, she decided to leave the Midwest winters behind and come to California. Chloe enjoys going to the beach, eating great food, and hanging out with her cat. |
Lee Joon Kim
Ph.D., UCLA 2022 B.S., Harvey Mudd College, 2017 Postdoc fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lee Joon was born in South Korea and grew up in Irvine, California. She conducted research in total synthesis of natural products under Professor David Vosburg and completed her B.S. in Joint Major in Chemistry and Biology at Harvey Mudd College. Some of her hobbies include consuming 20 oz. cans of sugar-free Red Bull, showcasing her collection of long jackets and turtlenecks, and feeding in video games. |
Ben Wigman
Ph.D., UCLA 2022 B.S., UC Davis, 2017 Senior Associate Scientist at Amgen Ben was once an east coaster but is now a west coast dude. He received his B.S. in Chemistry at UC Davis in 2017 where he conducted research under prof. Annaliese Franz, probing Lewis acidity of popular catalysts and building allylsilane oligomers. Outside of lab he likes to bike, play the bass, and enjoy the view at the beach. |
Sydnee Green
Ph.D., UCLA, 2021 B.S., UC Davis, 2016 Scientist at Terray Therapeutics Sydnee was born and raised in Chico, CA. At UC Davis she conducted research making synthetic nucleosides to study DNA repair enzymes. She decided to leave her home of northern California and come to UCLA to conduct research in Professor Hosea Nelson's lab. |
Stanislav Popov
Ph.D., UCLA, 2021 B.S., Brandeis University, 2016 Senior Scientist at Merck Stasik was born in Kazakhstan and grew up in Wayland, MA. After receiving his B.S. in Mathematics and Chemistry from Brandeis University, he moved to UCLA and joined professor Nelson's lab in the summer of 2016. In his free time he enjoys playing video games and working out. |
Alex Bagdasarian
Ph.D., UCLA, 2019 B.S., UC Davis, 2015 Scientist at Denali Therapeutics Alex was born and raised in Cupertino, CA. He left his hometown of Apple headquarters to attend UC Davis where he conducted research under Dr. Mark J Kurth. His research consisted of heterocyclic methodology as well as synthesizing biologically active heterocycles. He graduated in 2015 with a B.S. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. His hobbies include taking long walks in the chemistry building hallways, playing fetch with his cat, and cooking. |
Brian Shao
Ph.D., UCLA, 2019 B.S., UC Davis, 2015 Scientist at Terray Therapeutics Brian was born and raised in Alhambra, CA. After receiving his B.S. in pharmaceutical chemistry at UC Davis, he decided to throw away his free time and hobbies to slave away in the Nelson Lab. Before joining, he liked to go to the gym and play StarCraft and CS:GO at home. |
Postdocs
Dr. Kevin Martin Ph.D., University of Montpellier, 2022 Pharm.D, University Of Montpellier, 2018 M.Sc., University of Montpellier, 2017 Email: kmartin[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Structural Chemistry Thesis Title: Structural study of the cap-binding complex in interaction with molecules of pharmaceutical interest |
Dr. Yan Liu
Ph.D., University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2023 B.S., Shanxi University, 2017 Email: yanliu23[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Biocatalysis Thesis Title: Artificial directed evolution of hydratase Yan was born and raised in Shanxi, China, and obtained her B.S. degree from Shanxi University. In 2017, she came to Beijing to start a Ph.D. at the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under the supervision of Professor Hailin Wang, she conducted research on the artificially evolved super binder for specific recognition of N6-methyladenine base modification in DNA and RNA. Outside the lab, she enjoys swimming, using adobe illustrator to draw scientific illustrations, and exploring interesting places in California. |
Dr. Jake Rothbaum Ph.D., Northwestern University B.S., University of Georgia Jake is the youngest son of Barbara and John and Alex’s brother. He was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and obtained his B.S. degree from the University of Georgia where he studied palladium catalyzed C-H functionalization in Prof. Eric Ferreira’s lab. Jake realized metals are the key to his heart and studied organolanthanide catalysis under the mentorship of Prof. Tobin Marks at Northwestern University, where he obtained his Ph.D. and discovered a new chemodivergent reaction pathway within the lanthanide series. Missing the warm weather, Jake moved to the Nelson Lab to develop new bioinorganic catalysts for the use in diagnostics and therapeutics. Other than chemistry, Jake likes playing and watching sports, water coloring, and stealing Martin’s acetone bottle. |
Dr. Lygia Silva de Moraes
Ph.D., University of Strathclyde, 2019 B.S., Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2014 Lygia was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) where she concluded her B.S. degree in Chemistry at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She decided it was a good idea to move to sunny Glasgow (Scotland) to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry working with Prof. Alan Kennedy and to study crystalline pharmaceutical salts and their physicochemical properties. After the Ph.D., Lygia joined Prof. Yves Geerts at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium) for postdoctoral research studying substrate-induced phases and polymorphism in small organic molecules. Lygia likes to play with random dogs in the street, complain about the referee in soccer matches, and listen to horrible music. |
Dr. Noah Sims
Ph.D., Baylor University B.S., University of Rochester Noah was born and raised in Syracuse, NY. Upon graduating from high school, he went on to get a B.S. from University of Rochester under the training of the late Prof. Robert K. Boeckman, Jr. where he was first introduced to total synthesis. After graduating, he departed for Baylor University in Waco, TX where he did his graduate work under the tutelage of Prof. John L. Wood. Outside of the lab, Noah spends him time trail running, cooking, and playing the occasional video game. |
Dr. Martin-Louis Y. Riu Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.S., Emory University Martin was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He earned his B.S. degree at Emory University where he studied photoredox catalyzed carbon-carbon bond forming reactions under Prof. Nate Jui. He went on to obtain his Ph.D. in chemistry under the guidance of Christopher “Kit” C. Cummins at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here, he developed new reagents and reactions for the synthesis of phosphorus-containing tetrahedranes and heterocycles. In his free time, he enjoys learning new sports and music and taking his very fluffy, often mistaken for fat, tuxedo cat on walks. |
Dr. Jonathan Gordon Ph.D., Caltech, 2015 (Prof. Brian M. Stotlz) Sc.B., Brown University, 2009 (Prof. Jason K. Sello) Director of Research and Development at Ambercycle Jonny did his undergraduate research at Brown University with Professor Sello in the area of rare-earth metal catalysis for 4-component Ugi reactions. At Caltech, his graduate work focused on the syntheses of Transtaganolide and Basiliolide natural products. He is a Los Angeles native who is a big fan of the L.A. Lakers and the L.A. Dodgers. |
Dr. Matthew Asay PhD, UC Riverside / Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III Postdoc, Humboldt Fellow TU Berlin, JSPS Fellow University of Tsukuba Senior Research Scientist at Universal Display Corporation Matt was born in SLC, Utah but generally claims the ambiguous ‘SoCal’ because he hasn’t lived in Utah in a long time. He received his PhD from UC, Riverside in the Lab of Prof. Guy Bertrand making carbene related ligands. During his PhD he spent a year in Toulouse, France also making carbene related ligands in the LHFA. Upon completion of his doctoral degree he began a world tour with postdoctoral research stays in Germany and Japan where he learned many of the intricacies of fundamental silicon chemistry. After a return to UCR to work with Prof. Vince Lavallo on carborane cluster chemistry Matt began an independent research career at UNAM in Mexico City. He now finds himself again on American soil using carborane anions. He enjoys American Football, French Rugby, German Football, Japanese Karaoke, and Mexican cochinita pibil. |
Visiting Scholars
Melody Tang
Melody was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In the Nelson lab, she spent 2 summers working with David learning how to leverage microED for natural product discovery. She’s currently a second year majoring in Chemistry and Biological Chemistry at the University of Chicago where she studies Ni catalysis in Prof. Guangbin Dong’s lab during the school year. Outside of chemistry, Melody enjoys advocating that SoCal is better than NorCal, pushing Gen Z slang, and playing with her dog. |
Nils Rendel
M.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster B.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, 2021 Nils was born and raised in Grevenbroich, a city near Cologne in Germany. He moved to Münster and earned his B.S. in Chemistry, where he conducted research on photocatalysis in Professor Frank Glorius group. Outside of lab, Nils enjoys hiking, sports, and photography. |