Graduate Students
Lee Joon Kim
B.S., Harvey Mudd College, 2017 Ph.D. UCLA 2022 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. 
Sydnee Green
B.S., UC Davis, 2016 Ph.D. UCLA, 2021 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. 
Alex Bagdasarian
B.S., UC Davis, 2015 Ph.D. UCLA, 2019 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. |
Ben Wigman
B.S., UC Davis, 2017 Ph.D. UCLA 2022 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. 
Stanislav Popov
B.S., Brandeis University, 2016 Ph.D. UCLA, 2021 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. 
Brian Shao
B.S., UC Davis, 2015 Ph.D., UCLA, 2019 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. Noah Sims
Ph.D., Baylor University B.S., University of Rochester Email: noahsims[at]caltech.edu 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 Email: mriu[at]caltech.edu 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
Nils Rendel
M.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster B.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, 2021 Email: nrendel[at]caltech.edu 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. |