PI
Contact Information
Administrative Assistant: Annette Luymes Email: aluymes[at]caltech.edu |
Hosea M. Nelson
Professor of Chemistry
Postdoc, UC Berkeley, 2015 (Prof. F. Dean Toste) Ph.D., Caltech, 2013 (Prof. Brian M. Stoltz) B.S., UC Berkeley, 2004 Email: hosea[at]caltech.edu Office: 365 A1 Crellin Laboratory Phone: 626-395-6072 Hosea earned a B.S. in Chemistry from University of California at Berkeley in 2004 and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 2013 with Brian Stoltz. After postdoctoral training at University of California at Berkeley with Dean Toste, Hosea joined the UCLA faculty in 2015. In 2021, Hosea became a Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. He is an avid fisherman and motorsports enthusiast (there are even pictures of him on the web wearing a NASCAR hat). Like most native San Franciscans, he spends most of his time talking about how much he loves the Giants, hates the Dodgers, and how much better S.F. is than L.A. |
Graduate Students
Sepand Nistanaki
B.S., UC Berkeley, 2016 Email: snistana[at]caltech.edu G6 Research Project: Catalysis 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
B.S., DePaul University, 2018 Email: cgwillia[at]caltech.edu G5 Research Project: Catalysis 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. 
Isabel Hernandez Rodriguez
B.A., Barnard College, 2021 Email: ihernan2[at]caltech.edu G2 Research Project: Structural Chemistry 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. 
Connor Wells
B.A., Pitzer College, 2021 Email: cwwells[at]caltech.edu G2 Research Project: Catalysis 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. 
Jocelyn Zhang
B.S., Columbia University, 2022 Email: jyzhang[at]caltech.edu G1 Research Project: Biocatalysis, Catalysis 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. |
Christopher Jones
B.S., CSU East Bay, 2013 M.S., San Jose State University, 2017 Email: cgjones[at]caltech.edu G6 Research Project: Structural Chemistry 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. 
Doris Mai
B.S., Stanford University, 2019 Email: hmmai[at]caltech.edu G4 Research Project: Structural Chemistry 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. 
Ernesto Millan Aceves
B.S., San Diego State University Email: emillana[at]caltech.edu G2 Research Project: Catalysis 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. 
Krista Dong
B.A., Wellesley College, 2020 Email: kdong[at]caltech.edu G1 Research Project: Catalysis 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. 
Abi Nelson
Official Nelson Lab dog B.S., UC Bark-ley Abi joined the Nelson Lab in June, 2018 at only 4 months old. She is a loyal friend and companion of the Nelson Lab members, and also enjoys learning about chemistry too. In her free time she loves napping, playing with grad students, and taking long walks from Crellin to the Beckman Institute. Follow her on Instagram @abi.nelsonlab |
Woojin Lee
B.S., UC Berkeley, 2016 Email: wlee7[at]caltech.edu G5 Research Project: Catalysis 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. 
Steven Zhao
B.S., Peking University, 2019 Email: zzhao2[at]caltech.edu G4 Research Project: Catalysis 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 Email: jsignore[at]caltech.edu G2 Research Project: Biocatalysis 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. 
Tiffany Hung
B.S., Emory University, 2021 Email: thung2[at]caltech.edu G1 Research Project: Catalysis 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. |
Postdocs
Dr. David Delgadillo
Ph.D., University of California Santa Cruz B.S., University of California Merced Email: ddelgadi[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Structural Chemistry Thesis Title: Cheminformatic Approaches to Decipher Natural Product-Target-Disease Associations David was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. After dabbling in the bustling city life, he decided to pursue a degree in Human Biology at UC Merced. While at Merced, he worked on non-innocent ligand synthesis under Prof. Ryan Baxter. He went on to obtain his Ph.D in Chemistry at UC Santa Cruz under prof. John MacMillan studying marine bacteria-derived bioactive natural products. Outside of the lab, David enjoys being one with nature and tinkering with random hobbies. |
Dr. Kunal Jha
Ph.D., Shiv Nadar University, 2017 M.S., Jamia Hamdard University, 2012 B.S., University of Delhi, 2009 Email: kunaljha[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Structural Chemistry Thesis Title: Systematic Investigation of Polymorphism, Photodimerization and Charge-Transfer Mechanism in Organic Optical Materials: Probing Structure-Property Relationships Kunal was born and raised in Bihar, India. He went to the University of Delhi to pursue his BSc in Industrial Chemistry. He received his master’s degree in Organic Chemistry from Jamia Hamdard University, Delhi. He went on to obtain his PhD degree from Shiv Nadar University, India, where he broadly worked on generation of non-centrosymmetric polymorphs of organic push-pull chromophores for their optical properties. He went on to do his first post-doc in electron density modelling group under Prof. Paulina M. Dominiak at the University of Warsaw, Poland. His research focuses on improving structural model of SC-XRD and micro-ED data by applying quantum crystallographic methods. He believes in multi-disciplinary research and never shy of learning new methods and techniques. He enjoys cooking and listening to classical music in his leisure time. |
Dr. Lygia Silva de Moraes
Ph.D., University of Strathclyde, 2019 B.S., Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2014 Email: lmoraes[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Structural Chemistry Thesis Title: Generating and Interrogating Crystallographic Data to Predict Solid-State Properties 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. Martin-Louis Y. Riu
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.S., Emory University Email: mriu[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Catalysis Thesis Title: Synthesis and Reactivity of Phosphorus-Containing Tetrahedranes and Heterocycles 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. Jake Rothbaum
Ph.D., Northwestern University B.S., University of Georgia Email: jrothba[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Bio-inorganic Catalysis Thesis Title: Metal-Based Chemodivergence and the Importance of Chemically Non-Innocent Ligand Participation 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. Noah Sims
Ph.D., Baylor University B.S., University of Rochester Email: noahsims[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Catalysis Thesis Title: Total Synthesis of (±)-Caesalpinnone A and (-)-Caesalpinflavan B, Progress Toward the Total Synthesis of (+)-Alterbrassicicene C and (-)-Alterbrassicicene B 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. |
Staff Scientist
Dr. Jessica Burch
Ph.D., UCLA, 2021 B.S., UT San Antonio, 2015 Email: jburch[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Structural Chemistry Thesis Title: Catalytic Terpene Polycyclization Reactions and Structural Determination of Small Molecules by MicroED 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. |
Visiting Scholars
Nils Rendel
M.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster B.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, 2021 Email: nrendel[at]caltech.edu Research Project: Catalysis 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. |
Undergraduates
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Sam Small
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