About Our Co-founders
Craig Fraser
[he/him]
Craig completed his undergraduate degree at The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2014. He worked on his MChem project under the supervision of Prof. Polly Arnold, synthesizing borate-tethered N-heterocyclic carbenes for application in “Frustrated Lewis Pair” (FLP) chemistry. In 2015, Craig moved to the National University of Singapore for his PhD in the Rowan Young group, where he worked on metal and non-metal based FLP chemistry, particularly for hydrogen activation and catalysis. Craig joined the Philp/Stoddart group as a postdoctoral scholar in 2019 to work in the area of systems chemistry and synthetic replication.
Dani Arias-Rotondo
[she/her]
Dani was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She did her undergrad at the University of Buenos Aires, where she discovered Ru and its cool photophysical properties. Her love for the topic carried her to the US to pursue a PhD at Michigan State University working in the McCusker group. After leaving her favorite state do to a postdoc in Princeton, NJ, she's back in The Mitten working as an assistant professor in Kalamazoo College.
Monica Gill
[she/her]
Monica studied chemistry at the University of Prince Edward Island (Canada), earning a BSc in 2002 and an MSc in 2005. She then worked at BioVectra Inc in Charlottetown, PEI, carrying out large lab-scale production of fine chemicals and APIs, as well as serving as a Research & Development Scientist. In 2008, she decided to return to the academic lab to pursue a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. Her thesis work focused on Pd-catalyzed decarboxylative allylation methodology and mechanistic studies. After completing her PhD in 2015, she was a postdoc for an academic/industrial collaboration with BASF, focusing on ligand design for novel precursors for ALD, followed by a postdoc focusing on exploring new methodology for deoxyfluorination at the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland. She is currently a MITACS Postdoctoral Fellow in Ottawa, Canada working on a medicinal chemistry project aimed at developing novel antibacterial agents.
Madison Fletcher
[she/her]
Madison is a chemist, molecular biologist, and longtime science educator. She earned her B.A. in Chemistry from Bard College and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Temple University. After studying antibiotic resistance from a molecular perspective she switched gears, and at UC Irvine she explored how bacteria can be a powerful tool for chemistry, directed evolution, and biological diagnostics. She is currently a postdoctoral associate at NYU, harnessing her chemistry and biology skills to target protein protein interactions. Madison is also passionate about translating science for students of all ages, and has taught for Bard College's Citizen Science, in NYC public schools, and is a volunteer at Genspace, a DIY Bio lab open to everyone.
About Our Volunteers
Philip Alabi
[he/him]
Institutions & Degrees:
Brown University (MA (2020), PhD. in view)
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (Msc. 2017)
Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria (Bsc. Chemistry, 2010)
Country: Nigerian, studying in the US
Area of Research: Organic Synthesis/Medicinal Chemistry
Annastassia Gallo
[she/her]
Institutions & Degrees:
Postdoc at Duke University
PhD at Temple University
BS at Arcadia University
Country: USA
Area of Research: Bioinorganic chemistry
Ezeokoli Ifeanyi Philip
[he/him]
Institutions & Degrees:
University of Ibadan
Country: Nigeria
Area of Research: Environmental Chemistry and Pollution Control
Daniel Kurtz
[he/him]
Institutions & Degrees:
PhD at UNC Chapel Hill
Postdoc at Harvard University
Currently: Scientific Editor at
Cell Reports Physical Science
Country: USA
Micaela Matta
[she/her]
Institutions & Degrees:
Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Fellow at University of Liverpool
Northwestern University and Université de Bordeaux
PhD in Physical Chemistry at Università di Bologna
Country: UK
Area of Research: Computational materials chemistry
Peter Peterson
[he/him]
Institutions & Degrees:
Assistant Professor at Whittier College
Postdoc: University of Michigan
PhD: University of Alaska Fairbanks
BS: Eastern Washington University
Country: USA
Area of Research: Atmospheric Chemistry
Michelle A. Sahai
[she/her]
Institutions & Degrees:
University of Roehampton, London, UK
Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Degree: DPhil in Computational Biochemistry, MSc in Medical Biophysics, Hons BSc Pharmacology and Toxicology
Country: England
Area of Research: Molecular and Structural Biophysics, Computational Biomedicine, Computational and Systems Genomics
Minjung Son
[she/her]
Institutions & Degrees:
Currently a postdoc at University of Wisconsin-Madison
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2020)
MS, Yonsei University, South Korea (2015)
BS, Yonsei University, South Korea (2013)
Country: USA
Area of Research: Physical chemistry - ultrafast spectroscopy
Shambhavi Tannir
[she/her]
Institutions & Degrees:
University of Wyoming (PhD 2019)
Postdoctoral Associate (2019-present)
Country: USA
Area of Research: Nanomaterials - Quantum dots, DNA nanotechnology, OLEDs. Design and characterization of materials and applications in catalysis, display technologies, energy harvesting systems
Paulette Vincent-Ruz
[she/her/ella]
Institutions & Degrees:
Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Policy
University of Pittsburgh (2019)
Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry Education
University of Michigan (2020-now)
Country: Text
Area of Research: Equity Centered Chemistry Education Research
Stephen von Kugelgen
[he/him]
Institutions & Degrees:
Postdoc @ Northwestern University
Ph.D. in Chemistry @ UC Berkeley
B.A. in Chemistry @ Reed College
Country: USA
Area of Research: Chemistry at the interface of inorganic, organometallic, and polymer materials synthesis; mechanism-driven investigation of molecular materials for quantum information science