The primary focus of the Wickens group is the discovery and development of new strategies to address longstanding challenges in organic synthesis. Our central hypothesis is that classically reactive species, such as radical and ionic intermediates, can be tamed and deployed as potent catalysts and reagents. Our recent efforts have focused on the electrochemical generation of new radical ions that exhibit extreme reactivity without sacrificing chemoselectivity. These investigations have led us to explore how electrochemistry and photochemistry can be synergistically leveraged to enable otherwise infeasible reactions and how potent dielectrophiles can be cleanly generated from alkenes. Each of the projects we pursue balances mechanistically guided development of novel strategies with the introduction of useful new synthetic methodologies.

Help UW-Milwaukee students get around safely at night. Boss is a service provided from 6pm till 2am. As a Boss driver, I had to provide a safe environment for all students. This job made me a much better driver as I had to be able navigate through the city in a van. It also helped my customer service skills as I would need to defuse high-stress situations, then go right into the next call with a friendly face. This helped me be able to work in very stressful situations. As this is a service provided at night every day of the week and weekends. I would need to drive many drunken people, making sure they were okay while also safely. I also needed to be able to work most of the night after being in classes all day and then get up the next morning for classes. This strengthened my work ethic and organizational skills.

The Town Club is a counter club in the Fox Point area. I worked as a lifeguard. With that my duties included cleaning the pools and the area around the pools, customer service and, Lifeguarding. I found this work extremely satisfying and fulfilling. It was very important to stay on alert even if I wasn't on guard but still needing to be helpful and respectful with all. My strongest attribute was my ability to be a good communicator with patrons and other Lifeguards.

Family-owned fireworks store. I would do whatever was needed from me, including knowledgeably answering customer questions, helping find products for customers, working as a cashier, pricing/restocking and, warehouse organization. It was necessary to be able to stay calm in stressful situations as the store would get completely flooded with customers leading up to the 4th of July.