I am a Research Chemist who focuses on the synthesis, development, and scale-up of air/moisture sensitive organometallic and organophosphorus reagents. Key components of the job involve project management, multi-tasking, data analysis, writing safe procedures, and providing safety-based training.

My projects currently focus on the synthesis of cationic phosphorus and arsenic compounds for applications in transition metal mediated catalysis and organocatalysis.

I obtained an MSc and a PhD degree under the supervision of Prof. Paul J. Ragogna. The projects were very different but both involved a heavy portion of synthetic chemistry. Through this research I gained a considerable amount of experience in the preparation of organic, organometallic, and inorganic compounds. All compounds were convincingly characterized using the appropriate methods, including: multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy, DSC, TGA, and mass spectroscopy.During my PhD I became fully trained and proficient in all facets of single crystal X-ray crystallography from mounting samples to fully solving the dataset and preparing it for publication. My considerable experience in this challenging field highlights my problem solving skills, attention to detail, computer skills, and also ability to act as a team player (I solved a majority of the Ragogna group samples for 3 years).

I was the student lab coordinator for Chem 2271a for the mentioned timeframe. I organized the lab activities and the teaching assistants, performed the prelab talks for all sections, and maintained a normal teaching assistant load. I also dealt with every student personally either inside the lab or during office hours regarding specific questions about the material. I had a large role in the significantly needed modernization of the lab manual and marking schemes.

I worked in Prof. Charles L. B. Macdonald's synthetic chemistry lab both the summer before and after my 4th year research project. This represented my initial training and exposure to air sensitive chemistry and provided me with significant experience and expertise moving forward to my graduate career.