One of the biggest challenges facing our generation is identifying sustainable alternatives to precious metals that are required for many important industrial processes. The continuous need for rare metals has led to the mining and refinement of increasingly lower grade metal ores that requires a cocktail of harsh chemicals and generates large amounts of waste that is detrimental to both the environment and human health. As such, the ability to transform the reliance of current industrial processes from these diminishing resources to more sustainable alternatives is essential for our generation. My laboratory is actively pursuing the development of a sustainable reaction platform that relies exclusively on iron as an earth-abundant and environmentally benign catalyst. Specifically, the focus is on the metathesis reaction, through which pairs of alkenes are reorganized to form new carbon-carbon bonds. This transformation has profound impact on synthetic developments in the petroleum, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries.
Awards and Achievements
- Amgen Young Investigator Award
- Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
- C&E News Talented Twelve
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow
- NSF Career Award