College of Environmental Science and Forestry B.S., magna cum laude 1998. The University of Chicago, M.S., 2000 Ph.D., 2005. The Scripps Research Institute, Post-Doc, 2005-2007. California State University Long Beach, Assistant Professor, 2007-

Molecular recognition is the study of how and why molecules interact. At its essence lies the attraction of molecules at energy levels “weaker than covalent.” Hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, and the hydrophobic effect cover some of these possible forces. In nature we find countless crucial interactions predicated on noncovalent interactions such as; enzyme-substrate recognition, DNA-protein binding, and ion-receptor transport. From a synthetic point of view these principles have strongly influenced areas of research from drug design to materials science to molecular self-assembly. Our research uses molecular recognition as a design principle to develop new synthetic molecules that are compatible with and capable of regulating biological function.