Richard earned an A.B. summa cum laude in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard College (2015), where he conducted research with Theodore A. Betley and Eric N. Jacobsen. During his graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Richard worked with Stephen L. Buchwald on the development of copper-hydride catalysts for olefin hydrofunctionalization processes, as well as palladium- and nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. After earning his Ph.D. in 2019, he joined the laboratory of Timothy M. Swager at MIT and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) as a postdoctoral associate, during which he demonstrated new applications of photochemistry performed on and by organic polymers. Richard will return to Harvard University to join the faculty in July 2022. His independent research will focus on discovering new concepts at the interface of organic, inorganic, physical, materials, and theoretical chemistry, with the goal of addressing global challenges in sustainability, energy, and human health. Recent Awards ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator (2023) Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research (2023) CAS Future Leaders (2022) Reaxys PhD Prize Finalist (2020) Ereztech Young Organometallic Scientists Award (2019) Bristol Myers Squibb Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry (2017–2018) MIT Department of Chemistry Award for Outstanding Teaching (2016) Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Derek Bok Center at Harvard (2014)

Organic Redox Catalysis We aim to realize new processes involving redox-active organic molecules and to weave these steps into catalytic solutions for efficient and sustainable chemical synthesis. Transition Metal Catalysis We are devising unconventional cross-coupling transformations that produce useful, alternative products from abundant starting-material classes. Organic Chemistry for Energy and Environment We want to understand how fundamental physical organic chemistry can be used to enable more efficient separations and energy storage, as well as organic synthesis that is friendly to our world.

Polpum Onnuch, Kranthikumar Ramagonolla, Richard Y. Liu. “Aminative Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling.” Science 2024, 383, 1019–1024. Dawei Xi, Abdulrahman M. Alfaraidi, Jinxu Gao, Thomas Cochard, Luana C. I. Faria, Zheng Yang, Thomas Y. George, Taobo Wang, Roy G. Gordon, Richard Y. Liu, Michael J. Aziz. “Mild pH-decoupling aqueous flow battery with practical pH recovery.” Nat. Energy 2024, 1–12. Kelvin J. Y. Wu, Ben I. C. Tresco, Antonio Ramkissoon, Elena V. Aleksandrova, Egor A. Syroegin, Dominic N. Y. See, Priscilla Liow, Georgia A. Dittemore, Meiyi Yu, Giambattisa Testolin, Matthew J. Mitcheltree, Richard Y. Liu, Maxim S. Svetlov, Yury S. Polikanov, Andrew G. Myers. “An Antibiotic Preorganized for Ribosomal Binding Overcomes Antimicrobial Resistance.” Science 2024, 383, 721–726. Abdulrahman M. Alfaraidi, Dawei Xi, Nina Ni, Thomas Y. George, Tatsuhiro Tsukamoto, Roy G. Gordon, Michael J. Aziz, Richard Y. Liu. “An Extremely Stable and Soluble NH2-Substituted Anthraquinone Electrolyte for Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries.” ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2023, 6, 12259–12266. Abdulrahman M. Alfaraidi, Bryan Kudisch, Nina Ni, Jayden Thomas, Thomas Y. George, Khashayar Rajabimoghadam, Haihui Joy Jiang, Daniel G. Nocera, Michael J. Aziz, Richard Y. Liu. “Reversible CO2 Capture and On-Demand Release by an Acidity-Matched Organic Photoswitch.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 26720–26727.