St. Elmo Brady Postdoctoral Inclusive Excellence Symposium

Dr. Alvarez obtained a B.S. in Chemistry at Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México in 2014 (Lanthanides and alumoxanes project) and an MSc as part of the Master and Doctorate in Chemical Sciences Program at UNAM in 2017 in the structural study of aluminium bis(calcogenophosphinoil)diamide with relevance in catalysis, and a PhD degree from UNAM in 2022, studying cubane compounds bioinspired by the active site of Photosystem II. Currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California, Irvine, Dr. Alvarez is working on bimetallic systems for CO₂ electroreduction and is an active member of LatinXChem and a 2023 recipient of the CAS Future Leaders program.

Symposium title: Exploration of heterobimetallic complexes for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction

Dr. Hagler (PhD, ‘20) is an HHMI Hanna H. Gray postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, where her research aims to predict how the structure of RNA inside a cell will affect downstream gene expression for any RNA sequence or disease mutation using chemical biology. She completed her PhD at UIUC in 2020 with Prof. Steve Zimmerman focusing on the development of small molecule drugs to target toxic RNAs. In her independent career, she will use biophysical models of RNA folding to predict and modulate gene expression for therapeutic intervention.

Symposium title: Helping People through RNA Chemical Biology and Structure

Dr. N'Diaye received a BS and an MS degree in Chemistry from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). She continued her education and received a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto (UofT) in Canada, where she developed and studied nanocomposite materials for electrochemical capacitors. N'Diaye is now a Beckman-Brown Postdoctoral Fellow from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology at UIUC. She is currently working with Dr. Joaquín Rodríguez-López and Dr. Rohit Bhargava. Her research focuses on the study of electrochemical interfaces probed through advanced spectroscopic methods to understand phenomena which can affect the electrochemical capture and release of carbon dioxide.

Symposium title: Functional electrochemical interfaces to address Energy Storage and CO₂ capture

Dr. Rodriguez completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras focusing on Neural circuit research. From there, she moved to Rutgers-New Jersey to pursue a PhD in organic chemistry focusing on organocatalytic methods to access medicinally relevant scaffolds. Currently, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at UT Southwestern in the Tambar Lab, she has synthesized kinase inhibitors as therapy for TNBC and more recently protein degraders for prostate cancer. As she advances in her career, she is interested in protein modulation under pathogenic conditions via innovative chemical methods.

Symposium title: Strategic Design and Synthesis of Dual-Protein Degraders to Unveil Novel Targeted Prostate Cancer Therapies

Dr. Ivan Moreno-Hernandez received a Bachelor of Science degree with University Honors in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Afterwards, Ivan continued his studies in Chemistry as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow with Prof. Nathan Lewis at the California Institute of Technology. Ivan focused on the study of semiconductor/metal-oxide heterojunctions for photoelectrochemical applications and on the discovery of earth-abundant electrocatalysts for anodic reactions in acidic electrolytes. Since 2019, Ivan has been a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos at the University of California, Berkeley and has worked on understanding and controlling the reactive chemical environment created during liquid cell electron microscopy experiments.

Symposium title: Addressing renewable energy challenges through electrocatalyst discovery and in-situ nanoscale observations

Dr. Melanie R. McReynolds is a HHMI Hanna H. Gray postdoctoral fellow and Burroughs Wellcome Fund PDEP awardee at Princeton University, where her research focuses on the intersection of metabolic decline and aging. Melanie holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Physics from Alcorn State University. She participated in the NIH funded Alcorn State to Penn State Bridges to the Doctorate Program where she obtained her M.S. degree in Biological Sciences. Dr. McReynolds completed her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. Melanie was recognized as a Rising Star on the CellPress list of Top 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America and aims to inspire the next generation of scientists to trust that all things will work together for those who believe. Melanie is on the trajectory to establish her independent research group, where her future lab will shed light on metabolic aging and disease. She will return to Penn State as Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology—effective January 2022.

Symposium Title: NAD⁺ flux is maintained in aged mice