About

The path into science

I studied chemistry at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where I also captained the Division I rowing team. My first research was computational: using density functional theory to study cheap-metal catalysts that could help use sunlight to split water, which became my first conference poster at the ACS Spring Meeting in 2022. I graduated magna cum laude and was named the AIC Overall Best Graduating Senior in Chemistry.

TODO(Sidney): one or two sentences on the moment chemistry clicked for you, and why you moved from computation to batteries and spectroscopy.

Today I’m a fifth-year PhD student in chemistry at the University of Chicago, in the Hsu Group. I study how zinc plates and strips in water-based batteries, using operando Raman spectroscopy and SHINERS, in cells I design and 3D-print myself. I’m also an NSF AI-Enabled Materials trainee, working with Yuxin Chen’s group on machine learning that can help choose the next experiment. I expect to finish my PhD in June 2027.

I like explaining science to people who don’t do it for a living: I’ve taught honors general chemistry, and I lead a hands-on materials table at the South Side Science Festival.

TODO(Sidney): your advisor’s name as you want it written, and the kind of role you’re looking for next.

Outside the lab

I go deep on things. I’ve raced a 340-mile non-stop kayak race three times, I teach skiing, and I fly drones. I design and 3D-print, and I build games: an iOS card and board game collection, a couple of space games, and a physical board game made of tetrahedra. I also run research workflows with AI agents, advise a BBYO youth group, and chase small everyday questions until I have a good answer, which I write up as Field Notes.

More on the hobbies page, or see what I’m up to right now.