Chris graduated from Caltech with a PhD in chemistry. He received his BS in chemistry and biochemistry at Idaho State University. At Caltech, Chris studied synthetic models of biological active sites that catalyze chemical transformations of small molecules relevant to sustainability. He synthesized these well-defined clusters to examine how the interaction between multiple metal sites affects the physical properties and reactivity of the complex. Understanding how these synthetic clusters work is expected to aid in the design of efficient oxidation catalysts composed of earth-abundant transition metals for fuel cells.
Chris is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the group of Prof. Yi Lu at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
RSI Research: Multinuclear Synthetic Models of the Oxygen Evolving Complex in Photosystem II to Understand the Effects of Multiple Metal Centers on the Reactivity of a Terminal Metal-oxo
