Haohua obtained his BSc degree in chemistry from Xiamen University, China and completed his PhD at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, in 2016. At Marburg, under the supervision of Prof. Eric Meggers, he became interested in using green and sustainable energy to promote chemical reactions, while researching visible-light-activated asymmetric catalysis. At Caltech, he worked with Prof. Gregory C. Fu on developing new sustainable reactions for synthesis that use earth-abundant nickel rather than precious metals as catalysts. He aims to develop a new approach for efficient and economical synthesis of pharmaceutical molecules.
Haohua is currently on the faculty of Xiamen University.