Education

• Stanford University, Stanford CA. PhD Chemistry, April 2015.
  Thesis: “Modern theory of protein folding.”
• Pomona College, Claremont CA. BA Chemistry, May 2010

Academic Positions

• Group Leader, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron “DESY”
  • Hamburg, DE. Aug/2020-present
  • Leader: Photobiology Group. Center for FEL Science (CFEL).
• Staff Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Lab
  • Menlo Park, CA. Jan/2020-July/2020
  • Machine learning group. Permanent academic position.
• Associate Staff Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Lab
  • Menlo Park, CA. June/2015-Jan/2020
  • Linac coherent light source (LCLS). Tenure-track.
• PhD Student, Stanford University
  • Stanford, CA. Sept/2010-Apr/2015
  • Research group of Vijay Pande. Teaching & research.

Visiting Positions

• Visiting Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University
  • New York, NY. Oct/2025-present
  • Sabbatical in the laboratory of Mohammed AlQuraishi.
• Visiting Scholar, Stockholm Unversity
  • Stockholm, SE. Mar/2019-July/2019
  • Visiting scientist in the laboratory of Anders Nilsson.

Industry Experience

• Principal Scientist, CHARM Therapeutics
  • Cambridge, UK. Nov/2022-May/2024
  • Technical strategy & ML/experiment intersection.

Scholarship

Updated: 22 October 2025

• Journal Publications: 76
• Book Chapters: 1
• Total Citations: 8200+
• H-index: 40
• PI role in project: 12
• High Impact (Science or Nature): 6
• Scholarly Grants & Awards: 11

Service

• Co-editor, Journal of Applied Crystallography (IUCr).

Grants, Awards, Honors

• Royal Society of Chemistry Horizon Award: Ultrafast X-ray Scattering (2021).
• Faculty, International Max Planck Research School for Ultrafast Imaging & Structural Dynamics (2021).
• Member, DFG Excellence Cluster on Advanced Imaging of Matter “AIM” (2020).
• Helmholtz Young Investigator Group Leader Award, 1.8M EUR (2020-2026).
• DoE SciDAC: Designing Photocatalysts Through Scalable Quantum Mechanics and Dynamics. Principle author with T. Martinez, $4M. Managed 4-PI photocatalyst design team (2017-2020).
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2010-2013)
• John Stauffer Academic Award (2010)
• The Frank Parkhurst Brackett, Jr. and David Wark Brackett Prize (2010)
• Wig Grant for Curriculum Development (2010)
• Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2009)
• Beckman Scholarship (2008)

Invited Talks

• Life at the atomic scale - filming photoactive proteins. Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg (2025).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. Photon Science Seminar, SLAC (2025).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. EBSA, Rome (scheduled for July 2025).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. EMBO Workshop: Time-resolved spectroscopy meets time-resolved crystallography, Pécs. (scheduled for May 2025).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. U. Düsseldorf Chemistry Colloquium, Düsseldorf (2025).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. Ultrafast Dynamic Imaging of Matter Conference. Hamburg (2024).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. UK XFEL Meeting. Royal Society, London (2024).
• Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. 7th Ringberg Workshop on Structural Biology. Tegernsee (2024).
• Statistical crystallography reveals correlated motions of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. CFEL retreat, Timmendorf (2022).
• Can we witness proteins traversing conical intersections via FEL-based crystallography? Imaging European Crystallographic Meeting, Versailles (2022).
• Statistical crystallography reveals correlated motions of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Pacifichem (online). (2021).
• Statistical crystallography reveals correlated motions of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Helmholtz: Mater, Materials, Life (MML) (online). (2021).
• Revealing allosteric pathways via large-scale crystallographic studies. BioXFEL (online). (2021).
• The quest for correlated motion in proteins: progress through diffuse scatter and multi-crystal analysis. UHH Hamburg. (2020).
• What Can We Learn from Diffuse Scatter? Applied Physics Seminar. KTH Stockholm. (2019).
• Putting the Femtosecond in SFX: Ultrafast Crystallography. Pittsburg Diffraction Meeting. (2018).
• What Can We Learn from Diffuse Scatter? 5th Ringberg Conference on XFELs in Biology. (2018).
• Phase Retrieval with Prior Information. LCLS/SSRL User’s Meeting. Menlo Park, CA. (2016).
• Protein Evolution and Design: Session Chair. Protein Folding GRC, Galveston, TX. (2014)
• Boltzmann Takes On Biology: The Next Frontier in Structure. Chemistry Colloquium, Pomona College, CA (2013)
• Transition State Ensembles: The View from Simulation and Experiment. Protein Folding Consortium, Stony Brook, NY. (2012)
• To the Exa-Scale and Beyond: Statistically Motivated Linear Scaling for Protein Dynamics. Titan Summit, Oak Ridge, TN. (2011)
• Markov State Model Reveals Folding and Functional Dynamics in Ultra-Long Trajectories. Biophysics Symposium, Stanford, CA. (2010)
• Ultrasonic Rheology of Mixed-Phase Systems. Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA. (2010)
• Ultrasonic Rheology of Surfactant Systems. Biolin Scientific Surface Science Symposium, Pomona College, CA. (2010)
• Ultrasonic Rheology of SDS Microemulsions. Stanford QCM-D User’s Meeting. Best Presentation Award (2007)