Education
- Stanford University, Stanford CA. PhD Chemistry, April 2015.
Advisor: Vijay Pande. 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 Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL).
- Co-Founder, Reciprocal Space Station “RSS”
- NYC, USA. Jan/2026-present
- Academic consortium for open-source structural biology software.
- Staff Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Lab
- Menlo Park, CA. Jan/2020-July/2020
- LCLS & 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 University
- 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: 3 September 2026
- Journal Publications: 75
- Book Chapters: 1
- Total Citations: 10,300+
- H-index: 40
- PI role in project: 12
- High Impact (Science or Nature): 6
- Scholarly Grants & Awards: 13
Service
- Co-founder, Reciprocal Space Station (rs-station.org).
- Co-editor, Journal of Applied Crystallography (IUCr).
Grants, Awards, Honors
- Norddeutscher Wissenschaftspreis (North German Science Prize) “Magnetsinn von Zugvögeln” collaboration (U. Hamburg, U. Oldenburg, DESY, EuXFEL, 2026).
- 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. Principal 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).
- Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry (2009).
- Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2009).
- Beckman Scholarship (2008).
Invited Talks
- Life beyond the single-structure frontier. Uppsala University, Uppsala (2026).
- 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 (2025).
- Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair. EMBO Workshop: Time-resolved spectroscopy meets time-resolved crystallography, Pécs (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? 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: Matter, Materials, Life (MML) Workshop (online) (2021).
- Revealing allosteric pathways via large-scale crystallographic studies. BioXFEL Meeting (online) (2021).
- The quest for correlated motion in proteins: progress through diffuse scatter and multi-crystal analysis. CUI Seminar, Hamburg (2020).
- What Can We Learn from Diffuse Scatter? Applied Physics Seminar, KTH Stockholm (2019).
- Putting the Femtosecond in SFX: Ultrafast Crystallography. Pittsburgh 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 Users’ 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 Users’ Meeting. Best Presentation Award (2007).
