Speaker Biographies | Department of Chemistry

Bianxiao Cui (Stanford University)

Bianxiao Cui earned her B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago under Prof. Stuart Rice. She then moved to Stanford University to do postdoctoral work with Steven Chu. Now a professor at Stanford, Dr. Cui's research focuses on developing new tools to explore the nano-bio interface, membrane curvature, electrophysiology, and signal transduction in both normal and disease states. Her interdisciplinary work spans biophysics, cell biology, chemistry, material science, nanotechnology, and neurobiology.

Song Lin (Cornell University)

Song Lin, originally from Tianjin, China, completed his B.S. at Peking University in 2008 before pursuing graduate studies at Harvard University with Eric Jacobsen. His postdoctoral work with Chris Chang at UC Berkeley was focused on the design of molecularly tunable materials, such as covalent organic frameworks, as catalysts for electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to value-added products. In 2016, he began his independent career at Cornell University, where he is now the Tisch University Professor. His research, which sits at the intersection of electrochemistry and organic chemistry, aims to discover new organic transformations and elucidate new reaction mechanisms.

Evan Miller (University of California, Berkeley)

Evan Miller holds a B.S. in Biology/Chemistry and a B.A. in Philosophy/Theology from Point Nazarene University. He completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, under Christopher J. Chang and pursued postdoctoral studies at UC San Diego with Roger Y. Tsien. Prof. Miller is now an Associate Professor in Chemistry and Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. His research integrates synthetic chemistry, biology, and neuroscience to develop molecular tools for studying the nervous system.

Mark Levin (University of Chicago)

Mark Levin, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, completed his B.S. at the University of Rochester. He pursued his graduate studies under Prof. F. Dean Toste at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on the Au(I)/Au(III) redox couple for supramolecular catalysis and fluorine-18 radiosynthesis. As an NIH postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Eric N. Jacobsen’s lab at Harvard University, he worked on enantioselective fluorination with chiral organoiodane catalysts. Since starting his independent career in 2019 at the University of Chicago, Prof. Levin has concentrated on methods for single-atom skeletal editing.

Timothy Newhouse (Yale University)

Tim Newhouse, originally from New Hampshire, earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Colby College in 2005. He completed his Ph.D. at The Scripps Research Institute with Phil S. Baran and conducted additional research with Donna G. Blackmond. Following postdoctoral studies with E.J. Corey at Harvard University, he is now an Associate Professor at Yale University. The goal of his research is to develop chemical technologies and computational approaches to enable the step-efficient synthesis of structurally complex natural products with potential applications to neuroscience.