Speaker Biographies

Connor W. Coley

Class of 1957 Career Development Professor and Associate Professor

Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT

AI in synthetic organic chemistry: models to plan and predict chemical reactions

Connor W. Coley's research group works at the interface of AI and chemistry to develop models that understand how molecules behave, interact, and react and use that knowledge to engineer new ones, with an emphasis on therapeutic discovery. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Caltech and his Ph.D. from MIT, followed by postdoctoral training at the Broad Institute.

Mingji Dia

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry

Emory University

Chemistry Innovation and Biological Discovery through Natural Product Total Synthesis

Mingji Dai is currently the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry at Emory University. He grew up in a small village in Sichuan, China and received his B.S. degree from Peking University in 2002 under the mentorship of Professors Zhen Yang and Jiahua Chen. After working as a research associate in the same laboratory for two more years, he went to New York City in 2004 and earned his Ph.D. degree with distinction from Columbia University in 2009 under the mentorship of Professor Samuel J. Danishefsky. From 2009 to 2012, he received postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Professor Stuart L. Schreiber at Harvard University and the Broad Institute. In August 2012, he began his independent career as an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department and Center for Cancer Research of Purdue University. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2018 and full professor in 2020. In August 2022, he was recruited to Emory University as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry. His lab focuses on developing novel strategies and methodologies for the synthesis of complex natural products and other medicinally important molecules.

Betsy Parkinson

Associate Professor, Departments of Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

Purdue University

Utilizing biocatalysis and synthetic chemistry to access new natural products

Betsy Parkinson attended Rhodes College, where she obtained her B.S. in chemistry in 2010. She conducted graduate research with Prof. Paul Hergenrother at the UIUC on the synthesis and mechanisms of the deoxynybomycin family of natural products. After obtaining her Ph.D. in 2015, she performed postdoctoral studies with Prof. William Metcalf at UIUC studying the biosynthesis of phosphonate containing natural products. Betsy started her laboratory in the Departments of Chemistry and Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University in the Fall of 2018 and was promoted to associate professor in Fall 2025. In her lab, research focuses on the identification of novel bioactive peptide natural products from cryptic bacterial biosynthetic gene clusters. Additionally, she studies the unique and challenging chemistries performed by natural product biosynthetic enzymes, such as cyclization of small peptides.

M. Kevin Brown

James F. Jackson Professor of Chemistry

Indiana University

Building Bonds with Boron

Kevin Brown grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and after graduating high school moved to central New York to pursue an undergraduate degree at Hamilton College. Here Kevin became interested in organic chemistry by working in the labs of Ian Rosenstein. Upon graduation, Kevin moved to Boston College and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry with Professor Amir Hoveyda in 2008. Upon completion of his graduate studies, he began a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Institutes of Health funded postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratories of E. J. Corey at Harvard University.

In 2011, Kevin started his independent academic career at Indiana University. He was promoted to Full professor in 2021 and named the James F. Jackson professor of chemistry. His program of research has been directed towards the development of new methods for chemical synthesis, with a focus on alkene functionalization reactions. He has received several awards such as a Sloan Fellowship, Amgen Young Investigator Award, Novartis Early Career Award, and a Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers.

In his free time Kevin enjoys spending time with his family and friends in both indoor and outdoor settings. His favorite outdoor pursuits include rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, and running.

Quentin Michaudel

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering

Texas A&M University

Engineering Conjugated Polymers through Stereoselective Olefin Metathesis

Quentin Michaudel grew up in La Rochelle, France. He received his B.Sc. (2008) and M.Sc. (2010) from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. He earned his Ph.D. (2015) with Professor Phil S. Baran at Scripps Research, where he explored C–H functionalization methods and their applications to the synthesis of complex molecules. Quentin then accepted a postdoctoral position at Cornell University, where he developed photocontrolled polymerizations with Professor Brett P. Fors. In 2018, Quentin started his independent career at Texas A&M University, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering. His group develops new synthetic methods for the construction of complex drug-like molecules and polymers, with applications ranging from sustainable plastics and organic electronics to antibacterial agents. Current efforts center on two major areas: the development of stereoselective olefin metathesis processes and nitrogen-containing monomers, and the design of "click-and-modify" strategies based on SuFEx click chemistry and photocatalysis. His research has been supported by the NIH, NSF, DOE, and the Welch Foundation, and has been recognized with several awards, including the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award and the 2026 Augustine Award from the Organic Reactions Catalysis Society.

Tianning Diao

Professor of Chemistry

New York University

ProPhos Promoted Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling and Bioorthogonal Uncaging

Tianning Diao received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2012, followed by postdoctoral research at Princeton University from 2012 to 2014. Since her appointment at NYU in 2014, Diao's research has been focused on understanding the mechanisms of nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions and developing new methodologies to address challenges in organic synthesis and sustainable energy conversion. Diao is the recipient of multiple awards, including the NSF-CAREER award (2016), Sloan Research Fellowship (2018), Chinese-American Chemistry Professors Association Distinguished Junior Faculty Award (2018), Organometallics Distinguished Author Award (2018), Camille-Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2019), and the Cope Scholar Award (2023).