Kin becomes the Engle group’s first postdoc, after flying in from the Windy City. Kin earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago with Prof. Viresh Rawal studying catalytic, enantioselective addition reactions of masked acyl cyanides. After enduring a long wait for his car as it meandered its way across the country and braving the San Diego DMV, scavenging parts to set up his manifold was a piece of cake.

Fresh off the plane from New York, Joe Derosa joins the Engle lab for the summer. During the spring, Joe graduated from CCNY, after wrapping up undergrad research in the laboratory of Prof. Mark Biscoe. In between getting stranded with a broken down car, ubering to campus, and coordinating temporary transportation, Joe managed to set up his vacuum manifold and organize his bench.

 .

After completing her degree at K-9 Assertive Training in Corona, CA, Hermione arrives in the Engle lab for her first day. “Learning organic chemistry is much easier than learning how to stay,” she reflects at the end of the day.

A steady stream of packages have been arriving at our doors on a daily basis, from new glassware, to vacuum pumps, to solvents drums. Thankfully scissors and a box cutter were among our first orders! We get closer to operating at full speed everyday.