I was raised in a small village just outside of Glasgow, Scotland. After undergraduate studies at The University of Strathclyde, which included a one-year appointment at Merck, I pursued a graduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin under the tutelage of Professor Alan H. Cowley. During my stay in Austin I developed a deep affinity for the many quirks of American and Texan life. Thus, I chose to remain in the US for a post-doctoral appointment, and in the summer of 2008 I moved to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My post-doc was carried out in the group of Professor Maurice Brookhart and was focused on the activation of inert C-H bonds using late transition metal catalysts.

 

These experiences have helped to foster my approach to chemistry, which seeks to combine aspects of organic, inorganic, organometallic and materials chemistry research in the development of new catalysts for C-H bond activation and functionalization.