Laboratory Manager: Ashley Richardson

Richard Liu's group will explore redox-active organic moieties as novel catalytic platforms, new methodologies to generate nano-structured carbon platforms, and applying myriad physical techniques to elucidate complex reaction mechanisms. Liu completed his graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked with Stephen L. Buchwald on the development of copper-hydride catalysts for olefin hydrofunctionalization processes, as well as palladium- and nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. After earning his Ph.D. in 2019, he joined the laboratory of Timothy M. Swager at MIT and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) as a postdoctoral associate, during which he demonstrated new applications of photochemistry performed on and by organic polymers. His independent research will focus on discovering new concepts at the interface of organic, inorganic, physical, materials, and theoretical chemistry, with the goal of addressing global challenges in sustainability, energy, and human health.

We are recruiting a diverse team of scientists to push the boundaries of organic chemistry. Although our research is guided foremost by our curiosity and imagination, we also share a desire to confront the greatest scientific challenges of 21st century society, including energy, sustainability, and health. To face these global problems, we will bring to bear an ever-expanding repertoire of techniques including organic and inorganic synthesis, spectroscopy, computation, device fabrication, and chemical sensing.