Melissa Ramirez

Melissa Ramirez uses a cutting-edge approach that combines computations and experiments to develop catalytic reactions. As she wraps up a postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology, she’s gearing up to start her own lab at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities using this approach to perfect computational models to study chemical reactions. Ramón Gudiño García talked with Ramirez about what it’s like to move into the role of a professor as well as the importance of hands-on mentorship. This interview was edited for length and clarity. Ramón Gudiño García: Congratulations on your new position! I read on your website that you are a computational and synthetic organic chemist. What does that mean? Melissa Ramirez: Currently, chemists usually first develop or optimize a reaction in the laboratory and subsequently perform computational modeling to analyze the reaction. But as a synthetic and computational chemist, I use computations and experiments in