معرفی
Makeda Tekle-Smith serves as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry within the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and holds an Affiliated Member position with the Foundations of Data Science Center. She commenced her independent academic career at Columbia in 2022 following extensive training in synthetic methodology development.
Her academic journey includes:
- B.A. in Chemistry from Pomona College (2014), where she researched novel anti-malarial compounds under Prof. Cynthia Selassie.
- Ph.D. from Columbia University (2019) with Prof. James Leighton, pioneering asymmetric C(sp3)–C(sp3) bond construction techniques applied to non-aromatic polyketide natural product synthesis.
- Postdoctoral research with Prof. Abigail Doyle at Princeton University and UCLA, investigating photoredox-catalyzed generation of reactive radical intermediates for new reactivity platforms.
Professor Tekle-Smith's research program centers on inventing practical chemical strategies for precise selectivity control in synthetic transformations. Her work integrates advanced organic synthesis with photoredox catalysis and radical chemistry, targeting applications in complex molecule construction. Current emphases include asymmetric catalysis development and harnessing unconventional reaction pathways to address longstanding challenges in bond formation selectivity, with potential implications for pharmaceutical synthesis and materials science.
