Nate Romero was born and raised in Grand Rapids, MI. He attended Calvin University as an undergraduate, where he conducted research under the mentorship of Prof. Carolyn Anderson and received a B.S. in chemistry in 2012. Working with Prof. Dave Nicewicz at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Nate studied photoredox catalysis as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow and received his PhD in 2017. Shortly after, Nate joined the lab of Prof. Tim Swager at MIT, where he developed an interest in polymer science and carried out postdoctoral research as a NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. Nate began his appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego as Assistant Professor in 2020.

Nate enjoys a number of outdoor and creative pursuits, including woodworking, cycling, fishing, hiking, camping, and surfing.

Jeremy Hilgar was born in Fabulous Las Vegas, NV and grew up in the neighboring suburb of Henderson, NV. To the dismay of his mother and his cats he started studying chemistry in the home kitchen while still a teenager. His more-formal research career began at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he studied the synthesis of binary technetium halides and potential technetium storage strategies under the tutelage of Prof. Kenneth Czerwinski; while an undergrad he also worked for the US EPA analyzing wastewaters generated from hydraulic fracturing operations. He came to UC San Diego in 2014 and developed a framework for making lanthanide-based single-molecule and molecular magnets under the guidance of Prof. Jeffrey Rinehart. After receiving his doctorate in 2020, he joined Prof. Nathan Romero’s group at UC San Diego with interests in creating new conjugated polymer synthetic platforms.

Outside the lab you will potentially find Jeremy debugging software that he has written, rock climbing, learning Korean, or casually browsing crystal structure databases.

YEAR 3

Maribel Clerk was born in Mexico and moved to the United States at a young age. She attended Cal State San Marcos and became a first generation graduate in 2020. Maribel carried out undergraduate research in the labs of Dr. Peter Iovine (University of San Diego) and Dr. Robert Iafe (Cal. State, San Marcos), where her research spanned a variety of project areas, including starch functionalization, boron neutron capture therapy, and organocatalysis. Maribel joined the Romero Group in 2021 and received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2022. Her research focuses on the development of electrochemical methods for polymer upcycling.

In her free time, Maribel enjoys being outdoors, pursuing artistic outlets, and spending time with her pets.

YEAR 3

Emily was born and raised in New York. She earned her B.A. in Chemistry from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2020, where she conducted research in the lab of Dr. Christian M. Rojas. There she worked to optimize the stereoselective amidoglycosylation of glucose and galactose derivatives. It was through training as a carbohydrate chemist that she discovered her love for synthetic chemistry. Emily joined the Romero lab in 2021, where she is investigating the synthesis of Frustrated Lewis Pair polymers.

Outside of the lab, Emily likes to roller skate, bake cookies, and tend to her many plants.

YEAR 2

Rylan Rowsey was born and raised in Helena, MT. He earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Montana State University in 2021. There he worked under the tutelage of Dr. Nicholas Stadie and Dr. Robert Szilagyi investigating the adsorption properties of zeolite-templated carbons using computational methods. When looking for graduate schools Rylan had two criteria, warm climate and cool research. Luckily, he found his home here at UC San Diego in the Romero lab, which definitely fits the criteria.

Outside the lab, you’ll likely find Rylan playing Dungeons and Dragons, writing, baking, and going to Wendy’s where he hopes to one day achieve his life goal of getting a sponsorship.

YEAR 2

Sydney is from a small town in Wisconsin called Hartford. She decided to leave the cornfields and attend school in sunny San Diego at the University of San Diego and graduated with her BA in Biochemistry in 2021. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in Dr. Joan G Schellingers lab conducting research on the optimization of cationic polymerization methods. Sydney is thrilled to continue her research with polymers in the Romero Lab.

When she’s not playing with polymers, Sydney loves rollerblading, hiking and doing any activities outdoors!

YEAR 2

Roxanne spent most of her life in Eagle River, Alaska before attending Chapman University to earn degrees in chemistry and music. There she worked with Dr. Liberman-Martin on ring-opening polymerization of biodegradable monomers with transition metal-free catalysts. Her work on sustainable plastics now continues in the Romero lab which she joined in Jan 2022.

Roxanne likes to travel at any given opportunity and is often found at the San Diego airport on Friday evenings. She also enjoys video games, playing the violin, cooking, exercising, and having a healthy sleep schedule.