Where Are They Now?
Alumnus Jay Chiang
Graduating Class: '00
Lab at TSRI: Professor K. Barry Sharpless's lab.
Dissertation Title: "Applications of Automation to Reaction Optimization
and Library Synthesis"
Experience at TSRI: "I was a non-traditional student [in that
I never considered an academic career]. My interests were always in industry.
I actually hadn't planned on getting my Ph.D. until Barry Sharpless recruited
me. I set up an automated system in his lab and researched applications
for automated catalyst screening and library synthesis. Now I've graduated,
the Ph.D. is helpful and I'm glad I was exposed to the academic side.
I also learned some biology."
Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Industry Experience: Positions with start-up companies Arqule
(1994-96) and Coelacanth (2000-01).
Current Position: Associate director of automated chemistry for
Senomyx, a taste and smell company. "What I'm doing now is an extension
of what I was doing at Scripps. We're targeting taste and smell receptors
with high-throughput screening for potentially novel taste and odorant
compounds."
Reaction to Sharpless's 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: "I had
hoped it would happen when I was there! But I did have the chance to celebrate
with him after it happened..."
Plans for the Future: Entering the field of venture capital,
in which start-up companies are evaluated for funding and given direction
on how to succeed.
Extracurriculars: Recently became "golf-crazy." Also working
on his surfing. "I've been told it's a travesty to live in Cardiff and
not surf."
In the Family: Chiang's brother (and housemate), Kyle, is a first-year
graduate student in TSRI investigator Ben Cravatt's lab.
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