My Story
Todd is a native of Minnesota and did his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota. In 2008 he joined the group of Tomislav Rovis at Colorado State University for his graduate studies to develop rhodium-catalyzed C–H activation reactions. During his Ph.D., Todd did an internship with Thomas Ward at the University of Basel where he prepared an artificial metalloenzyme for an asymmetric C–H activation reaction. After graduating, he joined the group of Frances Arnold at Caltech as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. In the Arnold group, Todd evolved P450s to catalyze nitrene transfer reactions. In 2015 he started his independent career at Princeton University and in 2021 moved to Cornell University, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Todd’s group has developed photochemical strategies to expand the synthetic utility of common enzymes, enabling them to address long-standing selectivity challenges in the chemical synthesis literature.
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Arthur C. Cope Early Career Scholar Award (2022)
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Amgen Young Investigator Award (2021)
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Junior BIOTRANs Award (2021)
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Eli Lilly Grantee Award (2021)
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NSF CAREER Award (2019 - 2024)
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ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator (2018 - 2020)