Congratulations to Dr. Thomas Tugwell on Successfully Defending his Ph.D.!

We are delighted to announce that Thomas Tugwell has successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, titled "Computational Approaches to Stereoselectivity Prediction and Catalyst Design."

From Synthesis to Simulation

Thomas’s path to his doctorate highlights a unique blend of experimental and theoretical expertise. He completed his B.S. in Chemistry at Louisiana State University before earning a Master of Science in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018. Before joining the Liu Group, he gained valuable industrial experience as a Senior R&D Scientist at Natural Advantage R&D, where he led discovery teams and developed novel pathways for flavor and fragrance chemicals.

Thomas returned to Pitt in 2021 to pursue his Ph.D., leveraging his background in synthesis to inform his computational work.

Research Achievements

During his time in the Peng Liu Group, Thomas applied density functional theory (DFT) and classical molecular dynamics (MD) to solve complex problems in organic methodology and protein design. His research spanned a wide range of topics, including:

• Reaction Mechanisms: Elucidating reactivity and selectivity in transition metal-catalyzed reactions.

  
  

• Protein Design: Working on de novo protein designs and informing metalloenzyme catalyst design using molecular dynamics simulations.

  
  

His hard work as a lead computational chemist has resulted in co-authorships on several high-impact publications, including articles in Nature, Nature Synthesis, and Nature Chemistry.

Awards and Honors

In recognition of his research potential, Thomas was awarded the prestigious Pittsburgh Quantum Institute (PQI) Fellowship Award in 2024.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Tugwell on this significant milestone! We wish him continued success in his future scientific career.