Biography
A pragmatic theoretical chemist who enjoys collaborative basic-science research, engages real-life problems, and develops original scientific software solutions.
Interested in developing theoretical and computational methods and applying them to problems of broad chemical scope: noncovalent interactions in organic crystals, in pharmaceutical formulations, in biomolecular structure, and in materials design.
- Scientist II at PTC Therapeutics, work focused on biopharmaceutical applications computational chemistry.
- Postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Michael A. Webb, research focused on machine learning models for intermolecular interactions in polymers.
- Postdoctoral fellow with Prof. C. David Sherrill at the Georgia Institute of Technology, research focused on ab initio methods applicable to intermolecular interactions in crystals.
- Ph. D. in Chemistry from Purdue University, with Prof. Lyudmila V. Slipchenko.
- Doctoral research on polarizable molecular dynamics and density functional approximations.
- Mini-MBA in Applied Management Principles from Purdue's Krannert School of Management.
- Intern at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Computational Chemistry and Materials Science Institute.
- Awarded with the Young Scientist and Innovator of 2011 Scholarship by the Government of Colombia.
- Lecturer of general and physical chemistry laboratories at Universidad Icesi in Cali, Colombia.
- Honors graduation with a 5-year mayor in Chemistry at Universidad del Valle also in Cali.
- Consistently ranked top-5 or above in undergraduate class.
- More than a decade research and teaching experience
- Numerous published articles in prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals.
- More than a dozen oral presentations, and several poster presentations.
- About $40,000 in scholarships, travel grants, and awards.
Personal Information
- Nationalities: Argentinean and Colombian
- E-Mail:
- Google Scholar Profile
- LinkedIn Profile
- GitHub Profile
- Résumé
Education
Postdoctoral Research
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Molecular Modeling
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering - Princeton University - Princeton, NJ, USA
Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Chemistry
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry - Georgia Institute of Technology - Atlanta, GA, USA
Graduate Studies
Ph.D. in Chemistry
Department of Chemistry - Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN, USA
Executive Programs
Applied Management Principles Mini-MBA Program
Krannert School of Management - Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN, USA
Undergraduate Studies
Professional (5-Year) Degree with Honors in Chemistry
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas - Universidad del Valle - Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Experience
Research in Academia
Development of Machine Learning Models to Optimize the Synthesis of Single-enzyme Polymer Nanoparticles
Adviser: Prof. Michael A. Webb
Princeton University - Princeton, NJ, USA
Development of Computational Methods Applied to Molecular Crystals
Adviser: Prof. C. David Sherrill
Georgia Institute of Technology - Atlanta, GA, USA
Modular Implementation of Tkatchenko-Scheffler Model for van der Waals interaction
Advisers: Dr. Alfredo A. Correa and Dr. Xavier I. Andrade
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Livermore, CA, USA
Theory Development for the Accurate Description of Environment Effects on Quantum Simulations
Adviser: Prof. Lyudmila V. Slipchenko
Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN, USA
Charge distributions in carbon nanopores via Density Functional Theory
Advisers: Prof. Lyudmila V. Slipchenko and Prof. Adam Wasserman
Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN, USA
Molecular Modeling of Water-Absorbent Materials at the Nano-Scale
Adviser: Prof. Carlos A. Arango
Universidad Icesi - Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Computational Study of the Interactions between Carbon Nanotube/DNA Hybrids and Simple Molecules Relevant in Chemical Sensing
Adviser: Prof. Julio C. Arce
Universidad del Valle - Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Teaching
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN, USA
- CHM579: Computational Chemistry - Spring 2015.
- CHM111: General Chemistry - Fall 2012, Fall 2013, and Fall 2014.
- CHM115: General Chemistry - Spring 2013.
Part-Time Lecturer
Universidad Icesi - Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
- Physical Chemistry I - 2010-I, 2010-II, and 2011-I.
- Physical Chemistry II - 2010-II.
- General Chemistry - 2009-II, 2010-I, and 2010-II.
Honors and Awards
Princeton University
- Azure Cloud Computing Credits Award by the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning (CSML)
Georgia Institute of Technology
- National Science Foundation Travel Award to attend the CMU-GT Symposium on Machine Learning in Science and Engineering
Purdue University
- Materials Computational Center Travel Award to attend the 7th TDDFT School and Workshop
- Full Financial Support for the Applied Management Principles Mini-MBA program of 2016
- Selected Speaker Honorarium at the Structure and Dynamics in Complex Chemical Systems Symposium
- 2015 Travel Grant Award of the Colombian Students Association at Purdue University (CSAP)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Outstanding Accomplishment Award: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Students Poster Symposium
Universidad Icesi
- Colombian Government’s Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (Colciencias) Young Scientist and Innovator Scholarship of 2011
Universidad del Valle
- Graduation with Honors for a Meritorious Research Thesis
- 4th Place in Eight Semester Class Award
- 3rd Place in Seventh Semester Class Award
- 5th Place in Sixth Semester Class Award
- 1st Place in Fifth Semester Class Award
- 1st Place in Second Semester Class Award
- 5th Place in First Semester Class Award
Colegio Berchmans
- Andrés Bello Departmental Award for the Best Biology Score in the ICFES
- 11th National ICFES Average Score (Colombian ICFES is analogous to the SAT in the USA)
Professional Affiliations
- Member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) since 2013
- Member of the Colombian Students Association at Purdue University (CSAP) since 2012
- Member of the Professional Chemists Council of Colombia (CPQ) since 2010 - Professional Card No.: PQ-3170
- Jesuit Alumni Association of Cali, Colombia (A.S.I.A. Santiago de Cali) since 2004 - Member of the Board (2008-2012)
Languages
- Spanish: Native speaker
- English: Fluently spoken and written. Lived and worked in the United States since 2012.
- Portuguese: Intermediate proficiency in speaking and writing.
Computer Skills
Operating Systems
- Linux: Ubuntu, RedHat, CentOS, SUSE Linux Server, Cygwin.
- Windows: 98, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10.
- MacOS: Catalina, Big Sur.
Programming Languages
- Python
- C/C++
- Fortran
- HTML
Computational Chemistry Packages
- Molecular Dynamics: LibEFP/EFPMD, GROMACS, NAMD, LAMMPS, NanoEngineer-1.
- Quantum Chemistry: CrystaLattE, Psi4, Octopus, Q-Chem, NWChem, GAMESS, HyperChem, Gaussian, MOPAC.
- Visualizers: VMD, IQmol, VisIt, Gabedit, GaussView, Macmolplt, Avogadro, Jmol, Chemcraft, Molden, ChemBioOffice.
Others
- GNUPlot
- Origin
- Mathematica
- LaTeX
- GIMP
- Inkscape
- Office
- LibreOfice
