Biography
An innovative theoretical chemist with a pragmatic approach, passionate about collaborative basic-science research, addressing real-world challenges, and creating original scientific software solutions.
Interested in developing theoretical and computational methods and applying them to diverse chemical challenges, including noncovalent interactions in organic crystals, pharmaceutical formulations, biomolecular structures, and materials design.
- Principal Scientist at DeepCure AI, work centered on physics-based approaches and machine-learning applications of computational chemistry in molecular design for drug discovery.
- 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
