Jennifer M. Schomaker

Advisor: Professor Thomas J. Delia

Advisor: Professor Babak Borhan

Advisors: Professors Robert G. Bergman and F. Dean Toste

 

About Jen:

Jennifer grew up in mid-Michigan, where she learned to appreciate the seasons, cold weather included. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Saginaw Valley State University while she was employed at the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan. Her early research at Dow in the Organic Chemicals and Polymer Laboratory involved the development of biocatalytic methods for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure monomers. She then moved to the Agricultural Chemicals Process Research group where she participated in the route selection and scale-up campaigns for two new herbicides. While raising two young daughters, she completed a M.S. degree under the direction of Dr. Thomas J. Delia at Central Michigan University, where she worked on the development of selective cross-coupling reactions of pyrimidines and the synthesis of molecules active against Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia. The methodology portion of her Ph.D. research with Professor Babak Borhan at Michigan State University focused on the development of mild, ylide-mediated homologative ring expansions of epoxides and aziridines and the implementation of a tandem aza-Payne/hydroamination reaction for the synthesis of substituted pyrrolidines. Her efforts in natural products chemistry resulted in total syntheses of (+)-tanikolide and haterumalide NC and a formal synthesis of haterumalide NA. After completing her Ph.D. in 2006, she then moved to Berkeley as an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the labs of Professor Robert G. Bergman. Her post-doctoral research, a collaboration with Professor F. Dean Toste, involved exploiting a novel mode of reactivity of cobalt dinitrosoalkane complexes to enable the mild functionalization of the C-H bonds of alkenes. Jennifer joined the faculty at UW-Madison in July 2009, where she now serves as Professor of Chemistry.

 

Selected Awards:

  • UW Vilas Associate Award 2023
  • American Chemical Society Mid-Career Cope Scholar Award 2022
  • Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award 2021
  • Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) 2021
  • UW Romnes Faculty Fellowship Award 2021
  • Somojai Miller Visiting Professorship, UC-Berkeley 2019
  • Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Award, UW-Madison 2018
  • UW2020 Award: All-Optical Electrophysiology-Electrophysiology without Electrodes.” Co-principal investigator 2018
  • French-American Chemical Society XVI invited speaker 2016
  • Michigan State University Recent Alumni Award, College of Natural Science 2015
  • American Chemical Society WCC Rising Star Award 2014
  • Early Excellence profiled in the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry 2013
  • ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Early Academic Investigator Symposium 2013
  • Michigan State University Distinguished Alumni Lecturer 2013
  • NSF-CAREER Award 2013-2018
  • Sloan Research Fellow 2013-2015
  • Thieme Chemistry Journal Award 2010
  • Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Research Training Grant (NIH) 2007–2009
  • American Chemical Society, Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Fellowship 2004
  • Dow Chemical Company Foundation Graduate Fellowship 2004
  • Michigan State University Distinguished Graduate Fellowship 2001-2005
  • Central Michigan University Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Award 1998
  • Dow AgroSciences Inventor Award 1997
  • Central Michigan University Graduate Research Fellowship 1996
  • DowElanco Inventor’s Award 1993-94, 1996
  • Dow Chemical Michigan Division Research and Development Inventor Award 1993
  • Dow Chemical Company Special Recognition Award, Agricultural Chemicals & Process 1992
  • Dow Chemical Company Special Recognition Award, Organic Chemicals and Polymers 1991

[Curriculum Vitae]