Brenna Budaitis

B.S. Chemistry, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, 2018

Brenna grew up in the Chicago suburbs and went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for her undergraduate studies, where she graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry. During her time at Michigan, she conducted research under Prof. Pavel Nagorny, contributing toward the synthesis of a chiral spiroketal analog as an alternative scaffold in asymmetric transition-metal catalysis. During the summer of 2016, Brenna had the opportunity to work under Prof. Tom Hoye at the University of Minnesota, in which she worked on investigating the synthesis of e-caprolactone polymers derived from renewable feedstocks. Brenna loves the Midwest and ultimately decided that she missed Illinois too much. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the White Group at UIUC, where she is working on expanding the scope of nitrogen nucleophiles in allylic C-H aminations under Pd(II)/SOX catalysis.

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Fun Facts
 

• During her free time, Brenna enjoys playing the piano. She also knows how to play the marimba with 4-mallets, and one of her greatest accomplishments was performing “The Process of Invention” by Christopher Deane
   

• Brenna’s dream is to own a farm to raise goats and chickens
   

• Brenna shares a common middle name with her sister, mom, aunt, and uncles, named after St. Gerard