Siraj Ali

B.A. Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014

Siraj grew up in the concrete jungle of Brooklyn, NY.  He  studied chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while doing research in the Buchwald lab studying Pd-cross coupling reactions. After graduating, he worked for EMD Chemicals developing Cu nanowires for next generation technologies. In 2014 he decided to leave the east coast and migrate to the corn fields of Illinois to  work in the laboratory of M. Christina White, where he is currently studying Pd-catalyzed  C-H functionalizations. Outside of lab, he enjoys gaming, listening to music, writing poetry, and cooking.

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Fun Facts
 

• One of Siraj’s poems was chosen to be in an anthology of local poetry, which technically makes him a professional poet.
   

• Although he doesn’t look, in college Siraj was on the MIT fencing team, and is currently the lab racquetball champion.
   

• Siraj was the official lab DJ for the first four years of his tenure.