Baylor Chemistry Professor and Alumna Earns Elite Research Award

Long before she earned national recognition for her work in Baylor’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Liela Romero, B.S. ’11, Ph.D., was a Baylor student. Now, she’s standing out as a top young researcher in her field. Earlier this year, Romero earned a highly competitive CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. As she executes the research funded by the award, she’ll focus on earth-abundant metals like zirconium to create new tools for precision assembly of molecular targets. Romero and her students will study these earth-abundant metals to create new recipes for chemical synthesis that are more efficient and cost-effective (and less toxic) than many metals currently used in the field. These new chemical preparations will have wide-ranging applications, from drug discovery to plastic upcycling.

“We’ve seen interest in this chemistry from both a sustainability standpoint and its potential applicability to large-scale processing of plastic waste, like that found in the average water bottle,” said Romero. “We’re also hearing from chemists in the pharmaceutical industry who are trying to access necessary therapeutics, but don’t have all the chemical tools they need. Our hope is that we are contributing directly to these efforts by developing new strategies for them.”