Dr. Grant Edwards

Postdoctoral Scholar, RTI International, 2022

Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Grant completed his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2011. Upon graduation Grant spent a year as an adjunct professor at the University of Tulsa before completing an M.S. in Chemistry under the direction of Prof. Justin M. Chalker, developing biocompatible transition metal-catalyzed transformations. In 2014 Grant made the move to Raleigh, North Carolina to begin his PhD studies under the guidance of Prof. Joshua G. Pierce at NC State University. Grant’s research interests in the Pierce Group centered around developing new strategies for the synthesis of complex molecules and leveraging insights gained in these endeavors to study the biological activities of a variety of natural product scaffolds. Upon completion of his PhD in spring 2020, Grant moved to New Jersey to begin postdoctoral studies in the MacMillan Lab.

Fun Facts

• Because of their love of games, Grant proposed to his fiancée in an escape room game by waiting in secret room hidden inside a wardrobe.
• Grant is an avid hiker and once climbed three 12,000+ ft peaks in four days on a trip with his father in the Pecos Wilderness in northern New Mexico.
• During the fifth year of his PhD Grant had to have surgery after breaking his right wrist by bumping into a cushioned chair in his living room one morning.