Edna Mao

B. Sci., UC Berkeley, 2020

Edna grew up in San Francisco, California and attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate studies. There, she worked in the lab of John Hartwig where she studied artificial metalloenzyme catalysis. In the summer of 2019, she ventured across the country for an internship at Bristol Myers-Squibb in New Jersey working on visible light-mediated cycloadditions. There, she experienced photoredox chemistry and Princeton for the first time. Upon graduating from Cal at the end of 2019, she returned to New Jersey again to complete a co-op at Merck, where she investigated methods for fluorinated nucleoside synthesis. After deciding that the East Coast was her favorite coast, Edna remained in the state to attend Princeton and joined the MacMillan lab. In her free time, Edna likes to eat food, travel, spend time with friends, and attend live music events (when they exist).

Fun Facts

• Edna drinks way too much diet soda, especially Coke Zero.
• Edna had an experience with a haunted Alexa, and now distrusts all smart speaker devices.
• Edna has perfect pitch but can't sing or play any instruments very well.