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Thomas J. Osberger, Ph.D.

Tommy Osberger was born and raised in Indiana, and received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.  He then pursued graduate studies in the laboratory of M. Christina White at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he developed transition metal-catalyzed C-H oxidation reaction methodology. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 2016, he moved to the United Kingdom and joined David Spring’s group at the University of Cambridge as a postdoctoral scholar,  investigating strategies for the diversity-oriented synthesis of geometrically constrained fragment molecules. In 2019 Tommy started as an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly Pomona, where his group combines interests in molecular scaffold design, catalysis, and synthetic strategy to develop new catalytic reactions for the synthesis of biologically important molecular scaffolds. In his spare time, Tommy enjoys spending time with his wife and son, enjoying the outdoors, and exploring delicious food options anywhere they are available.

T.Osberger_Portrait-2427_taken_by_Gabrie

Education and Training

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University of Cambridge, UK                         Postdoctoral 2017-2019

Advisor: Prof. David R. Spring

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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign     Ph.D. 2016

Advisor: Prof. M. Christina White

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University of Notre Dame                              B.S. 2009

Advisor: Prof. Richard E. Taylor

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Honors and Awards

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  • Finalist, 5th National RSC/SCI Retrosynthesis Competition, UK, 2018

    • Founding member of a team of postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates competing in two rounds of retrosynthesis of recently-discovered natural products

  • Reaxys PhD Prize Finalist, 2017

  • First Poster Prize, CaRLa Winter School, Heidelberg, Germany, 2017

  • Fuson Student Travel Award, 2014

  • Vanderveer Voorhees Memorial Original Research Proposal Award, 2013​

  • James Beck Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013

  • Robert Springborn Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009-2012

  • NSF Graduate Student Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2010

  • Merck Index Award for Achievements in Chemistry, University of Notre Dame, 2009

  • College of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, University of Notre Dame, 2009

  • College of Science Dean’s List Honors (8 semesters), University of Notre Dame, 2005-2009

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