We recently caught up with Jon Meinhardt (Class of 2022) to find out what he’s up to now, and to ask his advice on a few important topics.
Tell us a bit about what you’re doing right now:
I'm currently starting my third year as a chemistry graduate student at Princeton. I'm working in the group of Prof. Rob Knowles, wherein my research has been centered on the use of photoredox catalysis for organic synthesis. We use light-driven methods to enable chemistry that is thermodynamically uphill using conventional strategies.
Considering where you're at in your professional journey, what are some goals you have for your future?
Right now, I'm focused on making the most of my time in grad school. It's nice to be in a place where I can spend a lot of time thinking about chemistry, and I'm excited to continue on here at Princeton. After grad school, I'm very interested in working in the pharmaceutical industry, perhaps as a process chemist figuring out how to make interesting chemistry possible at a large scale.
Can you share a little about how Chemistry at Cornell impacted or inspired your career path?
Cornell's undergraduate chemistry curriculum certainly prepared me well for grad school. I enjoyed early exposures to advanced material in the honors curriculum offered to chemistry majors, and am appreciative of the professors who helped inspire my interest in the subject during my freshman and sophomore years.
What advice would you give an undergraduate who just joined the Chemistry major at Cornell?
Chemistry is a big field that touches a lot of areas of society. There are a lot of places you can go studying chemistry, and it's important to keep your options open early on to learn about how diverse the field is as a whole. Talk to professors and grad students about your interests as you decide where you want to take your degree/career ambitions.
Do you have any advice for CHEM majors who will be applying to graduate school this year?
Trust the process and take pride in the work you've been doing at Cornell. Try and organize your research experience into a story that conveys your interests and capabilities in the best way possible... don't sell yourself short! Apply to schools where you'd be happy in multiple (2-3) research groups, and don't forget that it's important to pick a place where you will be happy outside of the lab... grad school will take up a good part of your 20's, so don't forget that there's more to life than just the bench.
Jon Meinhardt ’22 is the recipient of the Leo and Berdie Mandelkern Prize, Harold A. Lovenberg Prize, Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, and the Gerald A. Hill and Kathleen Holmes Hill Fellowship for Undergraduate Research. Jon was an undergraduate researcher in the Song Lin Group. Jon is currently pursuing a graduate degree at Princeton University.
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