Dr. Kevin E. Rivera Cruz, a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Hannah Shafaat’s group, has received the prestigious University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (UC-PPFP) and the National Science Foundation Math and Physical Sciences ASCEND Postdoctoral Fellowship (NSF-MPS-ASCEND) for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The UC-PPFP is a one-year fellowship that covers the annual salary for postdoctoral scholars of about $65,000 and is renewable for a second year, contingent on a demonstration of scholarly productivity and participation in program events. Rivera Cruz will also receive an additional $4,000 per year for research-related expenses and up to $1,500 for travel related to UC campus visits to present work or for job talks and professional development.
The NSF-ASCEND is a two-year fellowship that covers the annual salary of the postdoctoral fellow for $70,000. It is contingent on renewal for a third year upon successful productivity demonstration. The fellow receives a $30,000 research fund for professional development and research-related expenses. In addition, upon completing the fellowship terms, the Postdoctoral scholar who chooses an academic career can apply for further research support.
These fellowships will support Rivera Cruz’s research proposal titled Harnessing Artificial Metalloenzymes for Selective Electrocatalytic Carbon-Carbon Coupling, which aims to develop a new bioelectrocatalytic approach for characterizing the carbon-carbon (C–C) bond-forming reaction on nickel-substituted azurin (NiAz), an Acetyl-CoA Synthase (ACS) model protein, to provide mechanistic insight into the parent enzyme. The central hypothesis is that controlling the active site oxidation state can modulate the enzyme’s reactivity. To test this hypothesis, he will characterize the reactivity using electrochemical techniques to control the active site oxidation state and change the secondary coordination sphere to expand substrate reactivity and electron transfer by encapsulating the enzyme within redox-active polymers. The knowledge obtained from the protein-based model will provide fundamental insight into the parent ACS enzyme reaction mechanism and facilitate the development of enzyme-polymer composite approaches to understand redox-mediated activity in other small-molecule activation reactions.
Rivera Cruz earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in 2019, where he performed computational and synthetic inorganic chemistry research in close collaboration with Professor Dalice Piñero (University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras) and Professor Dalvin Mendez (University of Puerto Rico Cayey) as a National Institute of Health – Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (NIH-RISE) and National Science Foundation Louis Stoke Alliances for Minority Participation (NSF-LSAMP) scholar. He then completed his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 2024, under the mentorship of Professor Charles C.L. McCrory and Paul M. Zimmerman. At the University of Michigan, he was awarded a Department of Energy sponsored GEM Consortium Fellowship, an NSF-Graduate Research Fellowship, and National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine-Ford Fellowship. During his graduate research, as a co-mentored student, he specialized in bridging the field of experimental molecular electrocatalysis with first principle calculations during his dissertation work titled “Modulating CO2 Reduction Activity by Systematically Modifying the Catalyst Electronic Structure,” which involved modeling and correlating at an atomistic scale the reaction mechanism for CO2 Reduction Reaction (CO2RR) with bulk scale electrochemical parameters. Beyond his academic track record, he has strived to serve as a leader and a mentor and increase the participation of students from underrepresented backgrounds in Puerto Rico and in the continental United States as part of programs such as NSF-LSAMP, NIH-RISE, and other professional organizations emphasizing the importance of collaboration in scientific research and his commitment to diversity and inclusion in academia.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penny@chem.ucla.edu.
