Name: Pedro Molina

Area of Study / Position Title: Chemistry – Postdoctoral Scholar

Why chemistry? (What about it initially interested you?)

I used to play with chemistry sets when I was a kid! Later in life, I enrolled in a one-year general science course just to keep me busy during the day as I was working evenings in those days. I became immediately hooked on science during that year and then went to the University of Glasgow (Scotland, UK) to read Biology and Chemistry. I eventually chose Chemistry over Biology as my major because I felt Chemistry had a wider scope, allowing me to learn about atoms, molecules and other relatives, stuff of which all things are made up. In addition, I can keep having fun by making compounds in the lab in the same way I used to when playing with my chemistry sets!

Research focus (in non-science terms) or basic job duties?

My main research focus is to make new molecular metal oxides and study their properties, primarily their ability to destroy nervous gas agents like, for example, sarin.

One thing you truly love about your job?

The one thing I love the most about my job is that I can do science on an everyday basis! My position allows me to formulate hypothesis about how nature behaves, design and perform experiments to test those hypothesis, analyze the results of those experiments and communicate my findings to the wider world. All of this in close cooperation with a bunch of really smart and nice people! What else could I ask for?

One interesting/strange factoid about yourself:

I can juggle with three and four balls, clubs and a little bit of devil stick. Didn’t you see me juggling this year at the Oregon Country Fair?