profile 7: dr. janis louie

This woman is officially my hero. Thanks Matt for the suggestion and the weblink but Dr. Janis Louie is absolutely gorgeous! (Yes I said that about other Profs too but oh well I mean it this time).

Dr. Janis Louis is an assistant professor the the University of Utah researching organic, inorganic and polymer chemistry. She received her BS from UCLA before heading off to Yale for her PhD and then finally did a postdoc at Caltech. She's already received pretigious awards (like the NSF CAREER) and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her.

Her research statement is as follows:

"Research Interests
The development of metal-mediated reactions has greatly expanded the synthesis of small molecules and polymeric materials. These complexes possess the profound ability to permit transformations that are otherwise energetically prohibited. Toward this end, our group hybridizes classical synthetic chemistry with state-of-the-art instrumentation to discover new metal-mediated reactions. Efforts focus on reaction optimization, mechanism elucidation, and constructing small and large molecules rich in structure and function.

Catalytic Activation of Heterocumulenes
An attractive method for the rapid construction of the heterocyclic core of numerous biologically active pharmacophores is the cycloaddition or rearrangement of unsaturated substrates. Unfortunately, such cycloadditions are often not thermally allowed and existing alternatives show poor functional group compatibility. However, reactions which require prohibitively harsh conditions (high temperatures, high pressures) may become practical (room temperature, atmospheric pressures) when a transition metal catalyst is employed. We have built a research program centered around the development of a general Ni-based cycloaddition catalyst system (Scheme 1). Ultimately, we found that our Ni/NHC system is quite a versatile catalyst – one that allows for facile cycloaddition to prepare highly functionalized pyrones, pyridones, pyrans, and pyridines in excellent yields from readily available starting materials (e.g. CO 2, isocyanates, carbonyls and nitriles, respectively). " - Faculty Profile

There's more of her research on the website so click on her link to fine out more.

Now, for what you really want to know. I've gotten lots of emails from male readers out there and yes I have listened to your needs. That is why Dr. Louie is on here..I so want to be her..*sigh*


She is GORGEOUS - Absolutely gorgeous. She is my hero in that she's beautiful, is obviously very smart (she's a professor for goodness' sake). That is a complete package folks..a complete package.


She's the first one on the right side. She has an amazing body, I love the highlights and she looks as young as her students. I'm so jealous.

As for the rating, she's definitely off the charts (I showed her to fellow girlfriends and they're either girlcrushing or they're envious..like me), and so..

Janis Louis is OFF THE CHARTS - (6 mil on the scoville scale: pure extract baby!)