Justin Teesdale
Postdoctoral Associate
Justin was born and raised in southern New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, PA. He began his academic career in chemistry at the University of Delaware where he studied the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to small molecule feedstocks via homogenous catalysts. After a brief stint at the University of Chicago, he moved to Harvard University for a PhD in synthetic inorganic chemistry. During his PhD, Justin studied the fundamental coordination chemistry of highly reactive polynuclear metal clusters in order to understand how biological processes that feature these motifs function, with the ultimate goal of providing insight into more energy efficient catalyst development. Moving to the Smith lab at MIT, Justin aims to leverage his expertise in inorganic chemistry to understand and optimize the chemistry within MOF-polymer hybrid membranes for gas separations. Outside of lab, Justin enjoys playing volleyball, brewing beer, watching professional basketball, going to the beach, and hanging out with friends.