James P. Morken (left) was born in Concord, California (USA) and obtained his B.S. in chemistry in 1989
from UC Santa Barbara (USA) working with Prof. Bruce Rickborn. He obtained his Ph.D.
from Boston College (USA) in 1995 with Prof. Amir Hoveyda and was an NSF Postdoctoral
Fellow with Prof. Stuart Schreiber at Harvard University (USA). In 1997, he became
an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill (USA). He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and in 2006 joined the
faculty of Boston College (USA). In 2014, he was named the Louise and James Vanderslice
and Family Chaired Professor of Chemistry at Boston College. Professor Morken’s research
focuses on the development of transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric processes and
their use in complex molecule synthesis. He is particularly interested in the study
and development of catalytic enantioselective reactions involving organoboron reagents.
Varinder K. Aggarwal (right) studied chemistry at Cambridge University and received his Ph.D. in 1986 under the
guidance of Dr. Stuart Warren. After postdoctoral studies under Prof. Gilbert Stork
at Columbia University (1986–1988), he returned to the UK as a lecturer at Bath University.
In 1991, he moved to Sheffield University, where he was promoted to professor in 1997.
In 2000, he moved to Bristol University, where he holds the Chair in Synthetic Chemistry.
His research interests include the development of new catalytic processes for asymmetric
synthesis, the development of chiral carbenoids and their use and subsequent applications
in catalysis and synthesis, and the development of new methodology and its applications
in synthesis and the total synthesis of biologically important targets.
