Prior to joining the RNA Institute, Alan was a NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Angel Garcia in the Physics department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received his Ph.D in Molecular Biophysics in 2009 from Washington University in St. Louis where he did his thesis work with Rohit Pappu, department of Biomedical Engineering. Alan’s undergraduate degree was a dual major in physics and molecular biology from Cornell University (B.A., 2002), where he was introduced to the fascinating world of biophysics by his undergraduate mentor, Linda Nicholson. The only thing Alan enjoys more than doing crazy science is making up scientifically-accurate “space-princess” fairy tales for his 5-year old daughter, Lyra.