Dr. Baird earned his PhD in biochemistry at Duke University in Durham, NC where his research focus was in mechanistic enzymology. Afterwards, he did post-doctoral work in protein engineering at the University of California, San Francisco. At SFSU, he teaches undergraduate and graduate biochemistry courses and has an active research lab where he continues to study protein engineering. Dr. Baird is also an active member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, through which he is working to improve both scientific literacy in the general public and undergraduate biochemistry education.