Melanie Sanford
Melanie Sarah Sanford (born June 16, 1975) is an American chemist, currently the Moses Gomberg Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. She is a Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016. She has served as an executive editor of the "Journal of the American Chemical Society" since 2021, having been an associate editor of the since 2014. Life. Sanford was born and grew  up in Providence, Rhode Island. She attended Classical High School. She graduated from Yale University with a BS and MS in Chemistry in 1996, having carried out research with Robert H. Crabtree, while competing for the Yale Gymnastics NCAA team. She graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in 2001, where she studied Chemistry with Robert H. Grubbs. She did postdoctoral work at Princeton University, where she studied with John T. Groves. Sanford began her academic career as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in 2003. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in  2007 and full professor in 2013. Research. Sanford is best known for her studies of high-valent organopalladium species, particularly those implicated in Pd-catalyzed C–H functionalization reactions. Her group has also developed new methods to access fluorinated and radiofluorinated materials for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and radiology. In a collaboration with Matthew Sigman at the University of Utah her group has designed new compounds for use in redox flow batteries. Awards and honors. Sanford has received numerous awards and honors including but not limited to: