Merck & Co., Inc. · DSCS Digital

• Managed the team's transition through a department reorganization, guiding 11 colleagues into new roles and welcoming 9 colleagues from elsewhere at Merck as the group refocused on digital solutions for bioprocess drug-substance development
• Direct five chromatography mechanistic models (MMCEX, flow-through AEX, HIC), cutting wet-lab resources up to 30% and widening process operating ranges up to 50%
• Advance hybrid neural-ODE upstream modeling that improves experimental efficiency up to 50% in DOE execution and control-strategy definition
• Roll GARNET workflows out across upstream biologics development so more scientists can build and use the models
• Build a predictive scale-up toolbox (kLa, pCO2, mixing, mass transfer) to de-risk upstream tech transfer and prevent high-cost engineering-batch failures
• Deploy analytics dashboards, web applications, and retrieval-based chatbots that scientists use for pipeline decisions

Merck & Co., Inc. · PR&D

• Led a 13-FTE team (plus contractors) spanning biologics high-throughput experimentation, small-molecule catalysis, and process modeling, earning above-benchmark leadership ratings on 13 of 15 dimensions
• Scaled Bayesian optimization and Algorithmic Process Optimization to 100+ active users and about 50 optimizations per year across 20+ program steps; adoption has since grown to about 200 optimizations per year
• Developed GARNET, a neural-ODE approach for upstream cell culture and fermentation that produces accurate, data-efficient models from limited experiments
• Applied GARNET to improve titer 15% and harvest-day viability 20% in a lab proof of concept on a separate pipeline program and reduce process-characterization resources by up to 50%
• Deployed a hybrid-model digital shadow at a biologics manufacturing site, supporting deviation analysis, troubleshooting, and real-time plant decisions
• Grew chromatography mechanistic modeling from 1-2 to more than 5 models per year, from pre-FIH design through process characterization and tech transfer
• Received the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable Data Science & Modeling for Green Chemistry award (2025) for applying APO to more resource-efficient laboratory experimentation and manufacturing processes

Merck & Co., Inc. · PR&D Data-Rich Experimentation

• Founded Algorithmic Process Optimization (APO), onboarding 57 active users through an interactive "OptiThon" hackathon and SME office hours across 9 campaigns in small- and large-molecule modalities
• Authored and published obsidian, PR&D's first open-source codebase, for Bayesian optimization in process and materials research on BoTorch/GPyTorch
• Brought Bayesian optimization to mRNA in-vitro transcription, more than doubling the combined yield-and-purity objective across 11 parameters in 42 reactions; campaigns used 25-75% fewer wet-lab resources
• Developed neural-ODE deep-learning models (GARNET) for data-efficient bioreactor cell-culture modeling
• Served as the only research scientist on the 40-FTE DRE Leadership Team and received a 2024 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Technical Achievement award

Merck & Co., Inc. · CERD Reaction Engineering Lab

• Redesigned the molnupiravir API-forming reaction in a 4-week campaign, achieving more than a 5x stability window, higher yield, and an order-of-magnitude lower impurity load, supporting pandemic-era COVID-antiviral supply
• Established Merck's synthetic-electrochemistry engineering strategy and scaled an electrochemical oxidation to kilograms (OPRD Outstanding Publication of the Year, 2022)
• Elucidated the islatravir kinase yield-loss mechanism, redirecting the team to a higher-yield immobilized-enzyme process proven at kilogram scale
• Built in-silico nitrosamine risk-assessment tools covering 12 commercial products, saving more than $1.5M in CRO testing (Merck MS&T Innovation Award runner-up, 2021)
• Published five papers in 2021 while starting a Georgia Tech M.S. in Analytics (completed 2023)

Merck & Co., Inc. · Chemical Engineering Research & Development

• Technical lead for multiple doravirine synthetic steps through development, tech transfer, filing, and launch (Delstrigo and Pifeltro)
• Authored 150+ pages of process-development reports and co-authored CMC sections (S.2.2, S.2.6) supporting the doravirine NDA filing
• Supervised the 6-week commercial PPQ campaign in Ballydine, Ireland, correcting critical operational issues and delivering 700+ kg of quality and clinical-supply API across campaigns
• Two-time CERD Technical Achievement Award recipient (2015, 2016)