Rebecca Laird completed her undergraduate studies at Eastern Illinois University where she majored in Chemistry and Biochemistry and minored in Biology.  While at Eastern, she participated in organic crystallography and solid-state research and was recognized as a Goldwater Scholar.  She came to the University of Iowa for graduate school as a Presidential Fellow.  She received her Ph.D. while working in Dr. Leonard R. MacGillivray’s research lab studying organic solid-state materials.  Having become a true Hawkeye, Rebecca stayed in the chemistry department as a postdoc, joining Dr. Tori Z. Forbes’ research lab, synthesizing organic ligands for Actinide-based Metal-Organic frameworks.  She served as both a postdoc and visiting assistant professor before joining the department in Fall 2015 as a lecturer.