Jon T. Njarðarson

Jón was born and raised in the small town of Akranes, Iceland.  He had aspirations in high school to pursue a Bachelors degree in chemistry.  After graduation, he left his hometown and moved to Reykjavik to start his studies at the University of Iceland.  During his first year at the University he became fascinated by the wonders of Organic Chemistry, which has continued ever since.  As an undergraduate, Njarðarson worked in the laboratory of Professor Jón K. F. Geirsson on the synthesis of antifungal agents and methoxy- carbonylation of a-phosphono carbanions.  After graduation, he worked at the University of Iceland Science Institute in addition to serving as a teaching assistant at the University.  Njarðarson then followed in the footsteps of his Icelandic ancestors and moved west, to America.  This journey brought him to New Haven Connecticut, where he chose to pursue a graduate career in Organic Chemistry at Yale University.  While at Yale, he joined the research group of a newly hired assistant professor, John L. Wood, after becoming affected by his enthusiasm, energy and exciting new research program.  During his doctoral studies Jón worked on the total synthesis of the nonadride natural products CP-225,917 (Phomoidride A) and CP-263,114 (Phomoidride B).  In addition to his work on natural products, Jón developed a novel oxidative dearomatization protocol.  At the end of his graduate studies Jón was presented with the irresistible offer of moving to New York City to work in the laboratory of Professor Samuel J. Danishefsky the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).  While in the Danishefsky group, as a General Motors Cancer Research Scholar, he worked on the total syntheses of the natural products epothilone 490 and migrastatin.  Jón arrived in Ithaca in the summer of 2004 to start his independent career at Cornell University.