About me

Hi! I am a researcher broadly interested in designing and implementing algorithms which model chemical and biological processes. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Mathematics group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

I did my PhD thesis in Chemistry at Caltech focusing on algorithms which model the thermodynamics and kinetics of nucleic acid (RNA and DNA) secondary structures. An important part of my research was implemented and distributed in the NUPACK 4 software suite. This software is available as an open source Python package for academic use with extensive documentation. Additionally, we have recently built an all-new hybrid-cloud web application for interactive use of NUPACK online.

On the applied mathematics side, my research interests include dynamic programming algorithms, Markov chains, and random matrices. On the chemistry side, I am interested in nucleic acid models, molecular dynamics simulation, and embedded methods for electronic structure. I am also quite experienced in the efficient implementation and distribution of computational methods.

I am in the process of building this website, but you may see the above toolbar for links to my CV and Google Scholar pages. My thesis is now available here. You can contact me at mefornace@lbl.gov.