Guan Research Group

Born in May 1978, Hairong Guan (管海荣) grew up in Qidong, China, a coastal city near Shanghai. He attended Peking University from 1996 to 2000, where he started doing research as a freshman. In his senior year, he became interested in organometallic chemistry, joined Professor Zhenfeng Xi's lab as one of his early undergrads, and completed his thesis research there on organolithium reagents. In 2000, he was lucky enough to go to Columbia University to pursue his doctoral study of ruthenium-catalyzed ionic hydrogenation reactions under the tutelage of Professor Jack Norton. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in 2005, he joined the research group of Professor Charles Casey at University of Wisconsin-Madison as one of Casey's last postdocs. In searching for methods of making cyclopentadienones, Hairong stumbled on the Knölker complex and studied it as a hydrogenation catalyst. In 2007, University of Cincinnati trusted him by hiring him as an Assistant Professor, and then witnessed him rising through the ranks, thanks to his talented and hardworking students. Currently, Hairong is a Professor of Chemistry and Stella and Hoke S. Greene Chair in Catalytic Chemistry. His research interests are broad, covering homogeneous catalysis (mainly with first-row transition metals), catalysis on metal surface, oxidative dye intermediates, and biomass conversion. He has served as an Advisory Board Member of Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, and have been a recipient of an NSF CAREER award, an Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship, and a Humboldt research fellowship.