Dr. Marilu Perez Garcia’s interest in chemistry began with her first chemistry class at the College of Southern Idaho. After transferring to Idaho State University, her interest in chemistry grew throughout her experience in different research areas such as physical organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and microbiology. At Idaho State University, she received an American Chemical Society Scholar award for historically underrepresented groups in the chemical sciences, which helped fund a semester abroad at Paderborn University in Germany. Aside from her German language studies, she had her first opportunity to do solid-state NMR research. She continued her studies at Iowa State University, receiving various awards to support her graduate studies; most notably, the George Washington Carver Fellowship. Her graduate research mostly focused on carbohydrates and the molecular structure of plant cell walls using solid-state NMR and computational chemistry. She defended her doctorate in 2014, co-advised by Profs. Mei Hong and Theresa Windus. Upon graduating, Dr. Perez Garcia joined CMI as a postdoc, and is now a staff scientist working toward understanding metal ion–ligand binding as it relates to solvent extraction using computational chemistry. She hopes her research will contribute to creating environmentally friendly processes that produce the materials needed for realizing a sustainable energy future.