Ruby is a postdoctoral researcher working on using mechanochemistry to create functionalized chitin and chitosan, with the goal of developing sustainable materials for wastewater treatment and contaminant removal. She collaborates with academic partners to explore additional applications, and with industrial partners to investigate how these materials can be scaled up and tested in real-world remediation settings. She is also extending this chemistry to starch—especially pulse starch—to help transform underused agricultural resources into high-value functional materials.

Outside the lab, Ruby is usually sipping something warm, reading with her cat, or off kayaking and hiking whenever the weather cooperates.