Melissa Ramirez was born in Los Angeles, CA and raised in Pasadena, CA. Melissa obtained her B.A. in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016. While at UPenn, Melissa conducted undergraduate research on azaborine synthesis using organotrifluoroborates in the laboratory of Professor Gary Molander. After completion of her undergraduate studies, Melissa obtained her Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, Melissa was trained as a computational and synthetic organic chemist in the laboratories of Professors Ken Houk and Neil Garg. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2021, her research having centered on investigating the reactivity of strained cyclic intermediates and the mechanism of pericyclic reactions for complex molecule synthesis. Following her Ph. D. studies, Melissa joined the laboratory of Professor Brian Stoltz as a Caltech Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar, NSF MPS-Ascend Fellow, and NIH K99/R00 MOSAIC Scholar. Her posdoctoral research focused on the development of enantioselective Ni-catalyzed enolate functionalization using a combination of experiments and computations. Melissa launched her independent career in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2025. Her research program centers on solving challenges in the areas of organic synthesis, catalysis, and computational chemistry. More personally, Melissa is passionate about mentorship and supporting Latinas in higher education and science. This is exemplified by her leadership in #MentorFirst and Poderistas.