Steven E. Conklin received his B.S. in Chemistry (2013) from the University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras Campus and completed his PhD training (2019) at Duke University under the mentorship of Prof. Katherine J. Franz. As a graduate student, his research focused on understanding the role of metals and metal coordination in the chemical and biological activity of antimicrobial peptides. Currently, he is a Clinical Chemistry Fellow in the Pathology Department of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.