Andre grew up in South Carolina and attended Winthrop University where he received his B.S. degree in Chemistry in 2010. The following year he moved north to join the laboratory of Prof. Nathaniel Rosi at the University of Pittsburgh where he worked on the development of peptide-based methods for directing gold nanoparticles into hierarchical superstructures. After completion of his Ph.D. in 2017, he conducted his postdoctoral research at Emory University under the supervision of Prof. Vincent Conticello. At Emory, his research focused on the development of crystalline collagen architectures with tailorable physical, chemical, and functional properties. In 2020, he began his independent career at the University of California, Merced as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His current research interests centers on developing rational approaches for creating bionanomaterials with predetermined physical and chemical properties.
Outside of lab, he enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid tennis player and fan. He enjoys playing sports, board games, hiking mountain summits, and being a faithful fan of his beloved Pittsburgh sports teams.
