Raul was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Yale University, where he conducted research under the guidance of Prof. Glenn Micalizio. He then traveled back to California and joined Sarah Reisman’s group at Caltech, where his research focused on the total synthesis of propellane alkaloid natural products. After obtaining his Ph. D., Raul made his way up north to Stanford University, where he investigated the development of chemical genetic tools to study protein function with Prof. Tom Wandless. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Occidental College, where his research group investigates the development of new transition-metal catalyzed reactions to construct bioactive molecules.