Maxx originates from the Philippines. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) in 2011. After a one-year junior instructor position at UPD, he moved to the US and completed his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from The Ohio State University with Professor Joshua Goldberger in 2017. As a CEM fellow, his dissertation centered on the electronic, optical, and magnetic properties and applications of new two-dimensional solid state lattices in the bulk and at the nanoscale. He then moved to MIT as postdoctoral fellow in Professor Mircea Dinca’s group, where he focused on the growth of one-dimensional van der Waals crystals and the evolution of their physical properties as they transform into ultrathin nanowires. In July 2020, Maxx joined the UC Irvine Department of Chemistry as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. Maxx is an affiliate faculty of the Eddleman Quantum Institute, the ChAMP program, and the Solutions that Scale Initiative. He is an advisory board member of the Eddleman Quantum Institute and the American Chemical Society Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN). In 2021, he received the inaugural UC Irvine Inclusive Excellence teaching award. He was recognized as part of the  C&EN Talented 12 class of 2023. He also received NSF CAREER Award in 2023.

When not in lab, you’ll find Maxx listening to his old vinyl record collection, roaming the streets doing street photography, or chowing down in some hole-in-the-wall restaurant you probably haven’t heard of.