Varinia Bernales is a postdoctoral associate at the University of Minnesota in Laura Gagliardi’s research group. She is a member of the Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center (ICDC) and Material Science of Actinides (MSA) Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs). She also serves as scientific coordinator for the ICDC EFRC. Her current research focuses on mechanistic studies and catalytic activity of metals deposited on metal-organic frameworks and computational simulations of actinides complexes in aqueous solutions.