Matthew Gilkey is a Ph.D. candidate in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Delaware and holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a graduate researcher in the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) working under the advisement of Bingjun Xu and Dionisios Vlachos, director of CCEI. His research is centered around designing, developing, and understanding catalysts for upgrading of biomass-derived chemicals to fuels and polymer precursors.