27 Questions for a Caltech Organic Chemist
by Andrew Moseman
What is Jordan Thompson’s favorite kind of chemical reaction? Any kind that does not smell like rotten eggs—or explode.
Thompson (PhD ’25) was recently featured by the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in a video series highlighting what graduate student life is really like. While answering 27 questions for the Instagram reel, he dishes on his favorite lunch spots near campus, the “most Caltech thing” he has ever seen, and the time he set off a fire alarm with a “mildly exothermic reaction.”
Thompson plans to move to Massachusetts in summer 2025 to start work as a medicinal chemist at Bristol Myers Squibb. Watch his full clip here from the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Instagram page, produced by Paolina Martinez: