Catherine L. Drennan is a professor of chemistry and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a professor and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She received an A.B. in chemistry from Vassar College, working in the laboratory of Professor Miriam Rossi, and a Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the University of Michigan, working in the laboratory of the late Professor Martha L. Ludwig. She was also a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Douglas C. Rees at the California Institute of Technology. In 1999, she joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she has risen through the ranks to full Professor. Cathy’s research interests lie at the interface of chemistry and biology. Her laboratory seeks to understand how Nature harnesses and re-directs the reactivity of enzyme metallocenters in order to perform challenging reactions. By combining X-ray crystallography with other biophysical methods, her goal is to “visualize” molecular processes by obtaining snapshots of enzymes in action.