Pierce is an American mathematician, bioengineer, and professor at the California Institute of Technology.
He is a leading researcher in the fields of molecular programming and dynamic nucleic acid nanotechnology.
His research is focused on kinetically controlled DNA and RNA self-assembly.
Pierce graduated as the Valedictorian [1] of the Princeton University class of 1993 with a BSE in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.
He then attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, an achievement repeated nine years later by his sister Lillian Pierce.