Atzin Esmeralda Ruiz-Lera was born in Nezahualcotl, México, in 1993. She studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City since high school. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry, in the group of Prof. Dr Juán Raúl Alvarez-Idaboy.

After that, she moved to France to pursue postgraduate studies at the Université Paris-Saclay (Orsay, France) in the SERP+ (Surfaces, Electron Radiation and Photochemistry) Erasmus Program. This included an Erasmus+ exchange semester at the University of Adam Mackievitz (Poznan, Poland), and she graduated with a Maitrise in Photochemistry (M1) in 2020. After a few internships and postgraduate studies, she pursued an M2 degree at the University of Strasbourg (Strasbourg, France). In Strasbourg, she worked in ultrafast spectroscopy using time-resolved absorption spectroscopy to study the ultrafast photophysics of a fluorophore analogue to Guanosine under the supervision of Profs. Jeremy Leonard and Yves Mély. She graduated with a Master's degree in Physical Chemistry and Materials Science (M2) in 2023, joining our group as a Ph.D. Student since April 2024.

Atzin is passionate about light-matter interactions in liquids, solids, and interfaces, particularly the study of excited-state photophysics of fluorophores. Her specialization is in depicting the photophysics of molecules and materials. Additionally, she is interested in understanding reactivity and solvation mechanisms using multidimensional spectroscopies. In her free time, Atzin enjoys practising yoga and Buddhist meditation.

Favourite Music: Symphonic

Favourite Food: Traditional homemade Mexican food and specialty coffee.