Patrick L. Holland was born in Pennsylvania in 1971. His family lived in Ohio until 1983, when they moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Pat attended Terry Parker High School in Jacksonville, graduating in 1989. This was followed by four years at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley with Bob Bergman and Dick Andersen. He received his Ph. D. in inorganic chemistry in 1997 and then did postdoctoral research in Bill Tolman’s research group at the University of Minnesota. In July of 2000, he joined the faculty at the University of Rochester. After thirteen happy years in Rochester, he moved to Yale University, where he is currently Whitehead Professor of Chemistry.
Pat’s favorite avocation is music. He has played the piano since age 5, and has been a soloist and an accompanist for choirs, vocalists, instrumentalists, and musicals. In high school, he accompanied the Florida High School All-State Chorus, as well as the choruses at his high school. At Princeton, he had many musical opportunities including being accompanist and assistant director of multiple choruses, as well as musical director and pianist for numerous musicals. Since college, he has sung with choruses including the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the Minnesota Chorale and Musica Spei. He currently sings with the Yale Camerata, and plays piano in informal instrumental ensembles.
Pat is married to Maggie Langford Holland, another Princeton graduate. Maggie is also a researcher and teacher, and is currently a professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of New Haven. They are fortunate to live near Pat’s brother Michael, who is a Vice President of Product Development at ArcXP/Washington Post; sister-in-law Eliza, a midwife at Women’s Health Associates; niece Merrin and nephew Coen.