 Spoehr at the Carnegie Institution for Science before enrolling at the California Institute of Technology to pursue his doctorate in physical organic chemistry under the direction of Howard J. Lucas.Young served as a National Research Council postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University for one year, before joining the faculty at UCLA, where he would remain for his entire career (through 1970).Young's research interests centered on molecular rearrangements of allyl groups, including higher-order allyl groups such as crotyl, prenyl, and various allyl organometallic reagents.