Dean's Desk
by Clayton H. Heathcock

Connecting with our Alumni

Spring has arrived in Berkeley—tulips and daffodils decorate the streets and the fruit trees are in glorious bloom. And with the arrival of the warmer weather of April and May, we near the end of another academic year. The College Commencement exercises will be held on Saturday, May 24, in Zellerbach Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. The Commencement Speaker this year is Gabor A. Somorjai, University Professor and recipient of the 2002 National Medal of Science, who will speak about “Leadership, Opportunities and Responsibilities Vested in the Berkeley Degree.”

Coffee Corner for the College
Around the college, finishing touches are being put on a new ‘College of Chemistry Coffee Corner,’ a takeout service that will provide gourmet coffee, cookies, pastries and other refreshments. The Coffee Corner is located on the B-level of Hildebrand Hall, on the southwest corner of the lower courtyard. Although our outstanding college shop crew is highly experienced in building new offices and laboratories, this was their first foray into the complex world of food service, so things have taken a little longer than anticipated! Nevertheless, our fearless crew has pushed ahead, and we expect to obtain our new sanitation license soon and have the new takeout coffee service available in early May.

New Laboratory Construction Underway
We will soon begin construction of a new 900-square-foot laboratory for Biochemical Engineering, ChemE 170L. The course is currently housed in room 205 Gilman Hall, a room that is both antiquated and inadequate in size. We anticipate that, in addition to serving 40 undergraduate chemical engineering students each year, the new laboratory will also serve a similar number of undergraduates in the new chemical biology major that will soon be offered by the chemistry department. The budget for this project is $375,000, of which $200,000 is a bequest from alumnus Chester Clark (B.S. ’27, M.S. ’29), $125,000 is a minor capital improvement grant from the University of California, and $50,000 is from the campus Instructional Equipment Replacement Fund. In addition to creating a new state-of-the-art laboratory, the project also includes full renovation of 205 Gilman into two new offices that will house other college functions. This is part of our overall plan to relocate all laboratory functions from Gilman Hall, which will be converted in stages into an office building.

CHEMillennium event: May 21
As we go to press, we are busily preparing for our kick-off event for the newest of our alumni ‘era’ groups, the CHEMillennium alumni (graduation years from 1980 through 1999). We will have a reception followed by a panel discussion on “Science and Technology in the New CHEMillennium: Personal Perspectives from College of Chemistry Alumni,” featuring our own professor Carolyn Bertozzi, Steve Fodor, chairman and CEO of Affymetrix, and David Soane, Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chairman of Alnis, as well as CSO of Nano-Tex.

We have had an outstanding committee working on the launch of this group: Deanne Krenz (B.S. ’94 Chem) and Tom Gadek (Ph.D. ’86 Chem) co-chaired the group, with Mark Ellsworth (Ph.D. ’93 Chem) taking the lead on the logo. Other members include Marilee Brooks (M.S. ’88 ChemE), Paul Burke (B.S. ’81 ChemE), Joel Burley (Ph.D. ’91 Chem), Daisy Joe Du Bois (Ph.D. ’94 Chem), Maria Fardis (Ph.D. ’98 Chem), Fred Lam (B.S. ’83 ChemE), Susan Miller (Ph.D. ’83 Chem) and her husband, Walter Moos (Ph.D. ’82 Chem), Alyssa Roche (B.S. ’87 ChemE), Steve Sciamanna (B.S. ’79, Ph.D. ’86 ChemE), Wilfred Tang (B.S. ’92 Chem), Mike Yang (B.S. ’92, Chem and ChemE), and Sheila Yeh (B.S. ’80, Ph.D. ’85 Chem). The college really appreciates the help and involvement of these dedicated alums.

Alumni events
The college’s alumni association has been very busy recently hosting events, including Cal Day and the Cupola Era alumni annual luncheon. More information about these events can be found in the alumni association news column.

Charles Harris is the new Chemistry Chair
Finally, I would like to congratulate Professor Charles B. Harris, who has been appointed Chair of the Chemistry Department and Joel Henry Hildebrand Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, effective July 1, 2003. I and my colleagues express our sincere gratitude to outgoing Chair Judith Klinman for her leadership of the department over the last three years.

© 2003 UC Regents

College of Chemistry UC Berkeley