The College of Chemistry celebrates the achievements of our graduating students

Graduates participating in commencement ceremonies this year include students completing their degree requirements between summer 2005 and fall 2006:

Photo: LBNL

Meet our commencement speaker

Steven Chu, Director
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Steven Chu became the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) on August 1, 2004. A Nobel Prize-winning scholar and international expert in atomic physics, laser spectroscopy, biophysics and polymer physics, Chu oversees the oldest and most varied of the Department of Energy's multi-program research laboratories. LBNL has an annual budget of more than $520 million and a workforce of about 4,000.

Chu's distinguished career in laboratory research began as a graduate student in physics at UC Berkeley in 1970, when he also became acquainted with the facilities of LBNL. His first career appointment, from 1978-87, was as a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, where his achievements with laser spectroscopy and quantum physics became widely recognized.

During his last four years at Bell Labs he was head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department, where he began his groundbreaking work in cooling and trapping atoms by using laser light. In 1987, he became a professor in the physics and applied physics departments at Stanford University, where he continued his laser cooling and trapping work.

This research eventually led to the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, an honor he shared with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of France and U.S. colleague William D. Phillips. Their discoveries, focusing on the so-called "optical tweezers" laser trap, were instrumental in the study of fundamental phenomena and in measuring important physical quantities with unprecedented precision.

Chu was the Theodore and Francis Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford, where he remained for 17 years as a highly decorated scientist, teacher and administrator. He chaired the physics department from 1990-93 and from 1999-2001.

Chu is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Academia Sinica. He is an Honorary Lifetime member of the Optical Society of America, as well as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology.

Chu has won dozens of awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, including the Science for Art Prize, the Herbert Broida Prize for Spectroscopy, the Richtmyer Memorial Award, the King Faisal International Prize for Science, the Arthur Schawlow Prize for Laser Science, and the William Meggers Award for Laser Spectroscopy. He was a Humboldt Senior Scientist and a Guggenheim Fellow and has received six honorary degrees.

Born in St. Louis and raised in New York, Chu earned an A.B. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics at the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in physics at UC Berkeley (1976). He maintains a vigorous research program and directly supervises a team of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He is author or coauthor of more than 160 articles and professional papers, and more than two dozen former members of his group are now professors at leading research universities around the world.

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Meet some of our graduates

Lola Odusanya arrived in the United States from Lagos, Nigeria, in 1998 to attend college in Virginia. All she brought with her were two suitcases, a few pairs of open-toed shoes, and the address of a family friend who lived in Washington state. Eight years later she has earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and is the President of the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly.

At UC Berkeley, Lola studied in the research group of Nitash Balsara, where she worked on new designs to improve the capacity and safety of lithium batteries. Her term as the President of the Graduate Assembly has broadened her interests to include government policy.

She is considering a career in science policy in Washington, DC, where she says the summer weather is actually tolerable compared to Lagos. But hot weather or not, Lola, now a U.S. citizen, still ponders returning to Nigeria to apply her skills there.

"As I approach the next phase of my career with excitement mixed with some anxiety," she says, "I am confident that my education at Cal has provided me with the necessary tools to succeed wherever I go."

Max Montano’s parents left the Bay Area for a more rustic lifestyle, and he grew up "way down a dirt road in Southern Oregon," as he puts it. He was homeschooled from kindergarten to fourth grade and studied at night under a kerosene lamp. After graduating with a degree in chemistry from Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR, he worked for Intel near Portland for two years before coming to UC Berkeley in 2002.

Max earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry in the research group of Gabor Somorjai, where he studied the surface properties of platinum, rhodium and other precious metals that play a critical role in automobile catalytic converters and industrial catalytic processes.

Amidst the bustle of the Bay Area, Max maintained a quiet lifestyle by commuting very early in the morning between a peaceful hillside above the ocean in Pacifica and a scenic hillside lab overlooking the Bay at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"The skills I’ve learned at UC extend far beyond the laboratory," says Max, "and I’ll continue to use them in every aspect of my life." Max will return to work for Intel in Oregon, but he is considering teaching someday at a small liberal arts college.

Olga Paley was too good a candidate for one of the world’s biggest biotech companies to pass by. An undergrad chemical engineering major, Olga was searching for graduate schools when she took a break to attend an on-campus job information session with Genentech. The company was so impressed with the skills she had acquired that it offered her a job as a process engineer — and she accepted.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but raised since the age of 10 in San Mateo County, CA, Olga was inspired by her high school chemistry teacher. At Cal, she has worked to help synthesize an affordable anti-malarial drug in the lab of Jay Keasling. Last summer she worked on bioassay protocols at the University of Pennsylvania as part of a National Science Foundation grant.

"ChemE is not a particularly easy major," Olga admits, "but the small size of the department gave it an intimate, laid-back feeling, and that really helped us succeed." She also credits the advice of her postdoc mentor, Sydnor Withers.

At Genentech, Olga will help develop new techniques for purifying monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies are the basis of Genentech’s revolutionary drugs that are prolonging the lives of patients with lymphoma and metastatic breast cancer.

José Gómez is the first person in his family to attend college — but as he points out, not the last. His younger brother Luis has followed in his footsteps and also attends UC Berkeley. While brother Luis chose to major in molecular and cell biology, José chose the College of Chemistry's popular Chemical Biology program for its more rigorous grounding in chemistry.

José grew up and attended high school in Arvin, CA, a farming community near Bakersfield. Under the UC Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees Program, José has spent three summers conducting research at the UC campuses in Riverside and Santa Barbara, in addition to the Berkeley campus.

Although he has become familiar with several UC campuses, José will attend grad school at Berkeley's arch-rival. In fall 2006, José will start a Ph.D. program in microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

"The College of Chemistry offered the right environment for my success at Cal," says José, "with small classes, challenging courses, friendly advisors and access to research. The Scholars Program was especially important. There I met the students who would be my network of support during my college career."

Annie Yang wanted to get away from home for college, but not too far away. She was raised in San Francisco’s quiet West Portal neighborhood and attended Lowell High, the city’s most prestigious public school. She figured a move across the Bay was about the right distance, so she picked UC Berkeley. The offer of a Regents and Chancellor's Scholarship helped cement her choice.

Annie chose chemistry as her major because for her it is "the most fundamental of the sciences." A summer internship will take her to Washington, DC, where she will help develop computational toxicology models for the Federal Drug Administration. These models can help speed the drug approval process and reduce the need for human and animal testing.

"I feel privileged to have learned from some of the greatest thinkers and researchers in chemistry," she says. "Their high expectations forced me to go beyond the lecture hall and discover chemistry for myself.”

Annie expects that grad school is in her future, and she hopes someday to apply her minor in education as a K-12 science teacher.

Congratulations to our new alums! Keep your Cal connections current by joining the Chemistry & Chemical Engineering Alumni Association and the @cal online community. Click here for more information. Stay in touch!