The central mission of the College of Chemistry is to advance society through education and research, and we have made it our responsibility to fulfill this mission, year in and year out, for more than 140 years.
Our two departments provide fundamental and applied studies of an outstanding caliber. The remarkable breadth and depth of resources available to our students readies them as chemists and chemical engineers to address society’s most urgent 21st-century issues.
College faculty have been leaders at the frontiers of knowledge since 1872. Current pioneering research includes premier programs in catalysis, thermodynamics, chemical biology, atmospheric chemistry, the development of polymer, optical and semiconductor materials, and nanoscience, among others.
Check out College of Chemistry news articles and featured videos, as well as our biannual college magazine, Catalyst.
The College of Chemistry is consistently ranked as one of the best places on earth to learn, teach, and create new tools in the chemical sciences. This is no accident. It’s the direct result of exceptional scholarship as well as thousands and thousands of donations from our loyal alumni and friends.
College of Chemistry alum Eric Tulsky promoted to vice president of hockey management and strategy of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes.Read more about Alum Eric Tulsky promoted to leadership role for NHL's Carolina Hurricanes
John Casida, one of the world's leading authorities on how pesticides work and how they can potentially harm humans. Casida was the founding director of the campus's Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory.Read more about Preeminent toxicologist and pesticide expert John Casida dies at 88
Dow Professor of Sustainable Chemistry Alexis Bell has been awarded the title of Honorary Professor of Boreskov Institute of Catalysis by the institute's...Read more about Alexis Bell awarded honorary professorship
Kwabena Bediako and colleagues develop light-weight, long-lasting batteries.Read more about The physics of better batteries
The College is saying farewell to Eric Granlund, Shop Supervisor. Eric has been at the College since July 1985, concluding 33 years of service with his retirement this month.Read more about Shop supervisor Eric Granlund retires
The team of Professors Omar Yaghi (UC Berkeley) and Evelyn Wang (MIT) have won the Alternative Water Resources prize, which will be awarded at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.Read more about Professors Omar Yaghi and Evelyn Wang awarded international water prize
Congratulations to Varsha Desai (Ph.D. Chem '18 ) who has received a 2018 Teaching Effectiveness Award for GSIs which honors a small number of Berkeley graduate student instructors.Read more about Varsha Desai receives Berkeley GSI Teacher award
AIChE has announced that alum Eric Reiner (Ph.D ChemE ’94) recently made a $50k donation to the AIChE Foundation to kick off their LGBTQ+ & Allies Initiative aimed at advancing the inclusiveness of the chemical engineering profession.Read more about Gift from Alum Eric Reiner helps launch AIChE LGBTQ+ & Allies Initiative
The University of California announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent number 10,000,772 covering the use of CRISPR-Cas9...Read more about Doudna-Charpentier team awarded U.S. patent for CRISPR-Cas9
Breakthrough discovery at the Joint BioEnergy Institute could greatly accelerate the pace of science.Read more about Faster, Cheaper, Better: A New Way to Synthesize DNA
