This article appeared in Catalyst Magazine, Spring 2025
Photo Brittany Hosea-Small
The funding is the beginning of a new push to invigorate the competitive postdoctoral fellowship program at the Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry.
A $3 million gift from the Pitzer Family Foundation, which has long supported the Berkeley College of Chemistry, will provide two new theoretical chemistry postdoctoral fellows each year with a competitive stipend during their time at Berkeley. The funds will help boost the ability of the Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry to recruit the most promising fellows, and allow selected fellows to pursue research outside the confines of faculty grants.
"It is important to us to try to recognize and reward excellence and to let our postdoctoral fellows grab the most exciting scientific opportunities they can," says Martin Head-Gordon, the director of the Pitzer Center. "We are incredibly grateful to the Pitzer Family for this new gift, which adds to their legacy of support."
"The Pitzer Family Foundation is excited to help keep the Pitzer Center a premier research center and ensure that the brightest minds continue to come to Berkeley to provide guiding leadership and groundbreaking research," says Greg Pitzer, a trustee of the foundation.
Continuing a Legacy
Distinguished chemist Kenneth S. Pitzer, considered one of the founders of modern theoretical chemistry, was the Dean of the College of Chemistry in the 1950s. In the years since, his family has contin- ued to support the college through the Pitzer Family Foundation. In 1999, the foundation helped establish the Kenneth S. Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, which houses scientists focused on theoretical chemistry topics ranging from the electronic structure of atoms and molecules to nanoscience, polymer design, and biophysics.
With the foundation's continued support, the Pitzer Center has helped lead groundbreaking research into the fundamental laws of nature.
"There's a lot of excitement right now around how theoretical chemistry can have an impact on renewable energy as well as chemistry in complex environments," says Head-Gordon. "It's an important time for the field."
The latest gift comes after discussions between Greg Pitzer and former Professor of Chemistry Phillip Geissler, who passed away in 2022. Geissler deeply believed that better support of postdoctoral fellows would help the Pitzer Center thrive.
A Focus on Postdoctoral Fellows
In the time between earning a PhD and launching their career in academics or industry, theoretical chemists often want to deepen their knowledge, explore new areas of science, and begin the transition to becoming an independent scientist. This bridge between graduate school and a future career most often takes the form of a postdoctoral research fellowship.
Berkeley is the top-ranked theoretical chemistry program in the country, and attracting postdoctoral fellows is an important factor in maintaining the high quality of research and education at the College of Chemistry, as well as having a pipeline for the recruitment of young faculty members, says Head-Gordon.
"Strengthening the theoretical chemistry postdoctoral program is part of a competitive push for new collaboration and new synergies," he says.
The funds will support two new postdoctoral fellows each year, beginning with the 2025–2026 academic year. Fellows will be selected during their application process and may work in any theoretical chemistry lab at Berkeley.
In the future, other named stipend programs may be established that further expand the postdoctoral fellowship program.
"We are incredibly appreciative of the gift from the Pitzer Family, but we also want to use this as an opportunity to continue strengthening the theoretical chemistry program," says Douglas Clark, Dean of the College of Chemistry. "We hope that in the future we can independently support even more postdoctoral fellows."