Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

The probability of greatness (and how to engineer it)

April 16, 2026
By Veronica Bartell | College of Chemistry
The CBE Department has an exceptionally high concentration of NAE members (42.9%), one of the highest densities for any single department in the world.

Markita Landry awarded Bakar Prize for nanotechnolgy innovations

February 23, 2023
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release
Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Markita Landry is one of four UC Berkeley faculty members to be awarded the 2023 Bakar Prize.

Enrique Iglesia is the recipient of the 2019 Michel Boudart Award for the Advancement of Catalysis

January 15, 2019
North American Catalyst Society Press Release
The award is presented jointly by the North American Catalysis Society (NACS) and the European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS).

Research shines a light on development of the visual cortex during the critical period after birth

January 19, 2022
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release
A new study from the labs of Professors S. Lawrence Zipursky (UCLA) and Karthik Shekhar (UC Berkeley) presents "significant findings that shine an exciting light on our understanding of the influence of vision during the critical period of development in the mouse visual cortex.”

Meet our faculty: Alexis T. Bell

August 10, 2020
Roger Eardley-Pryor | UC Berkeley Oral History Project
Alexis T. Bell: A Career in Catalysis and University Administration at UC Berkeley

Black and white portrait of a man in front of blackboard.

Alexis T. Bell in UC Berkeley classroom, circa 1990.

Alexis T. Bell is the Dow Professor of Sustainable Chemistry in the Department of...

Long-sought carbon structure joins graphene, fullerene family

August 13, 2018
by Bob Sanders | UC Berkeley

three-dimensional cage structure of a schwarziteThe discovery of buckyballs surprised and delighted chemists in the 1980s, nanotubes jazzed physicists in the 1990s, and graphene charged up materials scientists in the 2000s, but one nanoscale carbon structure – a negatively curved surface called a schwarzite – has eluded everyone. Until now....

Emeritus professor Jean Fréchet awarded King Faisal Prize in Science

February 27, 2019
King Faisal Foundation press release

Jean Fréchet named 2019 King Faisal Prize in Science winnerProfessor Jean M. J. Fréchet, UC Berkeley professor emeritus and Allen Bard, Professor of Chemistry at UT Austin have been named co-Laureates of the 2019 King Faisal Prize in Science. The award, announced on January 13, cites Fréchet's pioneering work and seminal contributions in the areas of convergent synthesis of dendrimers and their applications, chemically amplified photoresists and organic photovoltaics. A ceremony honoring the Laureates will be held in March.

In Memoriam: J. Frank Valle-Riestra

December 6, 2021
by George Tyson, Judson King, and Jeffrey Reimer

Black and white photo of old manJ. Frank Valle-Riestra (1924-2021). Undated photo.

We are sad to report that J. Frank Valle-Riestra passed away in April of this year. Frank was a first generation American born on November 12, 1924 in Oakland, California. He was the son of Carlos and Milena (Pudil) Valle-Riestra. Carlos was originally from Peru. Milena was from the former Czechoslovakia. Carlos...

David Schaffer announced as director of the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

March 7, 2022
Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry

Rendering of Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

The Bakar BioEnginuity Hub will rent space to science-based startups, and provide campus programs for scholars and researchers. This rendering displays the versatility of the multi-leveled space, housed in the old Berkeley Art...

Cerium carbonate catalyst protects against harmful oxidation

October 29, 2021
Mitch Jacoby | C&EN

Chain of molecules

Microscopic particles of cerium carbonate are potent antioxidation catalysts. Illustration courtesy ACS Appl. Nano Mater.

Titanium dioxide and other metal oxides are widely used as bright white pigments and sunscreen agents, but they can cause damaging oxidation reactions that can degrade the materials the coatings were meant to protect. A new study shows that blending the oxides...