Alumni News

Alumni innovation in the news

March 13, 2019

Ripple MilkGraduates of the College’s Chemistry and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering departments are making news as they become market innovators with their recent startups and products. News stories about Lygos, Chemistry and Ripple look at the latest chemistry innovations and funding for these companies.

Alumna Geraldine Richmond reappointed to National Science Board

November 8, 2018

Alumna Geraldine Richmond

Alumna Geraldine Richmond (Ph.D. Chem, '80) and been reappointed to the National Science Board for a second six year term. Richmond is a professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon and has held a variety of leadership positions within the scientific community.

Alum David Oxtoby named president of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

December 5, 2018

John Adams

Alum David Oxtoby (Ph.D. Chem, ’75) has been elected President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. One of the oldest institutions in America, the Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, and 60 other individuals who anticipated that the then young republic would need to gather knowledge and promote learning to succeed in an uncertain future.

The importance of nurturing our undergraduate students

January 13, 2019

Alexandra Brown receives Hertz Foundation FellowshipThe Fannie and John Hertz Foundation announced its new class of fellows for 2018 in the spring, naming alumna Alexandra Brown (B.S. Chem, ’17) one of ten newly minted graduate students as a recipient. As an undergraduate at Berkeley, Brown worked in the research group of Professor John Arnold studying titanium-aluminum heterobimetallics supported by bridging hydride ligands.

Jnana Therapeutics announces appointment of alum Joanne Kotz, Ph.D. as Chief Executive Officer

November 6, 2018

Joanne Kotze, PhD, Jnana TherapeuticsJnana Therapeutics today announced that UC Berkeley Chemistry alum Joanne Kotz, Ph.D., a company co-founder, has been named Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Kotz has served as Jnana's president since December 2017. For more information...

Alum Robin Padilla discusses his postdoc career path: meet the scientific-database developer

December 26, 2018

David SchafferRobin Padilla earned his PhD in chemistry in 2010. He worked as a postdoc and scientific editor before assuming his current role as a product manager with Springer Nature. In this position, he applies his analytical skills to developing databases that help researchers to find the information they need faster.

Spotlight on SEMI Women recognizes alum Ellie Yieh

December 26, 2018

Ellie YiehSpotlight on SEMI Women is excited to recognize Q4 2018 honoree Ellie Yieh (College of Chemistry Advisory Board member and alumna) from Applied Materials! Spotlight on SEMI Women recognizes and celebrates accomplished women working in the global microelectronics industry. Nominees include women who are beacons of knowledge, leaders of organizations and initiatives, hidden heroes and innovators in our industry. They are volunteers, protectors, intellectual disruptors and activists.

Chem alum struggled with learning disability to achieve genius

December 7, 2018

Richard HoughtenAt this year's induction ceremony for the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies founder Richard Houghten and optometry pioneer Herbert Wertheim — two individuals of unquestionable genius — shared a surprising fact about themselves: Growing up, they each struggled with severe learning challenges that easily could have sent them on a different path.

In Conversation with Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold

December 5, 2018

Francis Arnold

In 2018, the Nobel Prize for chemistry went to one British and two American scientists. Professor Frances Arnold is an American chemical engineer who was awarded for her pioneering work on the “directed evolution of enzymes.” In this edition of "The Interview", Fair Observer talks to Arnold about her scholarly work, her path to success and her life after being awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Alumnus John Adams re-elected chair of the American Chemical Society'€™s board of directors

December 4, 2018

John Adams

Alumnus John E. Adams, (Ph.D. Chem, '79) has been re-elected chair of the board of directors of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. Adams will begin his second one-year term on Jan. 1, 2019.