Awards and Honors

College of Chemistry awards and honors featured in the news.

Michael Zuerch awarded Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research award

May 5, 2025

UC Berkeley College of Chemistry Press Release

This prestigious international award recognizes researchers who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in their fields and anticipates further groundbreaking contributions.

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Frances Arnold: from graduate student to Nobel Laureate

March 3, 2019

by Michael Barnes | College of Chemistry

Caltech professor and Cal alum Frances Arnold, has won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discoveries in the directed evolution of enzymes. Arnold is the fifth woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since it was first awarded in 1901.

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White House honors chemists Darleane Hoffman and Gabor Somorjai with Enrico Fermi Award

March 29, 2023

by Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley Public Affairs

Darleane Hoffman and Gabor Somorjai

Nuclear chemist Darleane Hoffman and surface chemist Gabor Somorjai received the Enrico Fermi Award from President Biden and Vice-President Harris for their pioneering work. Photos courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

The Biden Administration today (Tuesday, March 28) named Darleane C. Hoffman...

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Jay Keasling receives distinguished scientist fellow award

September 23, 2021

by Aliyah Kovner | Berkeley Lab

Jay Keasling

Jay Keasling, a senior faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), professor at UC Berkeley, and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), has been named a Distinguished Scientist Fellow by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

He and the other recipients – Gregory W...

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Two Berkeley professors receive prestigious Guggenheim fellowships

April 22, 2025

By Lila Thulin | Berkeley News

Chemical Engineer Markita del Carpio Landry and Philosopher Hannah Ginsborg have been awarded one of the highest intellectual honors on North American academics and creatives.

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Yaghi wins Mustafa Scientific Prize

January 5, 2016

by Michael Barnes, College of Chemistry Editor

Photo courtesy Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab - Roy Kaltschmidt, photographer.

Chemistry professor Omar Yaghi has won an inaugural Mustafa Scientific Prize, awarded by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states. The award ceremony was...

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Hartwig wins Janssen Pharmaceutica Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis

July 14, 2014

Chemistry Professor John Hartwig has been awarded the 2014 Janssen Pharmaceutica Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis. The prize will be delivered after the lecture Hartwig will give at a symposium on Thursday, July 17, at the Belgian Organic Synthesis Symposium (BOSS).