Awards and Honors

College of Chemistry awards and honors featured in the news.

Omar Yaghi: 2019 Innovator of the Year

April 19, 2020
By Patricia Miller | Innovation and Tech Today

Omar Yahgi

Scientific Advances transform our lives in miraculous ways. For chemistry and UC Berkeley Professor Omar Yaghi, his pioneering work has already impacted countless lives and will continue shaping the development of mankind for centuries to come. He’s published more than 300 scientific articles, which are referenced so frequently that he is among the top five most highly cited chemists in the world.

Professor Emeritus William Lester inducted into the IAOTP hall of fame

April 14, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

William Lester

Professor Emeritus William Lester, a chemist, and educator at the University of California, Berkeley, was recently inducted into the exclusive Hall of Fame for 2020 by the International Association of Top Professionals. He will be recognized at a ceremony in December, 2020.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowships announced

April 6, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships

The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program is a prestigious grant awarded annually by the National Science Foundation to approximately 2,000 students pursuing research-based Master's and doctoral degrees in the natural, social, and engineering sciences at US institutions. This year, 17 graduate students and four undergraduate students from the College of Chemistry have received 2020 fellowships.

US News ranks CBE graduate program #2 in country

March 19, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

US News and World Report ranks CBE #2

The College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce that the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) has been ranked number two in a tie with Caltech in the 2021 U.S. News and World Report list of best chemical engineering graduate schools in the United States. MIT was in first place.

Gabor Somorjai awarded the Helmholtz Medal

March 4, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

Gabor Somorjai

Gabor A. Somorjai, Professor of the Graduate School and Emeritus Chemistry Professor has been awarded the Helmholtz Medal by the members of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (formerly the Prussian Academy of Sciences.) The award honors his outstand­ing scientific achievements in the field of surface chemistry and catalysis, and especially the catalytic effects of metal surfaces. The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities contin­ues the tradition established by the Prussian Academy of Sciences of awarding the Helmholtz Medal which was established in 1892.

Naomi Ginsberg receives ACS early-career award in experimental physical chemistry

February 26, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

Naomi Ginsberg

The American Society of Chemistry (ACS) has announced Naomi S. Ginsberg is a recipient of the 2020 early-career award in experimental physical chemistry. She is being recognized "For the development of new time- and space-resolved imaging and spectroscopy methods to study dynamical phenomena in heterogeneous materials". The Physical Chemistry Division of ACS annually sponsors senior and early-career awards in theoretical and experimental physical chemistry that are intended to recognize the most outstanding scientific achievements of members of the Division. The recipients will be honored at the the Fall ACS National Meeting in San Francisco.

Jean Fréchet awarded Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering

January 7, 2020
National Academy of Engineering press release

Jean Fréchet and C. Grant Willson

The National Academy of Engineering has announced today that the 2020 Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering will be awarded to Jean Fréchet, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and C. Grant Willson, Professor Emeritus at UT Austin “for the invention, development, and commercialization of chemically amplified materials for micro- and nanofabrication, enabling the extreme miniaturization of microelectronic devices.”

William Lester: Lifetime achievement award

February 5, 2020
Top Industry Professionals | Issue 43 2020

William Lester

Dr. William Alexander Lester, Jr, is a Chemist & Educator for the University of California, Berkeley. He was just recently selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 and as Top Chemist Educator of the Year for 2018 by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) for his outstanding leadership and commitment to the field. With close to 6 decades of professional experience as a seasoned and trusted Chemist and Educator, Dr. Lester has certainly proven himself as an accomplished professional and expert in the field.

Jennifer Doudna awarded 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine

January 13, 2020
By Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley Media Relations

Jennifer Doudna

Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry, has won the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine, a prestigious international prize awarded in Israel for unique contributions to humanity.

Sixth Nano Research Award presented to Xinhe Bao and Omar M. Yaghi

June 27, 2019
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Omar Yaghi

This year’s Nano Research Award, which is sponsored by Tsinghua University Press (TUP) and Springer Nature, was presented to two celebrated researchers in Changsha, China on June 23rd. Omar M. Yaghi, the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley received the award for pioneering a new field of research known as reticular chemistry. This chemistry has led to the discovery of several new classes of extended structures called metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, and molecular weaving.