Awards and Honors

College of Chemistry awards and honors featured in the news.

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.”

Professor David Schaffer elected to AAAS

November 26, 2019
Robert Saunders | UC Berkeley

David Schaffer

Professor David Schaffer joins four other Berkeley faculty members who have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon the society’s members by their peers. Schaffer has been elected “for pioneering contributions to biomolecular engineering, with particular attention to directed evolution to create viruses for the efficient, targeted and safe delivery of gene medicines.”

Meet our faculty: A conversation with 2019 D.I.C. Wang Award Winner Douglas S. Clark

November 19, 2019
By Hailey Murphy | AIChE ChEnected

Douglas Clark

Douglas S. Clark was presented the 2019 D.I.C. Wang Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering at the Annual Meeting in Orlando on November 11, 2019, where he delivered his award lecture titled “From Artificial Cofactors to Synthetic Arrays: Teaching Old Enzymes New Tricks.”

Alumni Klaas Bergmann and Lisa Onishi awarded industry prizes

November 4, 2019
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Alumni in the news

Professor Emeritus Klaas Bergmann has been awarded the 2020 Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics by APS Physics “for the invention of Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) that became universally used for coherent transfer in quantum systems with unprecedented efficiency and robustness."

Dr. Lisa Onishi, Chemical Engineer, Researcher and Senior Process Engineer at Intel, has been recognized with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for her "dedication, achievements, and leadership as a professional engineer".

Distinguished European Academy elects new faculty member Polly Arnold

September 24, 2019
Berkeley Lab Press Release

Polly Arnold

Prominent heavy-element chemist Polly Arnold has been elected a member of Academia Europaea. Her research focuses on advancing our understanding of the bonding and reactivity of heavy elements, the elements of the f-block of the periodic table. Arnold was recently appointed Chemical Sciences Division Director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Concurrent with her role at Berkeley Lab, she will also join the Chemistry Department faculty at UC Berkeley in January 2020.

Tom Maimone and Wenjun Zhang receive Presidential Early Career Awards

July 8, 2019
White House Press Release

Tom Maimone and Wenjun ZhangPresident Donald J. Trump has announced the newest recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.

Kwabena Bediako receives Office of Naval Research (ONR) 2019 Young Investigator Award

December 20, 2018
College of Chemistry News

Kwabena BediakoKwabena Bediako has been named a recipient of The Office of Naval Research (ONR) 2019 Young Investigator Award for his research in Van der Waals engineering for electrochemically tunable quantum materials.

The American Chemical Society announces 2020 Awards

August 26, 2019
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

American Chemical Society logoThe American Chemical Society has announced their 2020 award recipients. College of Chemistry faculty, students and alumni are being honored at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, in conjunction with the ACS Spring National Meeting in Philadelphia.

Alumna JoAnne Stubbe named 2020 Priestley Medalist

August 26, 2019
Celia Arnaud | C&E News

JoAnne Stubbe

Alumna JoAnne Stubbe (Ph.D. '71, Chem), the Novartis Professor of Chemistry and Biology, emerita, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will receive the 2020 Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society’s highest honor.

David Limmer awarded Department of Energy Early Career Research Program funding

August 7, 2019
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Richmond Sarpong

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has announced this year’s selection of scientists to receive Early Career Research Program funding. David Limmer, UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been chosen as one of 73 scientists from across the country for his project entitled: Understanding and Controlling Photoexcited Molecules in Complex Environments.