College of Chemistry

CBE Professor Nitash Balsara is recognized for his research by the Secretary of Energy

October 11, 2018
by Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry

Professor Nitash Balsara receives award Nitash Balsara is one of a group of scientists who have received a U.S. Secretary of Energy Achievement Award in Scientific and Operational Leadership for his research work with the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research Strategic and Operations (JCESR). JCESR is a DOE project working on advancements in battery technology.

Sandia Labs names alumna Mercedes Taylor one of the first Jill Hruby Fellows

October 11, 2018
DOE/Sandia National Laboratories Press Release

Berkeley alumna Mercedes TaylorSandia National Laboratories has named College of Chemistry alumna, Mercedes Taylor ( Ph.D., Chem, 2018) and Chen Wang its first Jill Hruby Fellows. The honorees have each been awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in technical leadership, comprising national security-relevant research with an executive mentor.

Asst Professor Ke Xu recipient of high-risk, high-reward research grants from the NIH

October 10, 2018
Robert Sanders | Berkeley

Asst Professor Ke Xu recipient of high-risk, high-reward research grants from the NIH

Assistant professors Ke Xu of chemistry and Denis Titov of molecular and cell biology — were among 89 recipients of “high-risk, high-reward” grants announced last week by the National Institutes of Health.

Harvesting solar fuels through a bacterium’s unusual appetite for gold

October 5, 2018
By Theresa Duque, contributing writer

CRISPR/Cas12a system. Photo courtesy C&EN, Illusciences.

M. thermoacetica first made its debut as the first non-photosensitive bacterium to carry out artificial photosynthesis in a study led by Peidong Yang, a professor in UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry. By attaching light-absorbing nanoparticles made of cadmium sulfide (CdS) to the bacterial membrane exterior, the researchers turned M. thermoacetica into a tiny photosynthesis machine, converting sunlight and carbon dioxide into useful chemicals.

Professor Jennifer Doudna speaks at UH Hilo about her CRISPR discovery

September 22, 2018
By Leah Sherwood

Jennifer Doudna gives lecture in Hilo, Hawaii.

Professor Jennifer Doudna ( seen here with (left) UH Hilo Interim Chancelor Marcia Sakai and (right) UH Hilo Chancelor Emerita Rose Tseng presented the inaugural UH Hilo Rose and Raymond Tseng Distinguished Lecture. view video here

John Hartwig awarded 2018 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry

September 27, 2018

image: John Hartwig and Stephen BuchwaldJohn Hartwig and Stephen Buchwald

Elsevier and the Board of Executive Editors of Elsevier’s Tetrahedron journal series have announced that the 2018 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry has been awarded to Professors Stephen L....

Atom Computing receives VC funding to create a radical new paradigm in quantum computing

September 27, 2018
by Ethan Batraski | Medium

JAtom Computers acquires VC funding for development

The promise of Quantum Computers will unlock a new dimension of computing capabilities that are not possible today with classical computers, regardless of the size, compute power, or parallelization.

ACS awards alum Paul VerNooy and DuPont colleagues with Heroes of Chemistry award

September 21, 2018

MOFS float above the desert. Photo courtesy California Magazine.

Paul VerNooy (Ph.D. Chem 1991) and five fellow scientists from DuPont (including Alan Carroll, Kenneth Hang, Brian Laughlin, Kurt Mikeska, and Charlie Torardi) have received the 2018 Heroes award from the American Chemical Society (ACS). The DuPont scientists are honored for inventing Solamet® PV17x, the metallization paste that pioneered the use of lead tellurite chemistry, a game changer in the solar energy industry.

Meet Metal-Organic Frameworks, Chemistry’s New Miracle Materials

September 20, 2018
By Krissy Eliot | California Magazine

MOFS float above the desert. Photo courtesy California Magazine.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a revolutionary new class of crystalline solids that can be designed to trap myriad kinds of matter, including greenhouse gases, or to be used as nanosized drug carriers. They can also pull water from desert air.

Professors Omar Yaghi and Michael O’Keeffe receive award from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

September 19, 2018
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Array of Lithium Ion batteries stacked side by side.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2019 Gregori Aminoff Prize in Crystallography to Michael O’Keeffe, Arizona State University, and Omar M. Yaghi, University of California, “for their fundamental contributions to the development of reticular chemistry”.