The Department is delighted to welcome Professor Giulia Palermo, a world-renowned computational biophysicist recognized for her pioneering computational studies of genome editing systems. She will join the UCLA faculty as a Full Professor on July 1, 2026. “We are excited to welcome Giulia Palermo to UCLA,” said Professor Miguel García-Garibay, UCLA’s Dean of Physical Sciences. […]

We are sad to report that Dr. Richard “Rich” Cross, a former postdoctoral fellow in Professor Paul Boyer’s laboratory and a longtime supporter of the department, passed away on February 7, 2026, at the age of 82. A Distinguished Professor Emeritus at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Cross was internationally recognized for his contributions to the […]

Distinguished Professor Sarah Tolbert, the Charles and Carolyn Knobler Endowed Term Chair, has been selected for one of UCLA’s highest teaching honors, the 2026 Distinguished Teaching Award for Senate Faculty for Community-Engaged Teaching, in recognition of her more than 25 years of dedicated leadership of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) Nanoscience Education Program and her […]

Department Chair Professor Alexander Spokoyny is one of 18 U.S. academic researchers chosen for the US Defense Science Study Group (DSSG) class of 2027-28. The two-year program introduces outstanding scientists and engineers to the challenges facing national security and encourages them to apply their expertise to address these issues. A UCLA faculty member since 2014, […]

Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education Professor Jorge Torres has been selected for one of UCLA’s highest teaching honors, the 2026 Distinguished Teaching Award for Senate Faculty for Undergraduate Mentorship, in recognition of his unrivaled success in mentoring diverse undergraduate students toward careers in science. Torres is one of six campuswide Academic Senate-represented recipients chosen by […]

Chemical Biology Ph.D. student Glenn Nurwono (Park and Tang groups) is one of six students selected for the 2026 Distinguished Teaching Award for Teaching Assistants. This award celebrates teaching assistants who demonstrate effective teaching that incorporates the best practices, aims to inspire and challenge students, and supports the success of all students. The award committee […]

Third-year organic chemistry graduate students Branden Chaffin (Doyle), Allison Clark (Garg), Alexander Maertens (Doyle/Houk), Giulianna Miseo (Garg), and Christina Rivera (Garg) have been named the 2026 Senior Foote Fellows. The Senior Foote Fellowships support our most outstanding third-year graduate students upon completion of their qualifying examination for their Ph.D. degree and the Junior Foote Fellowships […]

Professor Kendall Houk and graduate students Alexander Maertens and Qingyang Zhou collaborate with Professor Grace Han’s group at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), to design a system that captures solar energy and releases heat on demand through catalytic activation. Its reversibility makes it a promising candidate for sustainable heating applications such as water heating […]