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 the UCLA Academic Senate Committee on Teaching for the award, which recognizes academically and professionally accomplished individuals who bring respect and admiration to the scholarship of teaching. Professor Sarah Tolbert also received a Distinguished Teaching Award this year.
Senate and non-Senate faculty awardees were nominated in one of four categories: Practice of Teaching, Innovation and Impact, Community-Engaged Teaching, and Undergraduate Mentorship. Recipients were selected based on nominations from colleagues, campus leaders, and students, and will be recognized by the UCLA Center for the Advancement of Teaching at the annual Andrea L. Rich Night to Honor Teaching event in fall 2026.
In his laboratory, Torres fosters an inclusive and dynamic research environment that provides one-on-one mentoring, foundational training in biochemistry, and career development opportunities. He mentors an average of four to five students each year, totaling 53 students over the course of his career, with 74% identifying as female and 47% coming from underrepresented groups in STEM. His mentees have received numerous prestigious national and UCLA awards. The majority have gone on to pursue M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D. degrees at top universities or entered scientific careers in industry or medicine.
As Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education for the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry since 2022, Torres has overseen the education and mentoring of more than 1,200 majors each year, including supervision of the Undergraduate Education and Teaching Committees and the hiring and advising of lecturers and teacher-scholars. He has spearheaded initiatives to strengthen mentoring, including the Faculty Undergraduate Student Mentoring Program, faculty-student mixers, and the relaunch of the Departmental Undergraduate Research Symposium, all of which have helped build a stronger mentoring community while recognizing the efforts of undergraduate researchers.
Torres also serves as faculty advisor for the UCLA undergraduate student chapter of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), which he helped to establish in 2023. Through the chapter, he mentors an average of 20 students each year to enrich their biochemical education and support their pursuit of careers in science.
Campus-wide, Torres serves on several faculty advisory boards focused on undergraduate mentoring, including the Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the (CEILS) (2023–present), the Beckman Scholars Program (2017–present), the Chancellor’s Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention Task Force (2024–2025), and the Chicano Studies Research Center HSI-STEM initiative (2021–present), as UCLA prepares for designation as a Hispanic-serving institution.
Nationwide, Torres is deeply committed to inclusion and mentoring in science and has demonstrated exceptional mentorship through his service as a seminar speaker, panelist, poster judge, program advisor, and UCLA representative for university-wide and national diversity initiatives in science. Through these efforts, Torres has made a significant positive impact on the careers of students at UCLA and beyond.
In recognition of his exceptional efforts, Torres has received numerous national and UCLA awards, including the 2019 UCLA Academic Senate Student Development DEI Award, the 2019 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans (SACNAS) Outstanding University Mentor Award, the 2019 SACNAS Outstanding Hispanic Student Mentor Award, the 2019 Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), the 2019 Prize for Excellence in Inclusivity from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), the 2023 Department Faculty DEI Award, and the 2024 E.E. Just Lecture Award from ASCB.
Torres received a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1998, where he conducted research under the mentorship of Professor Eduardo Orias. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University in 2004 under the direction of Professor Virginia A. Zakian. He conducted his postdoctoral research at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Genentech with Professor Peter Jackson before joining the UCLA faculty in 2009.
Torres’s research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cell division and how these processes contribute to human health and disease. His work integrates cell biology, chemical biology, and biochemistry to explore how cells maintain genomic stability and how disruptions in these processes can lead to cancer and other diseases. Torres’s research has provided significant insights into the regulation of the cell cycle and the role of specific proteins in ensuring accurate chromosome segregation. By employing advanced multidisciplinary approaches, his studies aim to identify potential therapeutic targets for diseases associated with cell cycle dysregulation.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
