The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is pleased to announce that Distinguished Professor Miguel García-Garibay, Senior Dean of the UCLA College and Dean of the Division of Physical Sciences, has been chosen as the 2027 Seaborg Medalist.
Established in 1987, the Seaborg Medal is the highest honor bestowed by our department for distinguished contributions to science, technological innovation, or public service in science.
We will honor Professor Miguel García-Garibay at the 2027 Seaborg Symposium and Medal Dinner on Friday, March 19, 2027. Please save the date. Additional details and event information will be shared later this year and in early 2027.
The Seaborg Symposium is the department’s annual celebration, centering around the science of the year’s Seaborg Medalist. For the next year’s event, we will have an afternoon symposium with talks by García-Garibay and five other prominent scientists: Prof. Luis Campos (Columbia University), Prof. Angiolina Comotti (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca), Prof. Grace Han (University of California, Santa Barbara), Prof. Ken Houk (University of California, Los Angeles), and Prof. Panče Naumov (New York University Abu Dhabi).
The afternoon symposium will take place in the UCLA California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) auditorium. A poster session featuring work by postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates will take place in the CNSI lobby.
The Glenn T. Seaborg Medal will be presented to García-Garibay at the evening awards banquet in the UCLA Carnesale Commons. The evening will begin with a reception, followed by dinner, the presentation of the poster session awards, and the medal award ceremony.
All are welcome to attend the Seaborg events. The symposium is free to attend, but registration is required for the evening reception and dinner. Dinner ticket price and registration information will be available later in the fall at www.seaborg.ucla.edu. If you would like to be notified when the registration website is available, please contact cbevents@ucla.edu.
Please plan to join us for these exciting events honoring García-Garibay and his career.
About Professor Miguel García-Garibay
Miguel A. García-Garibay received his B.S. degree from the University of Michoacán in Mexico and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University before joining the faculty in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UCLA, where he rose through the faculty ranks and is now a Distinguished Professor.
After serving as Vice Chair for Education and Chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, in 2016 he was appointed Dean of Physical Sciences in the UCLA College. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, and Crystal Growth & Design, and was an associate editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society from 2009 to 2018. He served two terms on the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Academies and is now a member of the Advisory Committee of the NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.
García-Garibay has achieved an international reputation for work in reactive intermediates, solid-state organic chemistry, photochemistry, and crystalline molecular machines. He has authored more than 230 articles and delivered more than 450 lectures worldwide. His honors include an NSF Creativity Award, the 2013 Inter-American Photochemical Society Award, the 2015 ACS Cope Scholar Award, the 2016 UCLA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, the 2020 Japanese Photochemical Association Honda-Fujishima Award, and the 2025 ACS James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry. He is a fellow of the AAAS and the American Chemical Society and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020, the Mexican Academy of Sciences as a corresponding member in 2021, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.
About the Glenn T. Seaborg Medal
The Glenn T. Seaborg Medal was first awarded in 1987 to UCLA alumnus Nobel Laureate (1951 Chemistry) Glenn T. Seaborg (B.S. ’34, pictured left), one of the most remarkable and influential chemists of the 20th century and for whom element 106, Seaborgium, is named. The purpose of the medal is to honor persons who have made exceptional scientific contributions in the fields of chemistry or biochemistry. Awarded annually, the winner of the Seaborg Medal is selected by the executive committee of the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
In addition to Seaborg, ten other Nobel Laureates have been honored with the Seaborg Medal: UCLA professors Donald Cram (1989) and Paul Boyer (1998), UCLA alumni Bruce Merrifield (1993) Ph.D. ’49 and Richard Heck (2011) B.S. ’52/Ph.D. ’54, and Richard Smalley (2002), Harold Varmus (2012), Stefan Hell (2015), Richard Henderson (2018), Carolyn Bertozzi (2022), and Fraser Stoddart (2025). To learn more, visit the Seaborg Medal Recipients website.
Questions? Please contact cbevents@ucla.edu.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
