UCLA biochemistry instructor and alumnus Dr. Stacie Nakamoto (Ph.D. ’01, Merchant group), aka “The Baking Biochemist”, is a contestant on the latest season of The Great American Baking Show, which started airing on May 5, 2023. In the show, a spin-off of The Great British Baking Show, nine amateur bakers from around America compete to […]

Professor Patrick Harran, UCLA’s Donald J. and Jane M. Cram Professor of Organic Chemistry, and his group have been awarded a grant by National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemistry to study fluorinated peptidomimetics. Research groups around the world are pursuing cyclic peptides and peptidomimetics as probes for biology research and leads for drug discovery. […]

Undergraduate researcher Amanda Nguyen (Schwartz group) has been selected for the prestigious 2023-24 UCLA Beckman Scholars Program. The 2023-24 Beckman Research Scholarship at UCLA is awarded to outstanding undergraduate researchers committed to completing a thesis project under the supervision of select UCLA Beckman Faculty. The $18,200 award will be distributed over one academic year and […]

The department welcomes talented physical and atmospheric chemist Dr. Victoria “Tori” P. Barber, who will join the UCLA faculty as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2023. Drawing on her experience at the nexus of physical and atmospheric chemistry, at UCLA Barber will combine spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry, and computation to explore atmospheric oxidation chemistry […]

Undergraduate researcher Cecilia “Ceci” McCormick (Spokoyny group) has been selected for the prestigious 2023-24 UCLA Beckman Scholars Program. The 2023-24 Beckman Research Scholarship at UCLA is awarded to outstanding undergraduate researchers committed to completing a thesis project under the supervision of select UCLA Beckman Faculty. The $18,200 award will be distributed over one academic year […]

Professors Neil Garg, Yi Tang and Ken Houk have been awarded a $2M grant over two years from the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) to evaluate synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids.  Garg, Chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Kenneth N. Trueblood Distinguished Professor, is the lead PI on the grant. His […]

Theoretical chemist Professor Anastassia Alexandrova is the recipient of the 2023 Brown Investigator Award, in recognition of her curiosity-driven basic research in chemistry and physics. One of seven mid-career researchers selected, Alexandrova will use the $2 million award to develop the fundamental theory describing surface chemistry of topological materials and explore their utility as catalysts. […]

Dean of Physical Sciences Professor Miguel A. García-Garibay  has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership in the academy is one of the highest honors a scientist in the United States can receive. Previous electees have included Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas […]