Professor Soumitra Athavale and alumna Dr. Melissa Ramirez (Ph.D. ’21, Garg and Houk groups), currently an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, are two of four recipients nationwide of the 2025 American Chemical Society (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable (GCIPR) Ignition grants. The ACS GCIPR Ignition Grants program, launched in 2016, […]

MATTEO PARFUMS founder Matthew J. Sánchez ‘17 has been named to the 2026 Forbes “30 Under 30” list in the Retail & eCommerce category. The honor highlights his rapid rise in the fragrance and beauty industry and the innovative approach that has defined his company’s growth.  A first-generation college graduate, he is one of the […]

Professor Justin Caram is one of 11 Cottrell Scholars selected by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) for an inaugural RCSA Bridge Award.  The award will support his project titled “Single Nanocrystal Spectroscopy in the Shortwave Infrared”. According to the RCSA announcement, this emergency initiative is meant to help stabilize strong research programs that have experienced disruptions due […]

Professor Craig Merlic, a leader in laboratory safety education and practice, contributed to the newly released “ACS Discovery Report: Laboratory Safety,” which highlights ongoing efforts to improve laboratory safety and cites work from the UC Center for Laboratory Safety. The American Chemical Society (ACS) Discovery Report examines the current state of laboratory safety in academic […]

Chemical biology Ph.D. candidate AJ Addae (P. Weiss/Caram groups), founder of SULA LABS, was named a $100,000 co–grand prize winner of musician and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition Prize Competition. SULA LABS was recognized for its achievements in designing and clinically testing cosmetic products for several beauty brands found in Sephora, Ulta, Target, and other […]

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry ranks among the world’s research leaders, according to the 2025 ScholarGPS global rankings, with UCLA placing No. 4 worldwide overall for lifetime scholarly impact across all fields and No. 6 globally in chemistry. These rankings are based on analyses of tens of millions of scholars, publications, and citations […]

Professors Neil Garg, Ken Houk and Yi Tang have received a $2 million research grant from the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) to advance the study of cannabinoid-based therapeutics. The two-year award, titled “Cannabinoid Therapeutics: Synthesis, Binding, Safety, and Computations,” supports an interdisciplinary effort to develop new and rare cannabinoids, evaluate their biological activity […]

A recent publication from Professor Richard Kaner’s group has been selected for the 2025 Chemical Science Editor’s Choice Collection, a curated set of notable research papers in batteries and energy storage from the past two years. Each year, Chemical Science highlights a small number of influential studies that represent significant advances in their fields. This […]