Effective November 1, 2025, Professor Paul S. Weiss has been elected to the Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) Board of Trustees for a six-year term. Prior to this appointment, Weiss served on the GRC Conference Evaluation Committee.
Gordon Research Conferences are internationally recognized, science-focused meetings that bring together researchers at the forefront of their fields to discuss cutting-edge, unpublished research in an intimate and highly interactive setting.
The GRC Board of Trustees is composed of 15 distinguished scientists who oversee the organization’s activities. The board works closely with the Conference Evaluation Committee to assess the scientific quality of existing conferences and to review proposals for new ones. Twelve trustees are elected and three are appointed; the GRC President and CEO also serves as an ex officio member. New board members are identified by the Nominating Committee and elected by the GRC Council to six-year terms, while appointed members serve terms set by the board.
Weiss holds a UC Presidential Chair at UCLA, and is a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, bioengineering, and materials science and engineering. Before coming to UCLA, he was a distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at the Pennsylvania State University, where he began his academic career. He served as the director of the California NanoSystems Institute and held the Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences at UCLA. Weiss is involved in startups from his and other labs in biotechnology, food security, energy, entertainment, and healthcare, and leads the Challenge Initiative at UCLA. He was the founding editor-in-chief of ACS Nano (2007-2021).
Weiss’ other recent awards and honors include the IEEE Nanotechnology Pioneer Award, the Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, and election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Chemical Society, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Materials Research Society, the IEEE, and the National Academy of Inventors.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
