2020 C O L L E G E O F C H E M I S T RY IMPACT REPORT
DEAN’S REPORT
Douglas S. Clark DEAN, COLLEGE OF CHEMISTRY GILBERT N. LEWIS PROFESSOR
Dear Supporters of the College of Chemistry, I sincerely hope this message finds you well and in good spirits as we all continue to cope with the unparalleled circumstances of these times. While so many things have been turned on their head recently, the College of Chemistry still stands as a pillar of academic excellence and world-class research. Epitomizing this preeminence is Jennifer Doudna, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry this fall, sharing it with collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier for the co-development of CRISPR-Cas9. To say that we are all thrilled and inspired by this historic and distinguished honor is an understatement. This impactful achievement will be celebrated for years to come. As you may recall, fiscal year 2019 was tremendously prosperous in terms of fundraising. Building on that success and the momentum of record-setting philanthropy, fiscal year 2020 was our College’s best fundraising year ever in terms of new gifts and pledges secured, which totaled an incredible $41,990,396. We received over $1,600,000 in core unrestricted annual fund support from almost 1,400 donors. In addition, we secured our College’s largest alumni commitment ever of $25,000,000 from Terry and Tori Rosen. This is a transformative pledge that will lay the financial foundation for our new chemistry building, to be named after our distinguished colleague and former dean Clayton Heathcock. We continue to work towards our fundraising goals for Heathcock Hall with excitement, as our visions becomes reality with your generous contributions. In line with the College’s rich history of hiring world-leading and multi-talented faculty, we are delighted to welcome our newest faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, Assistant Professor Ashok Ajoy, whose innovative research program in physical chemistry focuses on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Among our faculty recruitment efforts this year are two donor-funded STEM Chair positions, one with a focus in soft materials and one with a focus in artificial intelligence for chemical engineering. Additional searches are also underway for elite talent to further enhance the depth and breadth of our distinguished research programs.
PHOTO ROXANNE MAKASDJIAN
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the announcement of Anne Baranger, Adjunct Professor and Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, as the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Chemistry. As Associate Dean, Anne will be responsible for the development of the College’s strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion and for promoting these ideals among the faculty, staff, and students. I look forward to working with Anne in this capacity, and I am confident that she will help lead us towards a more inclusive and welcoming academic and social community and enable us to address whatever barriers to progress exist in our current structure. With your unwavering support, the College of Chemistry will remain resilient in the face of new challenges and continue to lead the way in developing sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. On behalf of the College of Chemistry community, I thank you for your generous contributions. FRONT COVER IMAGE DANNY YIM (B.S. ’22, EECS)
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Dean’s Report
2 The College welcomes its new Nobel Laureate 4 Capital Campaign 6 Student Experience Update 10 Your Gifts (Light the Way Campaign) 12 Faculty Updates 16 The Power of Bequests – Gifts from our Cupola Era Alumni 20 College Leadership 21 Honor Rolls/In Memoriam THIS PAGE Jennifer Doudna (front row second from right) and her
family are greeted by staff and students from her lab on the day she was announced as the 2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.
© 2020, Regents of the University of California
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Jennifer Doudna awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry
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We are delighted to announce that Jennifer Doudna, the UC Berkeley Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences, and Professor of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology, has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute.
The award acknowledges their research for the “development of a method for genome editing.” The research revealed how the Cas9 protein, part of the CRISPR system in bacteria, targets viruses, and allows for the process to edit the genomes of many organisms, including humans. According to the Nobel Prize committee, “Since Charpentier and Doudna discovered the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors in 2012 their use has exploded. This tool has contributed to many important discoveries in basic research, and plant researchers have been able
to develop crops that withstand mold, pests and drought. In medicine, clinical trials of new cancer therapies are underway, and the dream of being able to cure inherited diseases is about to come true. These genetic scissors have taken the life sciences into a new epoch and, in many ways, are bringing the greatest benefit to humankind.” Congratulations Jennifer on your groundbreaking research and your continuing career into the wonders of biochemistry.
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CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
Heathcock Hall moves to the next phase
“ In order to move forward and solve our world’s most pressing
problems, we need to continue building a world class infrastructure here at the college. Our next generation of chemical science researchers must have modern research facilities to successfully undertake this important endeavor so they can adequately support Berkeley’s 21st century chemical sciences efforts.” — DOUGLAS CLARK, DEAN COLLEGE OF CHEMISTRY
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$120 MILLION
PHASE ONE FUNDING NEEDED
$40 MILLION
RAISED TO DATE
$35
MILLION
PRELIMINARY CAMPUS SUPPORT
$45
MILLION
STILL TO RAISE
Thanks to gifts provided to the College so far, the international architectural firm of HOK was chosen to work on the design of Heathcock Hall. Over the last 12 months, a team from the College and from HOK have worked iteratively through design concepts for the new building. Current project highlights include modular state-of-the-art labs that can be setup to support all levels of scientific discovery currently underway at the College. Initial emphasis will be on developing physical, synthetic, and chemical engineering labs. The building will be be situated between Pimentel and Lewis
Halls. It will be connected to Latimer Hall allowing for easy access between the two buildings on multiple floors. The building will be a high performance and healthy building utilizing all the latest research to support smart operations, infrastructure integration and passive energy design that will support a lower carbon footprint. Planning includes consideration of the following operations in the building: undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research; faculty and administration offices; and support for onsite research and activity with industry partners and alumni. The College is working hard to forge a 21st Century model for research and education at UC Berkeley. But we still need your help. Consider giving generously to help us get over the finish line for this most important infrastructure project. FOR INFORMATION ABOUT GIVING OPPORTUNITIES CONTACT: Mindy Rex Sr. Director of Development College Relations & Development rex@berkeley.edu KEEP UP TO DATE ON THE CAMPAIGN’S PROGRESS: chemistry.berkeley.edu/heathcockhall
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE UPDATE
Peer Tutoring Center gets a three-year boost from alumni In Sik and Isabel Rhee
“ We’ve seen some real
progress in the student academic outcomes as a result of the Peer Tutoring program. We are very grateful to Chevron for kickstarting the program and for In Sik and Isabel Rhee for their outstanding support. Undergraduate program funding is integral to our students’ success both at the College and providing them with good life skills for when they leave.”
— J OHN ARNOLD, ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE AFFAIRS
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Part of the Peer Tutor team for 2020: Top row (l to r) Julie Yu, Kushaan Bahl Bottom row (l to r) Artur Lyssenko, Walter Padilla, Kristene Mai, Sanket Swamy, Jenny Garrison, Calvin Hu
a member of the Board of Trustees of the UC Berkeley Foundation. Their daughter Kaitlin introduced them to the program last year as a junior when she transferred majors from physics to chemical biology. She learned about the Peer Tutoring program when she joined the Chemistry Undergraduate Teacher-Scholars program.
PHOTO COURTESY ISABEL RHEE
Isabel explained her and In Sik’s interest in funding the program, “We feel it is important to focus on the undergraduate experience. Undergraduates are more likely to get overlooked so we like to focus on funding programs that serve that community. As we learned more about the program, it really resonated as important for the College and the students. Students who participate in the program both as tutors and tutored-students are coming from very different backgrounds.”
Chancellor Carol Christ with Isabel and In Sik Rhee.
The College’s Peer Tutoring program was started in the fall of 2017 by Shamaya Pellum, a member of the College’s undergraduate advising team, with funding from Chevron. By the end of the Spring 2018 semester, there were seven paid chemistry tutors and numerous students receiving help. The program had become so large (540 tutoring sessions in the Spring 2018 period) that it outgrew the lobby of the undergraduate career advising center in Gilman Hall where sessions were being held throughout the day. The following year, with continued funding from Chevron, a Peer Tutoring Center was established across the courtyard in Latimer Hall so the program could move into its own quarters. Now thanks to a $180,000 gift from Berkeley alumni In Sik and Isabel Rhee, the program will be funded for the next three years. In Sik (B.S. ’93, EECS) is the founding partner of Vertex Ventures and sits on the advisory board for the College of Engineering. Isabel (B.A. ’91, English) is
According to Julie Yu, the current Peer Tutoring coordinator, the program has expanded to cover 23 chemistry and chemical engineering classes as well as other common STEM classes as of last spring. There was a total of 480 tutoring sessions hosted by 17 tutors and three volunteers. The tutoring sessions helped 172 students in total. College of Chemistry students comprised 75% of the participants with 25% from other majors. Transfer students made up 15% of the program’s users and 47% percent of the students returned for tutoring more than once. In addition to regular tutoring, the program also hosted ten exam review sessions which over 300 students attended. Isabel isn’t surprised by the numbers. “Groups are more powerful for gaining academic and emotional support when you are learning about content that is new to you. There is real power in being tutored by your peers. They are good for helping you learn shortcuts. One thing I think is very important is for students to have access to social encounters through the tutoring sessions which can help flatten the social curve as well as the academic one.” John Arnold, the College’s Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs agrees. “We’ve seen some real progress in the student academic outcomes as a result of the Peer Tutoring program. We are very grateful to Chevron for kickstarting the program and to In Sik and Isabel Rhee for their outstanding support. Undergraduate program funding is integral to our students’ success both at the College and providing them with good life skills for when they leave.”
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE UPDATE
The dean calls for our alumni and friends to donate emergency funds for undergrads There wasn’t a student at Berkeley untouched by the challenges of leaving campus and returning home to finish out the spring 2020 semester when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Whether the impact was financial, academic, mental or physical, all of our students were upended by the chaos of world events. The campus stood empty with the campanile standing guard. Faculty and graduate student instructors worked around the clock (in many cases overnight) to put courses online to keep the College and its programs flowing. The job market for graduating seniors was impacted as businesses frantically shut down offices and labs and sent employees to work from home.
FUNDS RAISED FOR EMERGENCY RELIEF FOR STUDENTS TOTALED
$26,550
40
FROM
DONORS
As the situation evolved, it became clear to campus leadership that many undergraduate students campus-wide were facing a variety of challenges. Much of the support we all take for granted on campus such as stable high speed wi-fi, quiet places to study, working computers, ready access to food, a safe place to stay, and more was lost for some students with the campus closure.
to our alumni family to donate. They answered by giving over $26,000 in just a few weeks.
The University’s leadership put out a call and asked the Colleges to seek financial assistance from alumni and friends to help students in need. Dean Douglas Clark put out a call
Students made a simple grant request to receive funds from the gift. Some of our students have graciously shared what it meant to them to receive this emergency aid.
“ Thank you to the donor who has helped me with my financial burden during the COVID-19 pandemic. I really appreciate the support during my hardship with losing my main source of income. As an undergraduate, it is hard to focus on school and academics while still having to worry about paying rent and other living expenses. Thank you for the understanding and support.” —N COG, CHEME
“ Thank you so much for the emergency grant you have provided me. There were times where we wondered how we were going to pay for things like groceries. This grant has helped me in so many ways, and I cannot thank you enough.” — KALLI, CHEMEBIO
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PHOTO IRENE YI
Gift of $25K from Dr. Maria Gray will support social programming for CBE women graduate students “We appreciate Dr. Gray’s gift. It is very important to have programs and events for women that are designed to encourage our female students so that they may flourish both as individuals and scholars at the College.” Jeffrey Reimer, Chair Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
“ Thank you for your generous gift. I was thrilled to have your support during these uncertain and difficult times. Your gift has truly made a difference to me.” — MALAK, CHEMISTRY
Maria Gray (Ph.D. ’95, ChemE) studied with advisor David Graves working on pioneering applications of molecular dynamics simulations to visualize and understand plasma-surface interactions. After she completed her Ph.D., she started her career as a Senior Process Engineer at Lam Research. She went on to work at several startups and as an Adjunct Professor teaching STEM classes at several Colleges. After a ten-year career, she decided to step back and raise her family while developing online educational projects. In 2016, Maria had a unique opportunity to follow up on a lifelong passion. Maria states, “I had reached a point in life where I was able to work towards a longtime dream and facilitate bringing the techniques and methodologies of the incredible Italian organization Squadra Italiana Cani Salvataggio (SICS) to train people and their dogs in water rescue to the United States.” In a unique program started in 1986, SICS trains water rescue teams, consisting of a handler and their dog, who are certified as lifeguards in Italy. To date, SICS has trained over 400 teams who work with the Italian Coast Guard and Fire Departments and have saved hundreds of lives. Maria, who was a dog trainer hobbyist with over 30 years’ experience, was interested in bringing the program to the United States. She traveled to Italy in 2016 and became the first American certified trainer. With the support of SICS, she has now established The Academy of Water Rescue, a nonprofit organization focused on beginning the process of training U.S. teams. Maria comments, “Our nonprofit mission is to take the Italian SICS training techniques and apply them to American dogs who will ultimately work in service in conjunction with local lifeguards, the United States Coast Guard, the Navy and the Marines, and local law enforcement. The ultimate goal is to certify American Dogs to function in a service capacity to save lives.”
“ I want to thank you for helping me out with this donation. It has really helped through the early challenges of paying the bills especially rent during this tough time. I really appreciate all the help and support!” — NCOG, CHEME
PH MA OTO RIA CO GR UR AY TE S
Y
Learn more at: academyofwaterrescue.org
Angel demonstrates leaping from a boat.
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For the 2019-20 fiscal year Annual Fund, the College of Chemistry received a total of
Your Gifts
$1.7M (goal 2,400) from
2,650 gifts (goal 2,400) 1,413 donors (goal 1,400) $642 Average gift $100 Median gift
Annual Fund Giving by Designation 1,488 Donors
$687,000
413 Donors
College of Chemistry
$208,000
Department of Chemistry
$364,000
466 Donors
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
184 Donors
Undergraduate Students & Program Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Wellness
$350,000
57 Donors
$33,000
42 Donors
$60,000
Dean’s Strategic Initiatives
Largest Annual Fund Pledges & Gifts Isabel & In Sik Rhee (Pledge $60K x 3 Years)
$180,000
Undergraduate Students & Program Fund Peer Tutoring Program
Ron Silva
Chat Chatterjee
Undergraduate Students & Program Fund Library Study Area
CBE Department
$100,000
Leadership Society Level Gifts ($1K+)
$1.4M
Total from 324 donors Average gift $4,329
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Donations
Big Give
<$1K
(Min: $10 Max: $5K)
$300,000
Total from 2,326 donors Average gift $129
Lightening storm looking toward San Francisco from Berkeley.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE NISBET IG: https://www.michellenisbetphoto.com/
$100,000
$56,000
Total from 221 donors Average gift $253
Goal $250M Raised to date $134M
Campaign Summary 15,743 Gifts and Pledges $5M
2014
$15M
2015
$17M
2016
$14M
2017
$10M
2018
$29M
2019
$42M
2020
Campaign Priorities $25M
Faculty and graduate students
$11M
Undergraduate opportunity and experience
$28M
Research for the public good
$42M
Places of possibility
Who is giving $67M
Alumni
$23M
Friends
$18M
Corporations
$15M
Parents
$11M
Foundations
3,122 Donors 433 Donors 83 Donors
413Donors 26 Donors
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FACULTY UPDATES
T. Don Tilley named inaugural PMP Tech Chancellor’s Chair in Chemistry We are very grateful to Rubber and Joy Chen for their gift of $3.6M to establish the PMP Tech Chancellor’s Chair in Chemistry. The Chen’s gift of $3M allows the College to take advantage of a special University match. Combined with these matching funds, their generous gift creates a permanent assistant professor position in the College of Chemistry, and a Chair to be awarded to a tenured professor. $600K will be used to assist with the lab start-up costs for the new assistant professor. Recruitment for the new faculty member is underway.
Thanks to a generous donation from Rubber and Joy Chen of PMP Tech, an international company based in Taiwan, chemistry professor and Senior Scientist at Berkeley Lab, T. Don Tilley has been announced as the inaugural PMP Tech Chancellor’s Chair in Chemistry PMP Tech was founded in 1978 in Taiwan. With an extensive international clientele, the company focuses on product lines that include: Functional elastomers (silicone/rubber); dissimilar material bonding (silicone rubber bonded with metal, plastic, textile, glass etc.); silicone rubbers with precise dimension; medical grade products and other products. Professor Tilley’s group focuses on discovery of new chemical processes and materials designed to impact technologies in energy and sustainability. These efforts include aspects of inorganic, organometallic, silicon, and materials chemistry, with emphasis on exploratory syntheses and transition metal-based catalysis. Projects in his group have produced soft materials such as silicon-based polymers and nanocarbon assemblies, and hybrid organic-inorganic materials that exhibit high selectivities as heterogeneous catalysts. Research on the
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conversion of solar energy to chemical fuels has led to an understanding of the key water-splitting reaction at metal-oxygen clusters. Progress in all these areas is supported by fundamental investigations into mechanism, structure and bonding. Professor Tilley said of the appointment, “I am very honored to be recognized with this chaired position and am grateful to PMP Tech for their interest in promoting soft materials research at Berkeley. This Chair is a tribute to the students and postdocs in my research group who have made fundamental contributions to advance silicon and organic materials chemistry.”
Ashok Ajoy joins the Department of Chemistry The Department of Chemistry welcomed Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ashok Ajoy to the College of Chemistry this summer. Ashok most recently held a postdoctoral appointment in the lab of Alex Pines, The Glenn T. Seaborg Professor Emeritus. Ajoy’s research currently looks at the interface between NMR spectroscopy and quantum science. During his postdoctoral research, he headed up an international team of scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley who discovered a way to exploit defects in nanoscale and microscale diamonds to strongly enhance the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) systems while eliminating the need for their costly and bulky superconducting magnets. Ashok said of the study, “This has been a longstanding unsolved problem in our field, and we were able to find a way to overcome it and to show that the solution is very simple.” Ashok received his Ph.D. from MIT in nuclear science and engineering with advisor Paola Cappellaro. His thesis was entitled: “Quantum assisted sensing, simulation, and control”. Read about Ashok’s research interests and background at chemistry.berkeley.edu/ajoy
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FACULTY UPDATES
Anne Baranger named inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion The College’s Dean Douglas Clark has announced that Anne Baranger, Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry, will serve as the College’s first Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for a three-year term. Dean Clark states, “We welcome Anne as our new associate dean. She will be responsible for the development of the College’s strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion and for promoting these ideals among the faculty, staff, and students. I am confident that she will help cultivate a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all and address some of the current barriers to progress for greater diversity at our College.” The College serves a large population of undergraduate and graduate students and is a national and international leader in research. An overall educational goal is to increase the numbers of students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and improve the scientific knowledge of both STEM students and students who do not ultimately choose to major in a STEM area. Anne comments, “I am looking forward to working with the building blocks of diversity, equity, and inclusion that have already been created at the College and developing partnerships that include students, faculty, and staff. Together we can advance the work that has been done so far.” Learn more about Professor Baranger’s background and initial plans for the program at: chemistry.berkeley.edu/dei
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Peidong Yang awarded 2020 Global Energy Prize
Peidong Yang, the S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry, has been recognized as a 2020 Global Energy Prize Laureate for his pioneering invention of nanoparticle based solar cell and artificial photosynthesis. The Global Energy Prize honors outstanding achievements in energy research and technology from around the world that are helping address the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pressing energy challenges. This year, Professor Yang was acknowledged along with Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia of Italy and Nikolaos Hatziargyriou of Greece. The Global Energy Association that awards the prize, was established by a group of Russian energy companies in 2002. The Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goals are to identify and support the best international researchers in the field of energy; encourage worldwide discoveries in the field of energy; popularize energy research; and encourage international cooperation in energy development.
Professor Yang is interested in the synthesis of new classes of materials and nanostructures, with an emphasis on developing new synthetic approaches. He is also driven to understand the fundamental issues of structural assembly and growth that will enable the rational control of material composition, micro/ nano-structure, property and functionality. Specifically, these include the fundamental problems of electron, photon and phonon confinement within one-dimensional nanostructures, and their implications in energy conversion processes. Professor Yangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current research directions include nanowirebased thermoelectrics for waste heat recovery; nanowire photonics; nanowire based photovoltaics; and nanowire-based concepts for direct solar to fuel conversion and novel CO2 reduction catalysis. Congratulations to Professor Yang for this important acknowledgement of his energy research.
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THE POWER OF BEQUESTS — GIFTS FROM OUR CUPOLA ERA ALUMNI
Marguerite “Rita” Wieland (1925–2019)
PHOTO ESTATE OF RITA WIELAND
Rita gave a bequest to the Department of Chemistry of $1.9M. $1M will create the Rita Wieland Opportunity Fund in Chemistry; $900K will be used to create the Rita Wieland Chemistry Department BUILDER Enrichment Fund. of
BERKELEY
Rita at UC Berkeley in the 1940s.
Rita Wieland (B.S. ’46, Chem) was born in Fresno, Ca. Her father’s family was German-Austrian. Her mother was French. Rita’s father, William Augustine Wieland, was a first generation American who graduated from UC Santa Barbara receiving a B.L. in Social Science in 1915. After serving in World War I, he started out as a high-school teacher eventually becoming a high-school principal in San Francisco. He met and married Florence Buckett in London in 1924 after the war. They returned to the United States and first lived in the central valley of California before settling in San Francisco. Florence raised the family and volunteered at Kaiser Hospital and the De Young Museum. Rita went to Lowell High School in San Francisco and started at UC Berkeley in 1943 during the College’s World War II era. G.N. Lewis was dean and Glenn Seaborg and other faculty and students from the College were working on the Manhattan Project at the time. After receiving her B.S., Rita started her lifelong career as a researcher at Shell Development Co. in Emeryville. The Emeryville Research Center was a major research facility of Shell Oil in the U.S. from 1928 until 1972. The facilities were
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located on close to 27 acres, included nearly 90 buildings at peak, and employed a staff of 1,500. The center did research on Tricresyl phosphate (TCP) and other gasoline additives; desulfurization methods and standards for gasoline and motor oil; and pioneering fingerprinting techniques to identify oil spill origins, among many other innovations. Though Shell self-identified as a conservative employer, many Shell scientists were politically progressive, championing causes such as the Sierra Club and no-growth economic strategies. Shell Development’s senior scientific ranks included scientists who had been graduate students of Glenn Seaborg, a UC Berkeley scientist who pioneered techniques to create and verify transuranium elements. Shell Development also bore the indirect imprint of the physicist Robert Oppenheimer who was the director of the Manhattan Project and who was interested in the well-being of the workers at the facility. Rita had many personal interests including memberships in the Mt. Diablo Ski Club and The Sierra Club. She enjoyed traveling throughout the world learning about different cultures. She became a member of UC Berkeley’s Benjamin Ide Wheeler Society in 2006 establishing a deferred charitable gift. We are very grateful to Rita for her gift to the College.
Tao-Zeun (T.Z.) Chu (1934–2016)
PHOTO COURTESY IRMGARD CHU
T.Z. left a bequest to the College of $1.5M, which adds to the generous gifts he and his wife, Irmgard Chu, have made over the years. $500K will establish the T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Fellowship; $500K is designated for the T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Scholarship in Chemistry; and $500K will be used for various College programs.
T.Z. (B.S. ’58, Chem) was born in 1934 in Shanghai, China. His father Vico was born into a Chinese silk merchant family. His mother Tseneko Ashikaga, was a member of an aristocratic family from Japan. They were married in 1930. Besides T.Z. the couple had two daughters.
instrumentation fields. His first job was with Wilkens Aerograph who was manufacturing gas chromatographs, then a significant new and powerful analytical instrument. He was offered the job as the company’s first applications chemist working in the founder’s garage.
The family was forced to leave Shanghai at the end of 1948 when the communist army advanced toward the city. They settled in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. His parents eventually moved to Bangkok, Thailand to launch a business. They left T.Z. and his two sisters behind at an American boarding school for their education. They joined their parents after T.Z. and his sister graduated from high school.
The company grew quickly, and he was put in charge of marketing and sales eventually expanding the company into Europe where he met his wife Irmgard. After continuing to grow Wilkens Aerograph and shepherding it through a sale, he went to another startup Finnigan Instrument Company. He continued on in business serving as CEO of several instrument companies that needed turn-around leadership retiring for good in 2012 at age 78.
T.Z. came to the United States in 1953. He was accepted at Berkeley as a chemical engineering student but switched his major to physical chemistry. Because it was a difficult economic time for his family, he paid his college expenses by working summers at a Del Monte fruit cannery and graded papers for the math department. He graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1958. For 45 years, T.Z. enjoyed a successful career in the analytical and scientific instruments industry as a scientist, manager, entrepreneur and venture investor in several pioneering
Besides his prolific commercial career, T.Z. always took special interest in supporting educational institutions. He served as a trustee of the University of California Berkeley Foundation, among other schools and organizations. He said of his service, “To me, success is measured by whether the contributions I made during my career had a lasting positive impact on the world.” An excellent biography about T.Z. is available at chemistry.berkeley.edu/tz
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THE POWER OF BEQUESTS — GIFTS FROM OUR CUPOLA ERA ALUMNI
John Francis Heil, Jr. (1936–2019)
John Heil (BS ’57 ChemE; Ph.D. ’65, ChemE) was born and grew up in the North Beach neighborhood in San Francisco, CA. After graduating from George Washington High School, he attended UC Berkeley, immediately gravitating toward the sciences. He graduated in 1957 with his B.S. in Chemical Engineering, while fulfilling an army commission through the R.O.T.C. program. He went on to join the 91st division at the Presidio in San Francisco and served for many years in the 363d regiment in the reserves, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1975. John loved the symbiosis of his civilian and military career, always learning and applying skills from one to the other. John’s career started at Stauffer Chemical (Stauffer) in 1958 at the Richmond research center when the company was starting its major expansion period. Stauffer was an “old” company having been started by John Stauffer in 1885 in San Francisco. Stauffer’s first line of business was grinding white cliff stone (chalk) that came as ballast in ships from England. By the time John joined the company in the 1950s as a researcher it had just gone public and was producing its first line of petrochemical products. Stauffer supported and nurtured the young engineer and encouraged him to move forward with his education. John went back to UC Berkeley obtaining his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 1965 in the lab of John Prausnitz. Prausnitz said of John, “He was the ‘strong silent’ type of student who spoke rarely but consistently performed well. His Ph.D. work showed how the theory of polymer solutions could be used in chemical engineering process and product design.” John’s career at Stauffer grew over the years. He joined the company’s de Guigne Technical Center as a pilot plant engineer in 1957. After finishing his Ph.D., he moved from the pilot plant into process development then served as technical assistant to the director of research at Richmond from 196769. He was a manager of the Formulations Section and then of the Product Development Department before transferring to Stauffer Chemical Company of Wyoming in 1976. John remained tightly linked to the College of Chemistry throughout his career, taking on a position on the Advisory
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Board in 1985. When he tried to resign as chairman in 1987, Brad Moore who was dean at the time asked John to stay and undertake some College projects for him, which John graciously agreed to. He and the Advisory Board at the time had a significant role in starting what became the project to build Tan Kha Kee Hall. Beyond his academic and professional success, John was an avid traveler, accomplished photographer, and gardener. Jeffrey Reimer, Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) said of John’s gift, “Thanks to John, we will be able to hire an emerging scholar in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning, allowing the department to realize research into more environmentally sustainable and ‘smart’ manufacturing processes, consistent with the campus signature initiative on Environmental Sustainability and Justice.”
John has given the College a bequest of $4.4M. $3M to establish the John F. Heil, Jr., Chancellor’s Chair in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering; $1M for the John F. Heil, Junior Professorship in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering; the College is currently recruiting for these positions; and $400k to be used by the CBE department for faculty startup costs.
John Heil,1981.
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COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. (M0901, BOX 49, JOHN HEIL 1981) PHOTO M. BISCEGLIE
LEADERSHIP
College Leadership Douglas S. Clark, Ph.D. Dean, College of Chemistry
Anne Baranger, Ph.D. Associate Dean, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Richmond Sarpong, Ph.D. Executive Associate Dean, College of Chemistry
Laurent de Janvry Senior Assistant Dean, College Relations & Development
Jeffrey A. Reimer, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Michael Kumpf Senior Assistant Dean, Engineering and Facilities
Matthew Francis, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Chemistry
Suzanne Sutton Senior Assistant Dean, Administration & Finance
John Arnold, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs
Advisory Board Ronald E. Silva, J.D., Advisory Board Chair President & CEO, Fillmore Capital Partners, LLC
John H. Markels, Ph.D. President, Merck Vaccines
Andre Argenton, Ph.D. Global Senior Director of Corporate Research, The Dow Chemical Company
Gary M. Masada, Ph.D. Retired President and CIO, IT, ERTC Chevron Corporation
Shih Hung Chan, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Fuel Cell Center/Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yuan Ze University Sunney I. Chan, Ph.D. CalTech, Emeritus George Grant Hoag Professor Biophysical Chemistry Nirmal Chatterjee, Ph.D. Retired Vice President Engineering, Air Products and Chemicals; Previous Advisory Board Chair Rubber Chen, B.S. CEO of Pioneer Material Precision Tech (PMP Tech) Margaret Chu-Moyer, Ph.D. Vice President, Research, Amgen Inc. Herbert H. Hooper, Ph.D. Managing General Partner, Ampersand Ventures Ted Hou, Ph.D. CEO at NEEM Scientific; General Partner, Berkeley Catalyst Fund Steven Isaacs, Ph.D. Chairman, President and CEO Aduro Biotech Yuan T. Lee, Ph.D. Nobel Laureate, UCB Professor Emeritus, Chemistry; President Emeritus Academia Sinica
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Alan Mendelson, J.D. Partner, Latham & Watkins, LLP Cynthia Murphy-Ortega, B.S Manager, University Partnerships & Association Relations, Chevron Corporation Ann Caviani Pease, Ph.D., J.D. Partner at Dechert LLP (retired) R. Andrew Ramelmeier, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Technical Operations & Manufacturing, Sagamo Therapeutics Georgieanna Scheuerman, Ph.D. Retired Manager, Applied Research and Catalysis, Chevron Energy Technology Company Harmeet Singh, Ph.D. Corporate Vice President, Lam Research Jovian Sun, MBA, Investment Director, Fosun Pharma Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd Peter Walther, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Heterogeneous Catalysis, BASF Corporation Ellie Yi-Li Yieh, B.S. Vice President & General Manager, Applied Materials, Inc. Learn more: chemistry.berkeley.edu/advisory-board
Donor Honor Rolls & In Memoriam DONOR HONOR ROLLS
IN MEMORIAM
The annual Donor Honor Rolls are available on our website at chemistry.berkeley.edu/donors. The rolls include individual, corporate, and memorial donations. The College of Chemistry deeply appreciates each and every gift from our incredible alumni, students, parents, friends, and corporate community. Your generosity, now more than ever, is critical as we strive to increase scholarship offerings for students, provide funds to support our stellar faculty, augment support programs, enhance our facilities, and work toward funding our new building.
The 2020 In Memoriam for the College of Chemistry is located on our website at chemistry.berkeley.edu/memoriam. We create an annual list in honor of our deceased alumni, adding names throughout the year as they become available to us. It is our hope that this In Memoriam will help you to keep abreast of news of your friends and colleagues. When possible, we link to obituaries.
Through our Distinguished Dean’s Society, the College of Chemistry recognizes annual gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations that support the many areas of College research, teaching, and operations. Eight levels of giving are recognized. Membership is determined for each level by gifts made during the previous fiscal year, which is the period from July 1 – June 30. The online rolls note gifts made during the fiscal year 2019-2020. Please accept our sincere gratitude for your generous support of the College of Chemistry.
CONTACT US Laurent “Lo” de Janvry Senior Assistant Dean, College Relations and Development ldejanvry@berkeley.edu Mindy Rex Senior Director of Development rex@berkeley.edu Camille Olufson Senior Director, Strategic and Philanthropic Partnerships colufson@berkeley.edu Adam Farrish Associate Director, College Relations & Development amf190@berkeley.edu
GIVE TO THE PROGRAMS THAT MATTER MOST AND RETAIN YOUR ASSETS DURING YOUR LIFETIME By making a gift to the College of Chemistry in your will or irrevocable trust, you are creating a legacy that impacts the College’s future without depleting your assets now. This allows you to make a meaningful gift to the programs that are important to you. In addition, it will support future generations of chemistry and chemical and biomolecular engineering students. Learn more about gift planning and the potential tax benefits by contacting the Office of Gift Planning: 800-200-0575 | ogp@berkeley.edu | planyourlegacy.berkeley.edu
University of California Berkeley College of Chemistry 420 Latimer Hall #1460 Berkeley, CA 94720-1460
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NEW THIS YEAR: JOIN THE DISCUSSION WITH BERKELEY ECOSYSTEMS Our new monthly webinar series is an exciting way to learn, explore, and connect with our faculty, alumni, students, and industry innovators. Each month we will be offering sessions on hot topics in the chemical industry. Knowledgeable panels of experts will discuss industry trends. This is a great way to connect and network with your fellow alumni along with chemistry and chemical and engineering companies. Join us at ecosystems.berkeley.edu to find out about our spring events
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