Catalyst Magazine V 3.1

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V 3.1

Catalyst

COLLEGE OF CHEMISTRY

Spring 2008

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Volume 3 • Issue 1

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

Working with Industry The flow of ideas Eyes to the sky, feet on the ground Third tour of duty

Catalyst COLLEGE OF CHEMISTRY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY interim dean Clayton H. Heathcock cocdean@berkeley.edu chair, department of chemistry Michael A. Marletta marletta@berkeley.edu

2 chair, department of chemical engineering Jeffrey A. Reimer reimer@berkeley.edu

PUBLICATIONS STAFF assistant dean Jane L. Scheiber 510/642.8782; jscheib@berkeley.edu principal editor Michael Barnes 510/642.6867; m_barnes@berkeley.edu

6 contributing editor Karen Elliott 510/643.8054; karene@berkeley.edu alumni relations director Camille M. Olufson 510/643.7379; colufson@berkeley.edu

10 circulation coordinator Dorothy I. Read 510/643.5720; dorothy.read@berkeley.edu design Alissar Rayes Design printing University of California Printing Services

18 ON THE COVER

A fully integrated 48-lane genetic analyzer designed by chemistry professor Richard Mathies. The proposed device integrates all the elements to perform rapid and highly parallel genetic analysis. all text and photos by michael barnes unless otherwise noted. for online versions of our publications please see: chemistry.berkeley.edu Š 2008, College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

Corrections to the Fall 2007 Catalyst + On page 8, the beautiful technical graphics were provided by Somorjai postdoc Yimin Li. + On page 19, we regret we inadvertently omitted the name of Professor John Prausnitz from the list of College of Chemistry faculty who have won the National Medal of Science.

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DEAN’S DESK

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ALUMNUS PROFILE

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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING NEWS

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COLLEGE OF CHEMISTRY UPDATES

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CHEMISTRY NEWS

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UNIVERSITY UPDATES

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FACULTY PROFILE

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

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CLASS NOTES

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IN MEMORIAM

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’08 COMMENCEMENT

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Financing our future Some of you probably recognize the guy sitting on his deck with his dog and are saying to yourselves, “Hey, he looks familiar; I thought he retired.” Well, you are right; you do recognize me, and I did retire. However, when the provost needed someone to step in for a brief term as interim dean, I accepted his invitation and am very much enjoying my time back in 420 Latimer, interacting daily with the great faculty, staff and students of the College of Chemistry.

In this brief message, I want to talk to you a bit about saving for the future, something that I have done my whole life — a habit that is permitting me to enjoy a relatively comfortable retirement on my one acre in Martinez with my wife, Cheri, our parrot and four dogs, our annual vegetable garden, and our 22 fruit and nut trees.

CLAYTON H. HEATHCOCK Interim Dean

I don’t need to convince you about the excellence of Berkeley—our great university has more departments ranked in the Top 10 of their cohorts than any other school in the United States. Our two departments in the College of Chemistry lead the way in this category; for years both have been ranked at or very near the top of their competitor departments. However, although we are

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FIG 1. Comparison of the UC Berkeley “Virtual Endowment” with the actual endowments of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford. harvard stanford

Source: UC Berkeley

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

yale princeton

uc berkeley “virtual endowment”

funded like the other large public schools— Michigan, Texas, Virginia, Minnesota — or like the other University of California schools, we are trying to hold our own in faculty recruitment and retention with the likes of Harvard and Stanford, with their multi-billion dollar endowments.

A lot of people assume that our State of California appropriation makes up for the fact that we don’t have a large endowment and permits us to be competitive with our private academic peers. Until a few years ago, this was true. An interesting way to view our annual state appropriation is to consider it as though it is the payout from a “virtual endowment fund.” Most universities, UC included, have teams of excellent investment managers for their endowment portfolios, producing average annual returns of about 10 percent, of which part (usually 5 percent) is paid out for current use and the remainder is retained to grow the fund.

Therefore, the $500 million state appropriation to Berkeley corresponds to a “virtual endowment” of $10 billion. This is to be compared with the actual endowments (as of January 2007) of Harvard ($29 billion), Yale ($18 billion), Stanford ($13 billion), and Princeton ($13 billion). A comparison, corrected for inflation, is shown in Figure 1.

This is a graphic demonstration of the problem we face as we strive to maintain our place at the top of the chemistry and chemical engineering heap. Until about 15 years ago, we were actually in a very good position with respect to our private peers.

In 1994–95 Harvard’s actual endowment— aided by successful fundraising and expert management — passed our “virtual endowment,” and in the last five years, we have been surpassed by Yale, Stanford, and Princeton. The results are even more striking if you consider the fact that we educate more than twice as many students as any of these private competitors, increasing the gap in support per student.

One immediate consequence of this imbalance in resources is that we find ourselves in a continual battle to recruit and retain the best faculty. It is the quality of our faculty that attracts the best students, which is

All this is why I have proposed that the College of Chemistry embark on a longterm plan to build its endowment, with the goal being to eventually have an endowment of $200 million. I envision this endowment to be made up of a portfolio of endowed chairs, endowed graduate fellowships and scholarships, and endowed discretionary funds. We have already begun work on this ambitious project and currently have a $30 million endowment that includes 15 endowed chairs, 3 administrative chairs that yield valuable discretionary funds, 51 endowed funds for graduate support and scholarships, and several endowed unrestricted funds. Additional millions have been committed by our alumni through generous estate plans.

As one novel part of this project, I recently launched the idea of a “College of Chemistry 401(k) Plan.” In much the same way as my regular savings over my 40-year career have permitted me to enjoy a comfortable life today, I would like to see the college

put away a relatively modest amount of our discretionary funds — the gifts from our generous donors — in an endowed fund. If we begin this year by saving $200,000, if our UC Berkeley investment managers continue to do the excellent job they have done for many years by achieving annual returns averaging 10 percent, and if our new fund pays out 5 percent per year for current use, the College of Chemistry 401(k) fund will grow as illustrated in Figure 2.

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what really makes Berkeley great. To compete successfully with these flush private institutions in recruiting young faculty members, we have to raise large “start-up packages”— usually in excess of $1 million and often more than $2 million. Another place where we feel the pain is in faculty salaries. In competing with the rich privates to both recruit and retain our outstanding faculty, we must offer salaries that are considerably greater than the UC rank-and-step scale that we receive in our state allocation.

In addition, many of our most experienced faculty have progressed past the top step of the official UC salary scale and have “above-scale” salaries. As a result, the total rank-and-step state-funded budget for our 65 faculty is approximately $7.5 million per year. However, we are actually paying $9.3 million. The extra $1.8 million, above what the state provides us, is our cost for being a Harvard-quality institution. This premium comes directly from campus funds that would otherwise be available for new faculty lab start-ups, matching funds for research instrumentation grants from the National Science Foundation, or renovating our antiquated undergraduate laboratories.

FIG 2. Illustrating the possible growth of a College of Chemistry discretionary endowment fund. contributions

payout

Source: UC Berkeley

3 In the early years we will be foregoing about $180,000 per year of discretionary funds that we could use for various purposes, such as enhancing new faculty startup packages and matching funds for grant proposals. However, over time, the annual payout will grow and eventually exceed the amount we need to save each year. In essence, in about year 19 of the plan the endowment becomes “self-funding” in the sense that it pays out more each year than we need to contribute to keep building the fund. In just 30 years the endowment fund will have grown to be about $20 million, with an annual $1 million payout of discretionary funds. Of course, if we can increase the number of our alumni who support us, and if our current supporters increase their contributions over time, we can address pressing needs and build the endowment, ensuring the continued excellence of the College of Chemistry.

Chemistry lecturer Steve Pedersen and students take advantage of spring weather.

Spring 2008 Catalyst

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Addressing globalization with deep learning and creativity

As other countries like India and China develop better higher education systems, their brain drain to the U.S. will inevitably dry up. This should not be a problem — we have plenty of untapped raw material for our graduate programs and laboratories here at home. The problem is we turn our backs on many of our young, curious minds, and lose them even before they enter high school.

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The American solution to globalization is not, I believe, political and economic actions, trade tariffs, H1-B visas, and other grist for the political mill. Nor is the American answer to globalization to be found in the National Academy’s Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a manifesto for, among other things, more math and science teachers.

I think the solution is uniquely American— provide more upward mobility, give students of all backgrounds what they need to succeed, and stress innovation and creativity over the drill-and-test mentality emphasized by the No Child Left Behind and other federal and state programs. We must address globalization with a substantive shift in our children’s cognitive capacity at an early age to foster deep learning and creativity.

With technological innovation and increased productivity, we have created ample spare time for our children to spend watching TV and playing video games.

This coming year Americans will spend 200 billion hours watching television.

Stated differently, this coming weekend we

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

will spend 100 million hours watching TV advertisements alone.

Media pundit Clay Shirky, along with Martin Wattenberg of IBM, estimates that all of Wikipedia took about 100 million hours of human thought; that’s right, all of Wikipedia took about the same amount of “thought time” as Americans will spend watching TV ads in one weekend. This passive entertainment is the perfect antidote to any attempt to increase cognitive capacity in our young people, and our indulgence in it has severe consequences for U.S. leadership in all human endeavors.

Having recently lived abroad for a year, and having watched gifted Cal students for the past 25 years, I offer my own solution. It is, of course, about education, but you may be surprised to discover that it is not about higher education. Indeed, it is not even about high school, AP classes, math and science teachers, or vector calculus for 10th graders.

I propose that all K–8 students, regardless of their socio-economic status, learn languages, play musical instruments, play intramural sports, act in school plays, build useful objects with real power tools, learn how to create well-researched Wikipedia entries, and have international pen pals mediated by internet social networks.

PEG SKORPINSKI

Recently I attended a gathering of government researchers, academic leaders, and executives from the chemical industry. The dominant topic was globalization, and speeches and hallway conversations were filled with dire phrases about the loss of U.S. dominance in chemical manufacture, the purchase of U.S. industrial icons by “foreigners,” and the rise of international higher education that will compete with U.S. universities.

JEFFREY A. REIMER Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering, Warren and Katharine Schlinger Distinguished Professor

Whatever remains of the school day could be devoted to traditional instruction in reading, math and other subjects. This school experience would be a full day of shifting learning and teaching styles, with varying group and solo work. Any parent reading this proposal will recognize that at the end of the school and homework “day,” there is little room for television.

Imagine a complete generation of American teenagers entering high school math and science courses with these experiences.

Imagine that these students go on to college and become leaders in commerce, community, and academia. Their K–8 experience of active and deep learning will prepare them pedagogically, psychologically and cognitively for a rapidly changing, multicultural world that will make demands upon them that we cannot even predict. by jeffrey reimer

ChemE chair Jeff Reimer and student Tesa Dinio review the pronunciation of student names before the commencement ceremony.

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HHMI embraces chemistry

But there is something much more lasting than anything mentioned above. Hughes left behind the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). He did this by directing a portion of his fortune — that derived from the sale of Hughes Aircraft Company — to establish HHMI, an entity devoted to basic medical research. At the end of 2007,

Chemistry alumnus Thomas Cech, Nobel Laureate and president of HHMI, receives the plaque after delivering the 2008 Andrew Braisted Lecture in Chemical Biology from chemistry chair Michael Marletta.

HHMI’s endowment stood at $18.7 billion.

The institute disbursed $727 million in 2007, making HHMI the largest private organization funding basic biomedical research in the United States.

Tom Cech is the president of HHMI. Tom earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at Berkeley with John Hearst in 1975 and has been a faculty member at the University of Colorado since 1982. Tom’s discovery of catalytic RNA was a stunning observation that led to many honors, including the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989.

Although he remained on the faculty at Colorado, in 2000 he joined HHMI as president, and his impact there has been remarkable. He has used his influence and HHMI resources to many positive ends, including an expansion of the scientific disciplines represented within HHMI, and the creation of a research campus dedicated to basic biomedical research. He has not given up his own research, and he returned to the Berkeley campus last March to present the Andrew Braisted Lecture in Chemical Biology.

HHMI has a number of different programs, but the flagship effort is its investigator program. HHMI investigators receive an unprecedented amount of support for their research, including salary, stipends for students and postdocs, and money for equipment and supplies. Over the years, the path to become an HHMI investigator has changed, but the requirements have always been extremely stringent. Initially, all investigators were drawn from medical

PEG SKORPINSKI

Ask people what they know about Howard Hughes and you are likely to hear many tales about a person with a storied life.

Many people know that he was a driven, brilliant businessman who took a modest inheritance and turned it into a future.

Most know from movies and newspapers that in his later life he became a recluse and a hypochondriac, the latter trait leading to some very strange, well-chronicled behavior. Many also know that after his death, his fortune led to a bitter fight among his relatives.

MICHAEL A. MARLETTA Chair, Department of Chemistry, Joel B. Hildebrand Distinguished Professor, and Aldo DeBenedictis Distinguished Professor

schools. Once that requirement was lifted, Berkeley became a home to several investigators — although the focus was primarily in biology. As chemists turned their attention to problems with an impact on human health and disease, however, chemists at Berkeley began to be noticed. Peter Schultz, a chemistry professor who later moved to the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, was an HHMI investigator during part of his time here, and Carolyn Bertozzi has been with HHMI since 2000.

HHMI has just completed a new competition, and I am most pleased to report that two of our outstanding young chemists, Chris Chang and Jay Groves, have both been offered positions as investigators.

They are among five new Berkeley appointees — the most appointed in this competition from any single institution (along with MIT’s five new investigators).

I serve on the HHMI Scientific Review Board, and so I viewed this competition at a close angle. From a pool of 1,100 applicants, Chris and Jay were among the 56 left standing at the end. Clearly, their accomplishments and promise make them rise to the very top of the very best.

HHMI is making a difference—around the country and certainly here at Berkeley. We are very grateful. by michael marletta

Spring 2008 Catalyst

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I T ’ S A L L I N T H E F A M I LY

Rachel Segalman draws inspiration from both sides of her family tree Chemical engineering professor Rachel Segalman comes from a long line of chemists and engineers.

Chemical engineering professor Rachel Segalman is a member of the third generation of female chemical scientists in her family.

On the maternal side of the family, her Chinese grandparents built two sulfuric acid factories in mainland China before WWII. After the war they relocated to Taiwan, where her grandfather was the CEO of a paper factory and her grandmother taught physical chemistry. Her mother and two of her aunts are biochemists, and an uncle is a chemist as well.

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From the paternal side, Segalman acquired her talent for engineering. Her father, a mechanical engineer, was born in Sioux City, IA, and is best known for the JohnsonSegalman equations that are used to model fluid dynamics.

whitewater rafting in the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains, and taking trips to the cliff dwellings at Bandolier National Monument.

But Segalman spent many hours in high school doing something far less conventional — working at a national weapons laboratory. “New Mexico is a relatively poor, rural state,” she says, “and the local high schools didn’t have much in the way of honors or AP courses.” So Segalman, as part of a small group of outstanding students, went to work part-time at Sandia National Laboratory. Sandia, in Albuquerque, performs engineering and applied research to complement the fundamental research at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

At Sandia, Segalman first began to discover how to create specialized materials, a task that still drives her research. “I worked on techniques for the rapid prototyping of ceramic materials,” she says. “We used a ceramic slurry with a consistency similar to cake icing that we shaped to create new materials with the characteristics we were seeking.”

Carefully designed semiconducting block copolymers have self-assembled into 10 nm-wide sheets.

Segalman herself was born in 1975 in Madison, WI, when her parents were graduate students. The family eventually settled in Albuquerque, NM. Like many young people in New Mexico, she took advantage of the outdoors — hiking and

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Segalman earned her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the University of Texas, Austin. The city is known for its college town atmosphere and its music scene, including the PBS music program “Austin City Limits,” which was taped across the street from Segalman’s dormitory room.

“But Austin was a blue dot in a big red state,” she says. Upon graduating in 1998, she moved on to a chemical engineering Ph.D. program at UC Santa Barbara.

“The cultural landscape in Santa Barbara is unique,” she says. “You have people whose

lives look like a page from Sunset magazine, and you have the undergraduate party scene in places like Isla Vista. But at the graduate level, UCSB is not a party school. When I was there, the high rents didn’t leave us with much disposable income, so we socialized by getting together for gourmet cooking.

Thanksgiving dinners were elaborate affairs with as many as 30–40 people.”

Edward J. Kramer, Segalman’s dissertation adviser, headed a research group that focused on understanding the fundamentals that control the structure, properties and processing of block copolymers — polymers comprised of two or more polymer subunits linked by covalent bonds. Segalman’s research concerned controlling the longrange order in block copolymer thin films.

It was over a microscope at UCSB where Segalman first met her husband, Tal Margalith, now a materials scientist who develops high-power LEDs for lighting applications at Philips Lumileds Lighting Company in San Jose. They married in December 2003, after her one-year postdoc in France. “Tal lived in Santa Barbara while I was in France. We couldn’t find a solution to our two body problem for that year, so we just flew back and forth a lot.”

For her postdoctoral appointment, Segalman wanted to learn more about polymer synthesis. She spent 2003 working with Professor Georges Hadziioannou at Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, 250 miles east of Paris in the Alsace region on the border with Germany.

Daily conversation was French, but English was spoken in the lab. Segalman took French classes and studied with a tutor, and she quickly learned enough French to get by.

The Segalman group has discovered that block copolymer nanostructures can be aligned by annealing them within a magnetic field. This technique has the potential to control the formation of electrical charge pathways within semiconducting polymer nanostructures.

Chemical engineering professor Rachel Segalman examines data in her lab in Tan Hall. Segalman is an expert in the nanostructure and self-assembly of polymer materials.

She was there during the deadly heat wave that struck France in the first half of August 2003. “It was odd,” says Segalman. “The foreign students were so busy coping that we didn’t realize how big the crisis was.” In France, she explains, most families vacation in August, leaving only the elderly and sick behind — along with the foreign students.

Says Segalman, “There is almost no air conditioning in France. Our lab was over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and the organic solvent dichloromethane would start boiling on our countertops once the temperature rose to over 103 degrees. Outside, for two weeks, it was well over 100 degrees until dusk. I would stay outside in a park until after sunset, which, during the summer in northern Europe, is around 10:00 pm. Only later did we learn that 35,000 people died across Europe. The tragedy reinforced for me the dangers of climate change and the need to find alternative energy sources.”

Segalman joined the Berkeley chemical engineering faculty in spring 2004. Her research group focuses on controlling the

self-assembly of block copolymers for energy and biological applications. “At the nanometer length scale,” she says, “we need to learn how to gain control of selfassembly, show how structure affects properties and demonstrate how to design these properties into devices.”

Her lab takes a curiosity-driven approach inspired by the need to fundamentally understand the thermodynamic properties of self-assembly. “But we’re happy to discover other interesting things along the way, especially in the areas of photovoltaic, thermoelectric and fuel cell applications.”

Segalman has received numerous awards from foundations, government and industry to support her growing research program, including the Hellman Family Young Faculty Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and a 3M Nontenured Faculty Grant.

Segalman recently won the newly launched MDV Innovators Award from Mohr Davidow Ventures, a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. The award recognizes

innovative approaches to important scientific and technical challenges.

7 Segalman has also been recognized by MIT’s Technology Review magazine as one of the world’s top innovators under age 35.

She was chosen for developing a novel way to generate electricity from heat by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles. Devices using this effect could produce electricity from waste heat that is currently released to the environment.

There may now be a fourth generation female chemical scientist to continue the legacy of Segalman’s family. Her daughter was born in 2006. “She has already been from Taipei to Tel Aviv to visit grandparents and scientific conferences, but we haven’t had time to take her to France yet for real baguettes and gelato,” says Segalman.

“Will she turn out to be a chemist or chemical engineer? Nature and nurture will certainly push her in that direction, but I’m sure she’ll have a mind of her own. Stay tuned.”

Spring 2008 Catalyst

Working with Industry JUD KING RICHARD M AT H I E S

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In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Morrill Act, “an act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts.” Under the provisions of the act, the University of California was chartered as the state’s landgrant institution on March 23, 1868.

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

As a land-grant institution, the university pursues the fundamental missions of teaching, research and public service. According to the university website, “through its public service programs and industry partnerships, UC disseminates research results and translates scientific discoveries into practical knowledge and technological innovations that benefit California and the nation.” UC innovations in microelectronics, software, and biotechnology have been among the principal drivers of California’s high-tech economy.

While UC focuses on its own mission, it is the private sector that translates some of the university’s most exciting research into new products. The university encourages interaction with industry through its Discovery Grants and other partnerships among UC, industry sponsors, the state of California and the federal government.

UC is also drawn to industry by the practical scientific problems to be solved there. With the downsizing of many corporate research labs that began in the 1980s, research universities are called often upon to conduct the fundamental research that industry used to perform.

The changing nature of the relationship between UC and industry has led to concerns that UC research is becoming too privatized. However, the data on research funding do not support this concern. National Science Foundation figures show that industry’s share of academic research and development support grew rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s, but declined since then and has leveled off at about 5 percent nationally. Figures for UC are similar.

Meanwhile, support from the federal government for academic research and development decreased in 2006 for the first time since 1982 as funding growth failed to outpace inflation. There is pressure for faculty members to work with industry for the funding it can provide, especially in stem-cell research and other areas where the federal government has not been generous.

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(l.) A historical photo of a College of Chemistry laboratory, circa 1900. (r.) Chemical engineering student Wei-Cheng Lien in the campus Microfabrication Laboratory.

Recently, UC researchers have sought to collaborate with industry to help address climate change and the need for alternative fuels. In 2007, a consortium of UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois reached an unprecedented agreement with the petroleum company BP to create the jointly operated Energy Biosciences Institute in Berkeley.

Although large industry awards such as this attract media attention, most technology transfer to industry continues in the same manner it has for decades — in the minds of trained students who graduate and transfer their knowledge and skills when they are hired. Industry in turn often supports the education of its future work force with fellowships and scholarships and through donations of equipment to help modernize teaching labs.

Industry support also helps launch the careers of young faculty members, who do not have the track records required to earn many federal research awards. Ironically, although industry funding is sometimes criticized because it comes with “strings attached,” the unrestricted industry funding for new faculty members actually has fewer strings attached than federal research money, giving them the flexibility they need to purchase equipment and implement their research programs.

In the face of a steady stream of scientific discoveries with tremendous market potential, and with the need for fellowships and research awards to train students and support young faculty members, university administrators are on constant alert to shape policies that don’t impede the flow of ideas to the private sector, while simultaneously protecting the integrity of their institutions.

On the following pages, you’ll read about the role that College of Chemistry professors have played in this constantly evolving debate. C. Judson (Jud) King, former chemical engineering department chair, college dean, provost for the professional schools and colleges, and UC provost and senior vice president, has been grappling with the complexities of these issues for 45 years. King has been instrumental in shaping how the university has responded to the challenges of working with industry.

At the campus level, chemistry professor Richard A. Mathies has seen the issues from both sides. He is one of Berkeley’s most successful inventors, yet during his busy career he has taken the time to chair the campus Conflict of Interest Committee. He has seen many start-ups come and go over the years, and he has never stopped probing the big questions.

After working in industry and as a consultant, alumnus Keith Alexander has returned to the Department of Chemical Engineering to lead the new Product Development Program. Along with his students, he will spend the summer helping Clorox, headquartered in Oakland, CA, to develop alternatives to animal testing for its growing line of consumer products.

Here are three faculty members of widely different backgrounds and interests, all of whom share a desire to see that the college can work with industry in a way that respects the values of both and that leads to vital new science and engineering, well-trained students and important new products, while ensuring that the fundamental mission of the university remains paramount.

Spring 2008 Catalyst

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K i n g i n h i s Ev a n s H a l l office, where he is the director of Berkeley’s Ce n t e r f o r S t u d i e s i n Higher Education.

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Jud King in the early 1960s, managing MIT’s School of Chemical Engineering Practice, a practicum program for graduate students at the Esso Bayway refinery near Linden, NJ.

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How Jud King has kept UC’s innovation machine running smoothly

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

When professors retire, they usually reduce their commitments.

But Jud King, emeritus chemical engineering professor, former College of Chemistry dean, former Berkeley provost, and former UC systemwide provost, is gaining responsibilities in retirement.

Along with a small office he maintains in Gilman Hall among his chemical engineering colleagues, King, 73, can also be found since his retirement at the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), where he has been the director since 2004. Last year he picked up a new position when, at the request of Chancellor Birgeneau, he agreed to become the new interim director at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. At the museum, King is grappling with the repatriation of Native American remains and artifacts in accordance with the Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and with facility planning to expand the museum.

Says Birgeneau about King’s role, “At my request, Jud stepped into this difficult situation as interim director of the Hearst Museum. He has been extraordinarily effective in this role and now has us on a track which promises to resolve many of these problems; this includes especially seeking out appropriate Native American input. I, the Hearst Museum, and the university as a whole owe Jud a great debt of gratitude for this selfless service.”

King’s steady hand as an administrator has won him the confidence of UC chancellors and presidents. When there is a need to work out new university policies in an area of vague federal and state laws and committed stakeholders, UC calls on ace troubleshooter Jud King.

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King’s administrative talents came to light early in his career.

In 1960, at age 26, even before he had filed his doctoral dissertation at MIT, he was managing MIT’s School of Chemical Engineering Practice, a practicum program for graduate students at the Esso Bayway refinery near Linden, NJ. At that time the local neighborhoods were working-class enclaves of recent European immigrants.

He still recalls the lunches at Halecki’s Tavern. “Kielbasa has never been better,” he recalls fondly.

In 1961, Berkeley’s Charles R. Wilke visited the Practice School site in New Jersey. Wilke was building the new Department of Chemical Engineering and was impressed by the young man who escorted him up and down the multi-story catalytic crackers. Wilke offered a job to King, who accepted and made the move west in 1963.

King began a successful research program in separation processes. He also concentrated on spray- and freeze-drying, learning to preserve the elusive and volatile flavor and aroma compounds in coffee and other foods. But although he holds 11 U.S. patents and has published over 215 journal articles or chapters in research and academic textbooks, research would not prove to be King’s primary calling in life. Perhaps taking a cue from his father, a U.S. Army officer who served on Eisenhower’s staff during World War II and who later became the deputy chief signal corps officer at the Pentagon, King decided to serve the university more directly.

He began by handling admissions. He was the department vice chair (1967–72), department chair (1972–81), college dean (1981–87), provost of the Berkeley professional schools (1987–94), UC Office of the President vice provost for research (1994–95), and

then UC provost and senior vice president – academic affairs until his retirement in 2004, when he returned to the Berkeley campus to direct the CSHE. One of the most fluid and contentious policy arenas King has faced is how to manage the university’s relationships with industry.

During his 45-year career at UC, King has witnessed the decline of corporate labs, the end of the Cold War, the rise of the high-tech and biotech industries, the aftermath of the Bayh-Dole legislation, and the decentralization of tech transfer offices from the UC systemwide headquarters to the campuses.

As the United States began facing more foreign competition in the 1980s and corporations struggled to become leaner, many corporate labs, including giants such as Bell Labs and Xerox PARC, were downsized or reorganized. Says King, “The same trends shaped the chemical industry. The industry’s interest in partnering with universities pre-dates the end of the Cold War and was not driven as much by Bayh-Dole as by the demise of its corporate labs.” King was a co-founder and early chair of an industry-university consortium, the Council for Chemical Research, which emerged in the 1980s to promote industry-university relations and is still going strong.

Meanwhile, after the passage of the Bayh-Dole legislation (see box, p. 13), which allowed UC to take patents on government-funded technologies, UC’s patent portfolio grew, and along with that growth came tensions over how the patents should be used.

Should the portfolio be used to support UC’s traditional land grant mission by channeling innovations rapidly to the private sector, or should the goal be to maximize patent portfolio income with restrictive licensing agreements? “UC did a little of both,” says King, “but over time has swung more and more toward overall facilitation of relations with industry, including rapid diffusion of technology.”

By fiscal year 2007, UC’s annual income from patenting and licensing had grown to $98 million. For an institution with a multibillion dollar budget, “this is a significant, but not a major source of income,” says King.

Another source of tension arose from the nature of the industries involved in university tech transfer. In microelectronics and software, timing is everything. Profitability hinges on getting products to market just months ahead of competitors. In these disciplines, UC schools of engineering have developed fluid, informal networks with Silicon Valley firms that allow for rapid sharing of information.

Says King, “Many engineering faculty did not want what they felt to be a bureaucratic layer of university lawyers getting in the way of an effective system that had been built over many years.”

Yet across the Bay, at UC San Francisco and at the other UC medical schools, colleagues were giving King a different message.

“It takes many millions of dollars and a decade or more to get a major new drug through FDA clinical trials,” says King. “Without strict patent protection and exclusive licenses, pharmaceutical firms were not willing to take the risk of developing UC discoveries.

Spring 2008 Catalyst

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12

“Silicon Valley and UC academic medical centers are miles apart in more ways than one,” says King, “but we had to develop policies that worked for a variety of industries and academic disciplines.”

The issues came to a head at a two-day retreat at UCLA in January 1997. King worked closely with UC President Richard C. Atkinson to bring together hundreds of participants from academia and industry to spend two days hashing out how their relationship has evolved since Bayh-Dole, and how to make it work better in the future (the summary of the retreat is available online at ucop.edu/ott/retreat/tabofcon.html).

In his concluding comments at the 1997 retreat, King acknowledged the consensus that UC needed to take “a bolder role that will require some risk.” But King reminded the audience: “We need to find that balance, where we do encourage a more aggressive approach to relations with industry and do recognize that it takes risk as part of that — and we need to find the best ways to counterbalance that risk with accountability and responsibility.”

Under King’s guidance, the university’s academic personnel manual was modified to clarify that activities such as assuming an executive or managerial position in a for-profit or not-for-profit business are generally not allowed. To engage in such activities a faculty member must make a written request to the chancellor or chancellor’s designees and receive written approval. The manual also limits the number of days a faculty member may engage in compensated outside professional activities.

King’s expertise on university policy has created demand in Europe for his perspective. For the last two years, he has been a faculty member at sessions at the Salzburg Global Seminars in Salzburg, Austria, on innovation in knowledge-based economies.

“UC’s role in helping to develop California’s high-tech economy is a model that many other countries and universities would like to emulate. We developed a lot of insight over the years, and I’m happy to share it with the international community,” says King.

King adds, “Salzburg is spectacular, a university town known for its baroque architecture at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. It’s the

(left) King in his Gilman Hall office, examining the doctoral dissertation of his student Keith Alexander, the director of chemical engineering’s Product Development Program (see p. 18). (right) King in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, where he is the interim director.

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

birthplace of Mozart, but for Americans it is best known as the setting for the movie The Sound of Music.”

King has always sought refuge in mountains closer to home, in the Sierras, and he is known for coercing his city-slicker colleagues into week-long mule-supported treks through the high country. He did take a break this spring to spend two weeks hiking and rafting in the Grand Canyon, where he says he had trouble keeping up with his hiking companion and wife of 51 years, Jeanne.

Over the course of his career, King has worked with hundreds of administrators and faculty members, including President Atkinson — the former director of the National Science Foundation and the 17th president of the University of California.

Says Atkinson, “Jud did a magnificent job as the University’s systemwide provost. He was evenhanded in his decisions and thoughtful in his approach to any and every problem. His deep understanding of the university and the faculty has made him a great academic leader, someone who always acts in the best interest of UC.” King is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He served as chair of the California Council on Science and Technology from 2002–2004 and was a nine-year member of the council.

Looking back, King credits his background in chemical engineering for his success as a problem solver. “I think my chemical engineering background gave me an ability to deconstruct complex problems and situations, so as to identify and evaluate alternatives and seek the best among them. Some might call that linear thinking. I’d call it structuring and simplifying.”

King foresees a continually evolving relationship between industry and the university that will require constant diligence — and will bring continuing rewards. “Industry and academic research need each other,” he says. “One without the other is sterile.

The question is not ‘whether,’ but ‘how.’”

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Founded in 1988 as a not-for-profit corporation through enabling legislation from the state, the California Council on Science and Technology emulates the roles that the National Research Council and the National Academies have at the federal level. The council consists of scientists, engineers and technology leaders from California’s universities, corporations and national laboratories. Studies are undertaken at the request of branches of state government. Jud King served as chair from 2002–04.

In 2006, the oil firm BP announced an intention to create the Energy Biosciences Institute in conjunction with a major university. In early 2007, the competition was won by a team headed by UC Berkeley that included the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. BP will contribute $50 million annually for 10 years. Recognizing concerns about academic freedom and other issues, the Berkeley campus developed the proposal in close consultation with the leadership of the campus Academic Senate.

Source: UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education, University Roles in Tehcnological Innovation in California, C. Judson King

Industry-funded research as a percentage of total externally-funded research FY 2000–01 to FY 2006–07

’00-’01 ’01-’02 ’02-’03 ’03-’04 ’04-’05 ’05-’06 UC Berkeley

11.0%

CALIFORNIA COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ENERGY BIOSCIENCES INSTITUTE

The impetus for the legislation was the perception that the United States was losing its technological edge and competitiveness.

The domestic steel and auto industries were declining, while productivity growth and investment in research and development were stagnant. Although the U.S. government owned approximately 28,000 patents, fewer than 4 percent were licensed to industry. The Bayh-Dole Act was conceived to help commercialize ideas that would otherwise lie dormant. Under the Bayh-Dole act, UC has commercialized thousands of technologies since 1980 and now earns almost $100 million annually from technology licensing.

3.7%

In 1985, working with the San Diego business community, the UC San Diego campus formed UC CONNECT to develop entrepreneurial businesses in the region. The organization is freestanding and connects entrepreneurs with technology, money, markets, management, partners, and support services. In many respects, CONNECT is an organized effort aimed at replicating what occurred naturally in Silicon Valley.

In 1998, a controversial research agreement was made between the Berkeley campus and Novartis, a large Swiss pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. Novartis agreed to contribute $5 million per year for five years to support research in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Another important component was access to the Novartis agricultural genomic database. In return, Novartis received first rights to license a percentage of inventions from research in the department, whether or not supported

by Novartis funds. Over the course of the agreement, there was a major restructuring of Novartis that eliminated the unit that had made the agreement, and it was not renewed.

3.3%

UC CONNECT

N O VA R T I S A G R E E M E N T W I T H U C BERKELEY

The Bayh-Dole Act was sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh (D-Indiana) and Robert Dole (R-Kansas). Previously, the federal government had retained ownership of discoveries funded by federal research dollars.

The act changed this by allowing universities (and other performers of federal research) to retain ownership of ideas they developed through government-funded research.

Under the act, universities could license patented ideas to industry and could earn royalties. The act required universities to give inventors, usually professors, a share of the royalties.

3.0%

This program awards discovery grants that are jointly funded by UC, the state, and industry. Five fields are covered — biotechnology, communications and networking, digital media, electronics manufacturing and new materials, and information technology for life sciences. As of 2007, since the 1996 inception of the program, 777 projects have been funded. Currently, on an annual basis, about $22 million of state and UC funds bring in about $36 million from industry.

Four major research institutes were launched in 2000, as a gubernatorial initiative to support the role of innovation in spurring the California economy. The institutes are located on UC campuses and conduct research in fields believed to be promising for the economic growth of the state. They were envisioned as catalytic partnerships between university research and private industry. At Berkeley, QB3, located in Stanley Hall, and the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society are funded under this program.

2.9%

INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM (IUCRP)

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTES FOR SCIENCE A N D I N N O VAT I O N

3.9%

Launched in 1981, the MICRO Program is designed “to support innovative research in microelectronics technology, its applications in computer and information sciences, and its necessary antecedents in other physical science disciplines.” More than 500 companies have participated in the program over the years. In the year 2005–06, 97 companies supplied $6.5 million for 104 projects, with another $3.8 million coming through the program from state funds.

In 1980, an event occurred that completely changed the way universities and industry interact—Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act.

5.2%

MICRO

The Bayh-Dole Act

5.1%

UC–industry programs that promote technological innovation in California

’06-’07

College of Chemistry

Note: These figures do not include gift funding from industry and other private sources, nor do they include state general fund support for research.

Spring 2008 Catalyst Source: UC Berkeley

13

Rich Mathies tests wine for its amine content. Mathies is working to develop a hand-held device to allow diners to test wine to avoid red wine headaches. This technology is a spin-off of his research with NASA to look for chemical signs of life on Mars.

RICHARD M AT H I E S 14

Eyes to the sky, feet on the ground From the sands of Mars to local start-ups, Rich Mathies keeps exploring

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Rich Mathies is a hard guy to pin down. He started as a physical chemist, but now he also has a research group devoted to life sciences.

He is one of UC Berkeley’s most prolific inventors, yet he has devoted large amounts of his time helping the campus manage complex conflict-of-interest questions.

As a graduate student, he climbed mountains in one of the coldest, wettest parts of the country, yet his research has taken him to one of the hottest, driest places on Earth. His lab-on-a-chip devices may help answer some of the most profound questions facing humanity, yet he has also focused on clever devices that solve far more practical problems.

Mathies always liked making things work. Born in 1946, he grew up in Kirkland, WA, across Lake Washington from Seattle. In elementary school he mastered the repair of the family clothes dryer. By the time he graduated from high school, Mathies had made a crude powder x-ray diffractometer.

Mathies’s scientific aptitude could have taken him in many directions, but he followed the example of his father, a biochemist and the head of the lab at Seattle’s Swedish Hospital. For college, Mathies moved across the lake and earned a degree in chemistry at the University of Washington in 1968. There he worked with Martin Gouterman on porphyrin chemistry and wrote his first journal article while still an undergraduate.

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Mathies moved on to Ithaca, NY, where he earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1974. His mentor was Berkeley alumnus Andreas C. Albrecht (B.S. ’50, Chem), who is considered by many to be the father of the theory of resonance Raman spectroscopy.

“Albrecht was a brilliant but understanding mentor who allowed me to take time off for some major outdoor expeditions,” says Mathies.

On the wall behind his desk hangs a large photograph of Mathies climbing the Devils Thumb, a rock spire jutting out of the Stikine Ice Cap near Petersburg, AK. The 9,077-foot peak features a near-vertical, 6,000-foot face — twice as tall as Yosemite’s El Capitan with ice and snow and horrific weather — that has taken the lives of several climbers. Mathies and his partners scaled the peak from the east, as did the climbing author Jon Krakauer, who completed the first solo ascent of the mountain following a similar route.

Back in civilization, Mathies won a Whitney fellowship to Yale University to work with Lubert Stryer, who three decades later would win the 2006 National Medal of Science for his work on fluorescence spectroscopy and the biochemical basis of signal amplification in vision. Mathies’s postdoc with Stryer was his first foray into the life sciences, a path he would explore more fully later in his career.

Mathies came to the College of Chemistry in 1976 as an assistant professor and spent the first 10 years as a biophysical chemist focusing on Raman spectroscopy and understanding the molecular basis of the primary events in vision.

Former Mathies student Christina Stuart (Ph.D. ’07, Chem), who is on her way to a postdoc at UC San Diego, explains the group’s work this way: “Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational technique that provides information on the structure of molecules. In Raman spectroscopy, a sample is irradiated with laser light. A small number of the laser photons imparts energy to the molecules, exciting them into a higher vibrational state. The resulting Raman-scattered light now has a frequency which is shifted from that of the incident light.

The difference in these frequencies corresponds to a vibrational frequency of the molecule, which tells us about its structure.”

In 1984 Mathies embarked on another adventurous path when he filed his first patent — an infant carrier that he designed with wife JoAnne. “It was a good design, but it was never commercialized,” he says. “I still have the prototype in my garage.” The next 34 patents would prove to be more successful.

By the late 1980s, the revolution in genomics was in full swing.

Biotech pioneers such as Genentech, Chiron and Amgen — all UC spin-offs — were growing, along with a host of smaller companies.

With the beginning of the Human Genome Project slated for 1990, Mathies and his students began exploring the utility of laser spectroscopy techniques for biomolecular detection.

Stephen Fodor was a postdoc in the Mathies group at that time who used Raman spectroscopy to elucidate the photoactivation of bacterial and plant photo receptors. Intrigued by the applications of

laser spectroscopy to genomics, Fodor in 1989 took a position at the Affymax Research Institute in Palo Alto, where he spearheaded the effort to develop high-density microarrays of biological compounds.

Fodor also developed techniques to read these arrays, employing fluorescent labeling methods and confocal laser scanning.

Four years later, Fodor co-founded Affymetrix, a company that has developed technology to synthesize many varieties of high-density arrays containing hundreds of thousands of DNA probes. These DNA chips have broad commercial applications and are now widely used in many areas of basic and clinical research. Says Mathies, who serves on the scientific advisory board of the company, “It was Affymetrix that got the whole gene chip technology going.”

The company is just one of 10 start-ups in which Mathies has played a role. One company, ACLARA Biosciences, pioneered labon-a-chip microfluidic arrays for high-throughput pharmaceutical drug screening and gene expression analysis. Another start-up, Molecular Dynamics, developed integrated systems that combined laser-scanning, electro-optical and software technologies to produce bioanalytical instrumentation and DNA sequencing systems.

In the 1990s, Mathies’s patents on fluorescent probes began to bear fruit for Berkeley, earning almost $1 million dollars annually in licensing fees by the end of the decade. It was also in the 1990s that Mathies began working on the microfabrication of lab-ona-chip devices. The Mathies group started this work in 1992, and it led to miniaturized devices that could perform DNA bioanalytical work. Says Mathies, “We put together a group A schematic of a microfluidic device. of smart, brave, hard-working people doing new things. I was so lucky to be part of that.”

Adam Woolley, now an associate professor at Brigham Young University, earned his Ph.D. with Mathies in 1997. Says Woolley, “I had the great fortune to work with Rich at a very exciting time: the Human Genome Project was at an early stage as I was starting graduate school at Cal. Rich gave me broad latitude to work in his lab to develop a revolutionary DNA sequencing technology at the interface

Spring 2008 Catalyst

RICH MATHIES

RICH MATHIES

MARK CREELMAN

(l. to r.) A typical Raman spectroscopy workbench in the Mathies lab. Mathies climbing the Devils Thumb, near Petersburg, AK, while a graduate student at Cornell University in the 1970s. Mathies in Chile’s Atacama Desert in 2005, where he tested a prototype of the device scheduled to fly to Mars in 2013.

16

of chemistry, engineering and biology. It was a transformative time in my career, and I think it was for Rich, too.”

In his days as a graduate student, Mathies tackled the cold, wet and harsh environment of southeast Alaska. In the last decade Mathies has ventured to one of the hottest and driest places on the planet, Chile’s Atacama desert. There, in 2005, along with graduate student Alison Skelley (Ph.D. ’05, Chem) and colleagues from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he performed experiments to verify that he could detect signs of life in an environment similar to Mars.

The Mathies group is refining a device, the Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA), part of an instrument package scheduled to fly to Mars in 2013 on the European Space Agency ExoMars mission.

During the mission, instruments will dissolve Martian soil with water, add fluorescent tags that selectively bind with certain organic molecules, dry the samples and use a laser to check for amino acids, amines and fragments of DNA and RNA. Amino acids can be detected at concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion.

If amino acids are detected, the MOA will use microcapillary electrophoresis to analyze their composition and to check the “handedness” or chirality of the amino acids. Inorganic processes produce left- and right-handed amino acids in roughly equal proportions. If the MOA detects only left-handed amino acids on Mars, that would indicate they were produced by life processes similar to those on Earth, where life evolved using only left-handed amino acids. “But what if the MOA detects mostly right-handed amino acids in

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Martian soil?,” asks Mathies. “That would indicate that Martian life evolved in a way distinct from life on Earth.”

The ExoMars rover is scheduled to land on Mars in 2015, after a two-year journey across the solar system. “The odds of a successful Mars landing are about 50/50,” says Mathies, “so I am not getting my hopes up too high. But sending an instrument to test for life on Mars is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s likely to be my last experiment, my most expensive experiment and perhaps the most important.”

Looking back on the research tools he has created over three decades, Mathies sees them as extensions of ourselves. Some tools allow us to reach all the way out to Mars, dig in the soil and examine it to find traces of life that may have existed millions of years ago.

Other tools let us tease apart the minute details of our DNA with a device that can sit in the palm of a hand.

“There have been four central scientific issues that have made humankind question the nature of our place in the universe,” says Mathies. “They are the realization that the world is round; the discovery that the Earth is not the center of the universe; the sequencing of the human genome; and the unresolved question of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe. Two of those issues were resolved long before my time, but I’m happy to have played, and to be playing, a part in two of the remaining fundamental issues of human existence.”

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Mathies on maintaining research integrity For over a decade, Professor Rich Mathies has chaired the campus Conflict of Interest (COI) committee, overseeing the review process that makes sure professors’ efforts to develop creative ideas and new inventions don’t conflict with their university obligations.

Says Mathies, “This is a committee that takes real action on real cases. It’s never dull — the cases come from all over the campus and involve inventive faculty members who are always coming up with new things and new business arrangements. Ultimately, my goal is to allow people to be creative while preserving and protecting the academic environment.”

Seven faculty members meet once a month to review company and university documents under strict rules of confidentiality. “Each case is individual,” says Mathies. “We decide on a case-by-case basis, and not by a rigid set of rules. I’ve found that trying to apply rules can lead to odd decisions that aren’t sensitive to the totality of the situation.”

The basic principle behind conflict of interest policies is that the conduct and reporting of research and the education of students cannot be compromised for financial interests. Mathies gives an example of a researcher who patents a discovery and maintains a financial interest — as a founder, as a member of the scientific advisory board, or as a consultant — in a start-up that is commercializing the invention.

“The researcher’s interest in the firm may overlap strongly with her university research,” says Mathies.

“This can lead to a significant conflict of interest. In this case, a grad student might be directed to do research that is more beneficial to the company than it is to the student’s thesis and progress toward a degree.”

In such a case, the conflict, or the appearance of conflict, must be managed by the COI committee. To manage such a conflict, the committee might, for example, require public disclosure of the interest and create an ad hoc subcommittee of faculty to meet with the researcher’s students and monitor their degree progress and goals.

“In such cases where the overlap is too complete,” says Mathies, “the faculty member can have either the research grant or the financial interest, but not both. About once a year we have to make a tough decision like this, and these decisions are not popular.

“The reality,” says Mathies, “is that the university is both pushed and pulled toward working with industry — pulled because industry has money and interesting ideas and research agendas, pushed because federal and state support for research is not keeping up. The acceptance rate for research grant applications to the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health is running less than 10 percent. You can’t tell me that, given the number of smart people at places like Berkeley, only one in 10 grants is worthy of funding.”

Mathies remains ambivalent about the growing emphasis on practical results in academic research. “Personally,” he says, “I like working with industry. You get new ideas and catalytic feedback. It’s fine to interact, patent ideas, start companies, and help the economy by enhancing the success of start-ups—as long as the integrity of teaching and research is protected.

“But if the trend toward practical solutions and working with industry makes it harder to do fundamental, blue-sky research, I’m not convinced that trend is a good idea.

Perhaps the pendulum has swung too far and needs to come back a bit. There is a lot to be said for doing basic, curiosity-driven research that might not bear fruit for many years.”

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a l u m n u s

p r o f i l e

KEITH ALEXANDER

Product Development Program director Keith Alexander with a sample of Clorox’s consumer products at their Pleasanton, CA, research facility.

THIRD TOUR OF DUTY 18

Keith Alexander returns to Gilman Hall to create a unique new program In 2005, Keith Alexander returned to the Department of Chemical Engineering to lead the new Product Development Program (PDP). “It’s my third ‘tour of duty,’” he says. “First I was a chemical engineering undergrad here, then a ChemE Ph.D. student, and now I’m director of the PDP.” It’s been a long trip for a scrappy kid from Richmond, CA, who fell in love with the jazz trombone as a teenager and who conducted the John F. Kennedy High School band at his graduation in 1971. During his life, Alexander, 54, has taken his jazz lessons to heart. He is an energetic player who paid his dues, practiced his chops, learned to lead other talented players, and when the moment is right, can stand up and improvise with skill.

After high school, Alexander first attended a local community college and then transferred to UC Berkeley as a chemistry major.

“One day I was walking through Gilman Hall,” he explains, “when I noticed a clipping

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

on a bulletin board. It was a listing of starting salaries for different professions, and chemical engineers were at the top. I heard a booming voice behind me that said, ‘Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?’ That was the voice of Ted Vermeulen, and Ted was instrumental in guiding me along as I switched majors from chemistry to chemical engineering and completed my undergraduate degree.”

Graduating from Berkeley in 1978, Alexander began working at a local company, Stauffer Chemical, as a junior engineer. He worked with Ed Force, who had earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Berkeley. “Ed was committed to young people,” says Alexander, “and he urged me to go get my Ph.D. He

was so persistent that I applied to several programs and was accepted at Berkeley for what I call my second tour of duty.”

Alexander found himself back in Gilman Hall in the fall of 1979. “I didn’t know what to expect at first,” he says. “Although the surroundings were familiar, I found the graduate experience was much more of an apprenticeship than my undergrad program.

Jud King was my adviser, and at that time he had about 18 people in his research group.

“We worked on food chemistry, separations, freeze- and spray-drying, and organic aqueous solutions. King was the best model,” says Alexander. “He was a clear, organized thinker, very good at problem-solving and coaching. With so many graduate students, it was uncanny how, from meeting to meeting, he could remember where we had left off the last time.”

a l u m n u s

Alexander researched how to improve techniques for making instant coffee. “In the morning I drank coffee, all day long I smelled coffee in my lab, and at night I dreamed coffee,” he says. “I was up against human taste buds, which are incredibly sensitive instruments for detecting volatile organic compounds. From a chemical engineering standpoint, I had to study the effect of heat, mass transfer and the morphology of particle formation. My Ph.D. education was a very satisfying stage in my life.”

But it was not all work. In those years, the ChemE grad students had their offices on the third floor of Lewis Hall, overlooking the Greek Theater. Alexander, whose own taste in music runs to jazz giant John Coltrane, still remembers the nights the Grateful Dead played the Greek. “We would sit at our office windows and watch the band’s devoted and eccentric fans stream into the theater — that was the real show.”

In 1982, with his Ph.D. degree in hand, Alexander began working for the research arm of Chevron in his hometown of Richmond, where he helped develop new techniques for catalytic cracking of heavy oil residues. But Alexander’s drive and curiosity were still propelling him forward, and he was growing more interested in the business side of Chevron’s operation. “A Chevron recruiter mentioned Stanford Business School,” says Alexander. “That sounded interesting — but even though I had grown up in the Bay Area, I had never been to Stanford.”

Alexander didn’t let that stand in his way.

In 1986, he started at Stanford Business School, where he focused on management consulting as a career choice. After graduating in 1988, Alexander joined McKinsey and Company, the international consulting firm, and spent five years working and traveling from its San Francisco office. Says Alexander, “I worked for a whole range of industries. I learned how to think through issues and how to solve problems. It was rough and tumble, and I enjoyed it.”

In 1994, Alexander made the switch to CH2M HILL, an international engineering and consulting firm with more than 24,000 employees worldwide. Starting in the Oakland office, he relocated after several years to the corporate headquarters in Denver, CO, where he spent two years managing about 230 people in an information technologies business solutions group.

While in Denver, Alexander also became a senior vice president and aide-de-camp to the firm’s CEO. “At that level in a big consulting firm,” says Alexander, “the job is just not predictable. You have to learn to adjust on the fly. Like jazz, the work has its own rhythm and melody, but you have to improvise, and let others improvise, without crowding in.”

In the meantime, back in Berkeley, Professor Arup Chakraborty became ChemE chair in July 2001. One of Chakraborty’s goals was to add new dimensions to the department’s graduate student experience. “Perhaps, in addition to the traditional teaching and research program,” he said at the time, “we could provide interested graduate students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in start-ups and industrial laboratories during their time at Berkeley.” The department began looking for models to allow students to gain that first-hand industry experience, but there were few good academic models.

p r o f i l e

On a visit to the Bay Area in 2004, Alexander stopped by the chemical engineering department to say hello to his mentor, Jud King, and learned that the department was developing a new program in product development.

Alexander wanted to get back to his roots in the Bay Area, as did his wife, Elaine, who had been raised in El Cerrito, CA. So Alexander signed on for his third tour of duty in the Department of Chemical Engineering and began work as the PDP director in June 2005. The first class started a little over a year later, in fall 2006.

The PDP is designed for chemical engineers and other students from related disciplines who want to learn more about transforming technical innovations into successful products. In the space of one calendar year (fall and spring semesters plus a summer in an industry setting), PDP graduates earn a master’s degree by gaining exposure to real-world product development practices in a range of industries, including biotechnology, microelectronics, nanoscience and consumer products. The PDP also includes a certificate program for Ph.D. students that was developed with seed funding from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

Says Alexander, “Over the past 15 years, product-based industries like biotech and consumer products have been hiring a

ß Social and cultural trends and drivers ß Reviving historical trends

Society

Product opportunity gap

Economy Technology ß Re-evaluating existing technology ß State-of-the-art and emerging technology

ß State of the economy ß Shift of focus on where to spend money ß Level of disposable income

The interplay between society, technology and the economy creates opportunities for new products.

Spring 08 Catalyst

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a l u m n u s

p r o f i l e

Price Revenue

Sales Price premium for uniqueness

New uses, new needs Industry demand

Price premium for unique new products

Product development capability and effort

New products

In many industries effective new product development capability drives overall corporate profitability.

(left to right) Michael Lin, Cheok I Cheong, Keith Alexander, Aileen DeSoto, and Dewi Christian Leo meet in the PDP classroom.

greater proportion of bachelor’s-level ChemE graduates. At the same time, a shrinking percentage of ChemE students have been hired by traditional process-based industries like chemicals.

20

“We wanted to give undergraduate students a better crack at getting jobs in these growing industries. The real beauty of our one-year program is that it is very time- and costeffective for students. The one-year PDP program costs about one-fifth as much as a typical two-year Bay Area MBA program, and about one-tenth as much as the Stanford MBA program that I attended.”

This summer the second graduating class will get hands-on experience by tackling an important problem for a local company.

Beginning in 2009, the countries in the European Union will ban the sale of cosmetic products and ingredients that have been tested on animals. Many companies are looking to develop alternatives to animal testing.

The PDP students will help Clorox develop a plan to prepare for emerging standards and phase out animal testing where possible. The company is a local success story.

In 1913, five entrepreneurs invested $100 each to convert the brine available in the nearby salt ponds of San Francisco Bay into bleach. They opened an office in

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

PDP director Keith Alexander at commencement with students (left to right) Cheok I Cheong, Aileen DeSoto, and Dewi Christian Leo.

Oakland, CA, where Clorox headquarters remains today.

Clorox now markets an extensive line of consumer goods and recently acquired the Burt’s Bees line of natural health care products. “The Burt’s Bees products, because they contain only natural ingredients, do not require animal testing,” says Alexander, “but many of Clorox’s other consumer products still do. This summer the PDP students will work with Clorox at their Pleasanton, CA, research facility to explore the latest testing options and to develop a plan for the company to incorporate these best practices.”

Alexander’s students are looking forward to the challenge. “The PDP is a great interdisciplinary program,” says Aileen DeSoto.

“It gives me exposure to fascinating students, staff and faculty from a number of areas in the university — business, engineering and public health — and industry people, too.”

Says student Michael Lin, “PDP is a very unique program. It helps us connect to the industry and see how our engineering knowledge can be applied in the real world.

Even though this is only the second year for the program, Keith has really put everything together and gives us a very fruitful master’s degree experience.”

“It’s been really rewarding to see this program come together and watch it take flight,” says Alexander. “There weren’t any blueprints. But I’ve learned in my life that if you need to step on 10 stones to cross the river, you don’t necessarily need to see the whole pathway. Rarely is the whole plan in front of you.

“In every stage of my life, when I needed to find a new stepping stone, someone was there to guide me. Almost all of my guides were teachers. With the Product Development Program, I guess I’m repaying the favor.”

Associate Dean Herbert Strauss (l.) receives the Berkeley Faculty Service Award from David Wake, Chair of the Berkeley Senate’s Awards Committee.

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this role for 13 years. In a tribute to Strauss upon his receipt of the Berkeley Faculty Service Award in May, Heathcock noted that Strauss has shown extraordinary dedication over the course of 40 years—not only to his internationally renowned research and to the scientific community in general, but also to ensuring that each undergraduate receives the most rewarding and fulfilling education that he or she possibly can.

Added chemistry professor and former dean Charles Harris, “Herbert Strauss represents what is best about Berkeley.”

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Recent awards to College of Chemistry faculty: JOHN ARNOLD: Dreyfus Foundation 2008 Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences ROBERT BERGMAN: 2008 Richards Medal, Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society CAROLYN BERTOZZI:

Royal Society of Chemistry Best of 2007 list JAMIE DOUDNA CATE: 2008 Irving Sigal

Changes in the college Change is afoot in the college administration. Clayton Heathcock — emeritus chemistry professor, former college dean, and the UC Berkeley chief scientist for QB3 — has been serving as interim dean during the search for a new dean, whose identity is expected to be announced in July.

In a move that will allow the dean to focus on the most critical issues, Heathcock has appointed chemical engineering professor Douglas Clark to be the Executive Associate Dean of the college, with primary responsibility for analytical facilities, network services, business and finance, and engineering services.

The dean will have final authority in these areas and will also have primary authority in academic affairs and college relations.

Two new assistant deans — Assistant Dean for Administration and Finance Suzanne Pierce and Assistant Dean for Engineering and Facilities Alexander Shtromberg — now work with the dean; they join Assistant Dean for College Relations, Jane Scheiber, to form the top administration of the college.

In addition, chemistry professor Marcin Majda will be the new Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, effective July 1. Majda comes well prepared to handle this position, having served as vice-chair of the department’s physical chemistry program from 2001 to 2007.

Majda will succeed emeritus chemistry professor Herbert Strauss, who has served in

New program focuses on sustainability In late 2007 the College of Chemistry, in partnership with the Haas School of Business and with funding from the Dow Chemical Company Foundation, created the Sustainable Products and Solutions (SPS) Program. Aimed at providing students and faculty with educational and research opportunities in the area of sustainability, the SPS Program awarded its first grants, totaling nearly $2 million, in May. College faculty members and students involved in the winning grants include Michelle Chang, Douglas Clark, Deanna D’Alessandro, Matthew Francis, Jeff Long, Marty Mulvihill, Kara Nelson, Erica Parra, and Peter Vollhardt.

Somorjai receives 2008 Priestley Award University Professor Gabor A. Somorjai (Ph.D. ’60, Chem) of the Department of Chemistry has received the 2008 Priestley Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society, for his contributions to surface science and catalysis for more than 40 years.

Somorjai received the award during a special event at the society’s spring meeting in New Orleans.

Young Investigator Award of the Protein Society ENRIQUE IGLESIA: Election to the National Academy of Engineering JOHN KURIYAN: Election to the American

Academy of Arts & Sciences YUAN TSEH LEE: 2008 Othmer Gold

Medal of the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Using artificial sugar and some clever chemistry, the Bertozzi group has made glow-in-the-dark fish whose internal light comes from the sugar coating on their cells. This novel method of fluorescently tagging the sugar chains, or carbohydrates, that coat cells is a new tool for studying development in the zebrafish.

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MICHAEL MARLETTA: 2008 Murray

Goodman Memorial Prize, established by Biopolymers and John Wiley & Sons JOHN NEWMAN: 2008 Vittorio de Nora Award in Electrochemical Engineering and Technology, Electrochemical Society RICHARD SAYKALLY: International Solvay

Chair in Chemistry, International Solvay Institutes of Belgium RACHEL A. SEGALMAN: MDV Innovators Award from Mohr Davidow Ventures ANDREW STREITWIESER: Dreyfus Foundation 2008 Senior Scientist Mentor DEAN TOSTE: 2008 Thieme IUPAC Prize;

Royal Society of Chemistry Best of 2007 list TING XU: 3M Company Untenured Faculty

Grant

A detailed view of Gabor Somorjai’s Priestley Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society.

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UC system faces budget shortfall from state Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal for 2008–09 calls for deep cuts in funding to the UC system, following his declaration of a statewide fiscal emergency. The precise size of the budget cuts will not be known until summer. Faced, however, with a likely shortfall of more than $230 million, the UC regents voted in May to increase student tuition by 7.4 percent for the 2008–09 academic year, raising the annual fees for undergraduates to $7,126. The regents also approved a budget cut of 10 percent at the Office of the President as part of a systemwide effort to reduce administrative spending.

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New president takes the helm at UC

$20 million awarded for stem cell research facilities

Mark G. Yudof, the former head of the University of Texas system and a recognized leader in American higher education, became the 19th president of the University of California on June 16, succeeding Robert C. Dynes.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded $20.18 million to Berkeley to build centralized stem cell laboratories in Li Ka Shing Hall, a new campus biomedical research building under construction on the site of the old Warren Hall.

Yudof, 63, is the first UC president to be hired from outside the system since 1899.

With a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty of the University of Texas School of Law in 1971 and became a recognized expert in the fields of constitutional law, freedom of expression and education law. Since 1997, Yudof has headed two complex, multi-campus university systems — first Minnesota and then, from 2002–07, Texas, one of the largest university systems in the country.

Yudof has said that, in addition to academic excellence and student opportunity, his priorities will include continuation of the effort to review and refine the roles and responsibilities of systemwide administration, the importance of accountability mechanisms at the systemwide and campus levels, and a strong emphasis on communication.

“The University of California is important to every family in California,” he says. “We must earn the confidence of the people of California every day, and part of that effort involves demonstrating how our work is solving problems that are important in their lives—in health, in the environment, in agriculture and nutrition, and in countless other areas.”

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

The grant to Berkeley was one of 12 grants, totaling $271 million, to fund construction projects for major facilities where stem cell research will be conducted — one of the largest building programs ever dedicated for a new field of medical science.

The funding was authorized in 2004 when California voters approved Proposition 71, which committed $3 billion in bond funds

over 10 years to stem cell research, in particular to embryonic stem cell work not supported by the federal government.

“We currently have a very vibrant stem cell effort on campus, but it is very decentralized, with 28 researchers spread out in 8 different buildings,” said chemical engineering professor David Schaffer, who is associate director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center, a multidisciplinary group of researchers who use adult or embryonic stem cells. “The CIRM grant will allow geographic centralization that is crucial to fostering collaboration and interaction among campus investigators, and will allow us to invite visiting scholars to enhance research on campus.”

Chemistry professor Carolyn Bertozzi (Ph.D. ’93, Chem) is also a principal investigator at the Berkeley Stem Cell Center.

Energy Biosciences Institute funds first 49 projects The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), the world’s largest public/private consortium dedicated to the application of bioscience and biotechnology techniques to the energy industry, has announced an initial set of 49 research projects to receive funding during the first year of EBI’s ten-year program. These projects will be supported through approximately $20 million of the total $500 million provided during the coming decade by the international energy company BP. EBI’s goal is to develop methods and technologies that will enable the transition from a fossil fuel-based energy economy to a balanced economy relying more upon renewables and biofuels with greatly reduced environmental impacts.

Projects are being funded at all three of the public partner institutions — UC Berkeley; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Eight projects, all in the area of biomass depolymerization, will be led by College of Chemistry faculty–Alex Bell, Jamie Cate, Michelle Chang, Douglas Clark, Jonathan Ellman, Alexander Katz, Michael Marletta, Clayton Radke, and Dean Toste.

Catalyst Alumni Questionnaire http://chemistry.berkeley.edu Date

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on the college’s undergraduate programs.

Student groups had tables in the Latimer lobby to meet and talk to the prospective and newly admitted students and their parents about their affiliated science groups.

REBECCA ZUCKERMAN Ph.D. 2000, Chem

Dear fellow alumni, We would like to welcome back Professor Clayton Heathcock as interim dean until a new dean is announced. Dean Heathcock has been a real asset to the college and we appreciate all of his efforts. As always, it has been wonderful working with our dedicated alumni who participate on the steering team: G.V. Basbas, Gordon Chu, Laurie Dockter, Mark Ellsworth, Lara Gundel, Deanne Krenz, Marissa Drouillard, Larry Perry, Daisy Quan, Steve Sciamanna, Lindy Vejar, and Dean Draemel, who recently joined our team.

Thanks to all for your ideas, enthusiasm and participation!

accomplishments. Doug Clark (Executive Associate Dean, Professor of Chemical Engineering) opened the celebration with congratulations to the students for their achievements. Cal pride filled the room as Professor Clark spoke of our first-place rankings nationally for both the chemistry and the chemical engineering departments.

This provided a great opportunity for me to follow up with how our newest alumni can help the college maintain this status by staying involved through volunteering for student/alumni activities, attending events and making financial donations.

We have had some great activities since my last article!

Our fourth annual “Springfest” was held at Jupiter Beerhouse on May 1, 2008, to celebrate the newly graduating students in the College of Chemistry. More than 150 students, faculty and alumni attended.

This was a great opportunity to celebrate and offer kudos to the students for their

Cal Day, the campus-wide open house for newly admitted students and their parents and the general community, was held on April 12, 2008. Chemistry lecturer Michelle Douskey and lab demonstration supervisor Lonnie Martin did a great job in presenting “Molecules, Materials & Us.” Associate Dean Herb Strauss and the undergraduate advisers gave a presentation

Chemistry lecturer Michelle Douskey, demonstration supervisor Lonnie Martin, and Associate Dean Herb Strauss keep things cool as they prepare for Cal Day.

In early spring, the “Cupola Era Alumni” met for their annual luncheon in the Great Hall at The Faculty Club. This was an extremely popular event with 75 alumni, faculty and staff attending to hear Nobel laureate professor Yuan T. Lee give a presentation on “Humanity at the Crossroads.”

This lecture was very stimulating and certainly gave those who attended much to think about in terms of the future.

In November, “The Alumni of the G. N. Lewis Era” luncheon was held at The Faculty Club. Chemical Engineering Professor Harvey Blanch presented a talk entitled, “Where Do We Go From Here? Alternative Transportation Fuels Derived From Biomass,” to a group of 35 alumni, friends and staff.

Many of these alumni have been participating in this luncheon for years, and it is always great for them to get together annually to sustain a long-held tradition.

25 Stay tuned for upcoming events in the fall.

We will kick off the season with our second annual “Fast Forward to Your Future” career event in September, after the students have settled into their schedules. We need your help! This program combines the expertise and involvement of willing alumni to assist current students in the College of Chemistry through panel discussions of career experiences, followed by a networking reception.

Please contact Camille Olufson at 510/643.7379 or by email at colufson@ berkeley.edu to participate as a panelist in this beneficial program for the students!

Our alumni are a valuable resource, and we are most appreciative when you offer your time and knowledge. I hope that we can continue to get more folks involved in the various programs and activities that the association offers. Please let us know what types of programs and events would be most appealing and beneficial for you.

Until next time!

Goooo Bears! by rebecca zuckerman Spring 08 Catalyst

Class Notes Don R. de Halas (B.S. Chem) completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in 1960, and, in the course of his career in the nuclear power industry, chaired the Materials Science and Technology Division of the American Nuclear Society from 1969–70.

He now enjoys retirement in Colorado, where he recently completed a 470-mile hike on the Colorado Trail and climbed a 13,000-plus-foot peak.

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(Ph.D. Chem) has more time to perform with his jazz ensemble, which recently played at Berkeley’s Claremont Club. He also continues to do research in synthetic, cross-conjugated dienone (dubbed “CSUH56”), collaborating with wet chemists at CSUEB and biochemists in Hungary and at Johns Hopkins University.

Dick was among the alums who attended this year’s Springfest — a celebration for the college’s graduating students.

T.Z. Chu (B.S. Chem) recently sent in this reminder of his student days.

Chancellor Clark Kerr recognized the 25th anniversary of the University Students’ Cooperative Association in 1958 by inviting Eleanor Roosevelt to be the keynote speaker at a special meeting in the Hearst Gymnasium.

T.Z. was president of the USCA and was invited to the dinner preceding her speech. “I was seated next to Mrs. Roosevelt and I remember to this day her enormous graciousness and generosity of spirit,” he writes. “Unlike fraternities and sororities of that era, USCA membership was highly diverse in race, national origin, relative age, and experience prior to attending college. My own experiences with USCA’s open first-come-first-serve admission policy and its culture of self-help and self-administration were also important factors in my later career.” (For the full story, see usca.org/alumni/news/s08mem.php.)

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Alwin S. Milian (Ph.D. Chem) retired in 1985 from DuPont as a senior consultant in the computing division. During his 28 years at DuPont, he was primarily involved in the syntheses and reactions of hexafluoropropylene epoxide and derived products. After retirement, he and seven other DuPont retirees formed CECON Group, of which he was president until his final retirement in 2004. He now makes his home in Winter Haven, FL.

Fred E. Stafford (Ph.D. Chem) wrote that he was planning a tour of Israel, Egypt, and Turkey after his retirement last January from the University of Chicago. He had served as senior director for special projects in the Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories, and he continues to mentor students and faculty in communicating their research and in career development.

Since he took full retirement after 29 years of teaching at California State University East Bay (CSUEB) in Hayward, Richard E. Bozak

Geoffrey E. Dolbear (B.A. Chem), who is president of G.E. Dolbear & Associates, a technical consulting firm, relocated his business

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and his family from Diamond Bar, CA, to Katy, TX, outside Houston. He plans to continue consulting for businesses associated with energy, especially oil refining, “as long as it is interesting and fun.”

Hal B. Cooper (B.S. ChemE) is chair of the board of directors for CEFCO LLC, a new company with a patented process for capturing coalfired power plant emissions such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and trace metals, and converting them to usable chemicals, fertilizers, and metallic byproducts.

The company is located in Dallas, TX, but he and his wife, Carol, live in Kirkland, WA.

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Gordon W. Gribble (B.S. Chem), professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, spent his 2006–07 sabbatical year at Gettysburg College, where he wrote a monograph, Naturally Occurring Organohalogen Compounds—a Comprehensive Survey. He and his wife, Louise, returned to their home in Hanover, NH, for the 2007–08 academic year.

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After graduating from Berkeley, Jaroslav R. “Jerry” Walter (B.A. Chem) took a job at the Richmond Field Station under the supervision of Gerhard Klein to save for medical school. When Jerry’s parents managed to emigrate from their native Czechoslovakia to Vienna, he earned his passage to Europe by working on a Norwegian ship. Financially unable to return to the U.S. after their reunion, he worked for the U.S. Army in Frankfurt while studying medicine in Göttingen. He completed his medical studies in London in 1972. Currently living in Prague, Jerry is working on a method he calls “numeric chemistry,” which he describes as a new way of considering chemical substances by analyzing their electronic structures. To paraphrase his description, the electromagnetic properties are important to the electrons and their

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40 years, he has produced more than 720 publications and earned a “Web of Science” citation index of 59. He and his colleagues recently created the first uranium-carbon triple-bonded molecule, which the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recognized as contributing important insights to uranium chemistry. He is also known as an excellent clarinet player who performs with the Charlottesville Municipal band and with the University of Virginia Klezmer Ensemble.

D e a n ’ s D i n n e r : (left) The Great Hall of The Faculty Club was the location for the 2008 Dean’s Dinner. (top right) Alums Art Dunlop and John Skinner get reacquainted. (bottom right) Tim and Roberta Montgomery look forward to the evening’s festivities.

further division into substructures. Certain combinations of these substructures are capable of oscillation and, if the oscillating circle is closed, it results in a greater stability of the substance; if it is open, the reactivity toward other substances is enhanced. He believes that numeric chemistry “agrees with biological and pharmaceutical effects, brings a new perspective to science, and could become the most effective instrument for molecular design.” He is interested in making contact with fellow chemistry alumni who like mathematics and might be interested in discussing this new method with him. Walter would also like to discuss a technique he has developed for cancer diagnosis using spectralphotometry, which he believes has an accuracy rate of 96 percent.

His email is numericchemistry@volny.cz.

The University of Virginia announced that Lester S. Andrews (Ph.D. Chem) received a Distinguished Scientist Award for 2007–08 for his extensive contributions to the field of physical chemistry. The award recognizes University of Virginia faculty members in the sciences, medicine, and engineering who have made extensive and lasting contribu-

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tions to their discipline. He is cited for establishing an “institutional tradition of world-class innovation in physical chemistry and spectroscopy that now attracts the very best investigators of each new generation.”

Best known for his matrix-isolation spectroscopy research, an experimental method of studying the individual molecules of chemical compounds at very low temperatures, “he has worked with every nonradioactive element in the periodic table and his work has fundamentally changed the understanding of chemical bonding in many elements, providing key insights for generations of chemists to come.” Having served on the chemistry faculty for over

Philip G. Kosky (Ph.D. ChemE) retired as Distinguished GE Research Professor of Engineering at Union College in Schenectady, NY. He says he will “really miss Union and particularly teaching open minds.” He still devotes time to reprints and a possible second edition of a freshman text he coauthored, Exploring Engineering, which the Professional and Scholarly Book Division of the American Association of Publishers named the “Best New Undergraduate Textbook of the Year.” He and his wife, Mary, have moved to Cumming, GA, to be close to one of their daughters and her family.

While teaching at the University of Aukland, New Zealand, Liam R. “Bob” Mann (Ph.D. Chem) switched from biochemistry into applied ecology in the 1970s, which, he says, “evoked a few purger attempts from the captains of industry.” Although these attempts failed, illness eventually led to his early retirement.

He remains active, however, in developing

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JoAnne Stubbe (Ph.D. Chem) received the 2008 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award of the Protein Society in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the understanding of the involvement of cell enzymes in the production and breakdown of DNA. She is also being honored for her conceptual breakthrough in finding the production of a thiyl radical in the ribonucleotide reductase from Lactobacillus leichmanni, and for designing compounds that are analogs of the natural substrates for these enzymes. One of these compounds has proven effective in treating pancreatic and possibly other cancers. She is the Novartis Professor of Chemistry and professor of biology at MIT.

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inventions in solar water heating, solar air conditioning, and other fields, as well as blogging and writing articles on environmental matters. He and his wife, Lynelle, live in Whangaparaoa, New Zealand.

Edward F. Kleinman (Ph.D. Chem) retired last summer from Pfizer after a 30-year career as a medicinal chemist. Following a few months of relaxation playing golf and going to the beach, he is planning to teach, consult, and study the piano. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Pawcatuck, CT.

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Susan B. Solomon (Ph.D., M.S. ’79, Chem), a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was awarded membership in the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. She also received the 2004 Blue Planet Prize for pioneering work in identifying the mechanism that produces the Antarctic ozone hole and for her contributions towards the protection of the ozone layer. Her work formed the basis of the U.N. Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to protect the ozone layer by regulating damaging chemicals.

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Kelly J. Brodbeck (B.S. ChemE) was appointed CEO of Vapore in 2004. The company, based in Alameda, CA, specializes in medical devices for respiratory breathing gas humidification and drug delivery. He and his wife, Lesli, live in Danville with their teens, Erich and Erin.

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Early in 2008, Steven D. Schwartz (Ph.D. Chem), a professor of biophysics and biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in Bronx, NY, was elected a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science. His wife, Jil Tardiff, is also on the faculty of Einstein. Their oldest child will be a freshman at the University of Chicago this fall. Steve would like to hear from other Ph.D. alums of his era: steve@aecom.yu.edu.

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The Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, Eric N. Jacobsen (Ph.D. Chem) was awarded the ACS’s Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods. The award recognizes, among other accomplishments, his development of the Jacobsen Mn(salen) catalyst and the

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Caltech’s Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, Frances H. Arnold (Ph.D. ChemE), has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Already a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, she is one of only eight living individuals elected to all three branches of the National Academies, and the only woman. The NAS recognizes her contributions to integrating fundamentals in molecular biology, genetics, and bioengineering, and for research that revolutionized protein engineering and its applications to biotechnology. Her work pioneered the use of "directed evolution" to improve proteins and other biological molecules for commercial applications. Her methods have been adopted by hundreds of laboratories around the world and are applicable to a broad range of fundamental and practical problems.

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College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Jacobsen catalytic enantioselective epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins. His research has focused on the design of highly selective catalytic systems that are practical and widely applicable in organic synthesis, in particular the synthesis of valuable biologically active compounds.

After 3 years in command of U.S.S. Springfield (SSN-761), a submarine homeported in Groton, CT, Peter W. Miller (B.S. Chem) is now stationed in Naples, Italy, dealing with submarine operations in the region as well as new engagements in Africa.

He was sorry to miss Ken Raymond’s ACS shindig in the spring but hopes to visit the campus between duty stations to catch up with his research director.

In April, MIT appointed Karen K. Gleason (Ph.D. ChemE), the Alexander and I. Michael Kasser Professor of Chemical Engineering, as the first associate dean of engineering for research. She joined the MIT faculty in 1987 and has become an internationally recognized expert in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of polymer thin films by plasma enhanced and hot-filament methods.

Her research has led to new methods of tailoring coatings for new functionality on a wide variety of both new and traditional substrates for diverse applications. She is also known for her development of solidstate nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and its applications in microscopic characterization of solid-state materials. Her husband is Edward F. Gleason (Ph.D. ’87, ChemE).

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John F. Hartwig (Ph.D. Chem), who is the Kenneth L. Rinehart Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has been selected to receive the International Catalysis Award. The award recognizes and encourages individual contributions by a young person in the field of catalysis. As the recipient of the award, he

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will present a plenary lecture at the International Congress on Catalysis (ICC) in Seoul, Korea, this July. His chair honors our late alumnus, Kenneth Rinehart (Ph.D. ’54, Chem). Hartwig’s wife, Anne M. Baranger (Ph.D. ’93, Chem), is an associate professor of Chemistry at UI and a visiting professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University this year.

Alex Weaver (Ph.D. Chem) recently graduated from medical school at the University of Colorado in Denver. He will be doing his three-year residency training in family medicine at St. Anthony Hospital in Westminster, CO.

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In September 2007, Sabrina G. Sobel (Ph.D. Chem) became chair of the chemistry department at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, where she has been teaching since 1992.

Mazhar Ali, Mitch Garcia and Noel Chang, members of chemistry professor Heino Nitsche’s group, find a quiet corner at the Springfest celebration at Jupiter Beerhouse.

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Phillips Andover Academy recently announced that the American Chemical Society inducted Paul D. Cernota (Ph.D. Chem) into the Aula Laudis Society, the ACS’s Hall of Fame for outstanding teachers of chemistry. A popular teacher at Andover since 1999, he also sings with the distinguished Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, with whom he will tour Berlin, Prague, and Wroclaw, Poland, this summer.

received an NSF Career Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Camille-Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award and a Maryland Outstanding Young Engineer Award. His research director was Gabor Samorjai.

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David Gracias (Ph.D. Chem), an assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University, was selected as one of twelve recipients of the 2008 DuPont Young Professor Award.

This 40-year old award at DuPont is meant to support young promising untenured faculty. The research theme in the Gracias group focuses on the science of miniaturization with applications in electronics and medicine and is also funded by the NSF, NIH and the DOD. Gracias has already

Martin K. Beyer (Postdoc Chem), a former postdoc with Julie Leary, was appointed professor of physical chemistry at ChristianAlbrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany, in October 2007. For two years prior, he was a Heisenberg fellow at Technische Universität Berlin. He and his wife, Brigitte S. Fox-Beyer, live in Kiel.

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This past August, Sara P. Gaucher (Ph.D. Chem) joined Amyris Biotechnologies in Emeryville, CA, as a scientist in its analytical chemistry department.

Ellia Ciammaichella (B.S. ChemE and Chem) completed a J.D. at George Washington University Law School and joined Foley and Lardner in Palo Alto, CA, as an associate attorney last November.

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Leigh Warren (Ph.D. Chem) completed her J.D. in 2006 at Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and the articles editor for The Columbia Science and Technology Law Review.

In 2007, she joined the Washington DC office of the law firm of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP as an associate in the patent counseling and prosecution group and a member of the firm’s litigation department.

Her practice focuses on patent prosecution and counseling in a variety of chemical technologies, including pharmaceuticals, polymers, and insecticides, and she applies her scientific experience in patent infringement litigation involving abbreviated new drug applications under the Hatch-Waxman Act. In service to the community, she volunteers as a judge for the Giles S. Rich Intellectual Property Law Moot Court Competition. Before going into law, she worked as a synthetic chemist in the pesticide discovery division of FMC Corporation and as an analytical chemist at Roche Diagnostic Systems.

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In Memoriam Faculty, Students and Friends E. MORSE “BUD” BLUE

Andrew Marcus, a member of Professor Richmond Sarpong’s research group, explains a rotary evaporator to a group of eighthgrade students from the Oakland Military Institute, a public charter school in the city of Oakland. The students were guests of the college’s Scholar’s Program.

A baby girl was born in May 2007 to YounJoon Jung (Postdoc Chem) and his wife, Sun-Young Oh. He is an assistant professor of chemistry at Seoul National University, and his wife is an assistant professor in SNU’s Department of English Language Education.

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Jiri Vala (Postdoc Chem) holds the position of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Fellow and lecturer in the National University of Ireland’s department of mathematical physics. His research focus is topological phases and topological quantum computation, and he is supervising graduate students working on MP472 “quantum information processing.” He also holds a President of Ireland Young Researcher Award for 2005–10.

Calvin P. daRosa (Ph.D. ChemE) started work last January as an applications engineer at KLA Tencor Corporation’s wafer inspection group in Milpitas, CA. He and his wife, Kerry Kumabe, make their home in Berkeley.

the Université de Picardie Jules Verne CNRS, Charles Delacourt (Postdoc ChemE) is working on modeling Li-ion batteries for HEV and P-HEV application.

Qiwen He (Postdoc Chem) is working as a principal scientist at Novartis in Changshu, China, doing process chemistry. He and his wife, Fan Qi, live in Hangzhou.

Chi Ching Joyce Leung (B.S. ChemBio) is looking forward to starting the chemistry Ph.D. program at the University of Texas, Austin. Since July 2007, she has been a research associate at Nanosyn in Menlo Park, CA, synthesizing organic compounds for pharmaceutical companies.

Alyssa M. Redding (Ph.D. ChemE) started her postdoctoral research in the physical biosciences division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory last January. She lives in Concord with her husband, Terry Redding.

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At the Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides, where he is a researcher for

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Ladan Lynn Foose (Ph.D. ChemE) is moving to Los Angeles after graduation to be near her family and friends and to start an exciting new job as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

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During a long career at Standard Oil/ Chevron, E. Morse “Bud” Blue (B.S. ’34, Chem), developed such processes as cascaded pretreater for removal of nitrogen; a two-stage process for hydrodenitro-genization of naphtha; two-stage pretreatment of reformer charge naphtha; and catalytic hydrogenation process employing a reduced nickel-molybdenum-alumina catalyst — all of which were patented. In 1959, while still at Chevron, he joined our Department of Chemical Engineering as a lecturer, and for the next 40 years he taught the plant and process design course. One alumnus described Bud as a rigorous teacher who brought students from the academic womb into the real world, and added that the midwife analogy was a good one because it included the slap on the behind. Even after he concluded his teaching career, Bud remained closely affiliated with the department and the college as a generous donor, a member of the capital campaign committee, a tireless volunteer, a charter member of the alumni association and alumni steering team, and a leader of the G. N. Lewis Era alumni group. Bud passed away, at the age of 95, on February

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15, 2008, predeceased by his first wife, Harriet; his daughter, Bonnie; and his second wife, Molly. He is survived by his sons, William, Thomas, David, and Charles; his daughter, Joy; ten grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

AHAMINDRA JAIN Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry from 2000–06, Ahamindra Jain was a key figure in the college’s undergraduate organic chemistry program. After leaving

Berkeley, he was a lecturer in Harvard’s department of chemistry and chemical biology. We were greatly saddened to learn that he passed away on May 10, 2008, after a battle with cancer, leaving behind his widow, Richa, and their two young children.

All who worked and studied with him will remember his warmth, his energy, and his enthusiasm.

JOHN W. OTVOS A long-time friend of the college and a mainstay of the G. N. Lewis Era group, John W. Otvos passed away on January 25, 2008. With a B.S. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Caltech, he worked for Shell Development Company in Emeryville for 30 years before joining the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he worked for another 20 years as a senior staff scientist, collaborating with Melvin

Calvin for a period. His wife, Margie, passed away a few months later. He is survived by his children, Jim Otvos and Linda Turner.

PAUL PLOUFFE Paul Plouffe, the highly appreciated and much loved teacher of the Department of Chemical Engineering’s undergraduate communications program, ChemE 185, passed away on November 11, 2007. A multitalented intellectual, he earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Boston College in classics and philosophy and a Certificat d’Études Supérieures from the University of Paris. He studied film production at USC before earning his Ph.D. in comparative literature and film at UC Berkeley in 1979. He co-authored The Culture of Science: Essays and Issues for Writers, and Science and its Ways of Knowing, and he taught film and literature courses throughout the Bay Area, as well as writing three screenplays. He was literate in Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and Italian, fluent in French, and conversant in Italian. As a teacher in the chemical engineering department for 24 years, he gave his students inspiration, thought, and support, making him a resource for identifying worthy scholarship recipients and for many other departmental activities, as well as earning him the 1999 Department of Chemical Engineering Teaching Award and the UC Berkeley AIChE student chapter’s “Most Appreciated Faculty Member” award in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2000.

MOSHE STERNBERG

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Engineering, a senior adviser for Bayer, and the chair of the Bayer/Canadian Blood Services R&D Fund. Educated in Romania and Israel, he had a 33-year career with Bayer (formerly Miles Laboratory), retiring as Senior Vice President for Research and Development, Biologicals, and Biotechnology.

He then joined the Berkeley faculty as an adjunct professor, sharing his expertise in

biotechnology by teaching the graduate biochemical engineering course. He is survived by his wife, Ella, son, Theodore, daughter, Talia Pierluissi, and four grandchildren.

DANIEL J. “DAN” LUCAS (Ph.D. Candidate, Chem) was a first-year graduate student working with Charles Harris’s group when he tragically passed away on April 16, 2008. Fellow group members remember him as a driven scientist who took a strong interest in his lab group project. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and came to Berkeley in 2007 to pursue his interest in physical chemistry, initially doing research in the lab of Stephen Leone. The faculty, staff, and students who knew and appreciated him mourn his passing. As a living memorial to Dan, a tree will be planted in the college complex.

At the time of his death on January 25, 2008, Moshe Sternberg was an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical

Spring 2008 Catalyst

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Alumni Coleman E. Campbell (B.S. Chem) was retired from a career at NL Industries and living in San Carlos, CA, with his wife, Kerttu, at the time of his death on November 5, 2007.

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Glenn L. Allen (B.S. Chem) spent his career at Great Western Electrochemical Company (later to become Dow Chemical), where he contributed to the development of carbon tetrachloride and tetrachloroethylene, which became the solvents of choice for dry-cleaning. The former, when combined with fluorine, made a refrigerant that was the industry standard for many years. After retirement in 1968, he devoted his time to environmental causes such as re-establishing river-bottom hardwood forests along the Mississippi River, contributing to exhibits in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and supporting research on the migration of monarch butterflies. He and his wife, Margaret, made their home in Walnut Creek, CA, where he passed away on November 13, 2007.

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Nobel laureate Willis Eugene Lamb Jr. (B.S. Chem; Ph.D. ’38, Physics) taught in Columbia University’s physics department, where he did research in their radiation laboratory, focusing primarily on detecting the shift in energy levels of the hydrogen atom in different states, which would come to be called the “Lamb shift.” The Nobel Prize was given to him in 1955 for this discovery, which led to a fundamental reconsideration of the underlying concepts in applying quantum theory to electromagnetism. He held teaching positions at Stanford, Oxford and Yale universities before joining the University of Arizona faculty in 1974. He received the National Medal of Science in 2000 and retired in 2003. He died on May 15, 2008, in Tucson, at the age of 94.

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College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Roy W. Cohn (B.S. Chem) devoted his 50-year career in the paint industry to O’Brien Corporation and retired as their vice president. A resident of Berkeley, he passed away on November 1, 2007, at the age of 93, survived by his wife of 67 years, Betty Black Cohn, and a son and grandson.

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Robert B. Dean (B.A. Chem) earned his Ph.D. from Cambridge University. At the onset of WWII, he was doing research at the University of Rochester, where he developed the theory that living cells actively pump sodium out of the cell using a pump that must exist in the cell membrane. When first presented, the theory was dismissed out-of-hand but eventually led to greater understanding of the concept of transport of ions across cell membranes.

His pioneering work led to various positions in academia and industry and, in 1964, he began work for several agencies, including the Public Health Services (later the Environmental Protection Agency), the International Solid Waste Organization, and the World Health Organization. He passed away on December 30, 2007.

Harold B. Smith (B.S. Chem) worked for the Garratt Callahan Company as a water treatment engineer. In retirement, he and his wife, Helen, lived in southern California until his passing on February 3, 2006.

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Following graduation, John B. Wilkes (B.S. Chem) did research in private industry but joined the army when the U.S. entered WWII and was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds as a captain in the Ordinance Technical Intelligence Team. He served in combat zones throughout the South Pacific and received, among other medals, the Bronze Star. Following the war, he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at Stanford University and joined Chevron Research in Richmond, where he spent his career, with 56 patents valued at millions of dollars.

He was an active member of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science and a staunch Cal and Stanford backer with season football tickets to both schools. He taught folk dancing and contributed generously to UC Berkeley and Stanford, as well as participating in other philanthropic and volunteer activities. He died at 92, on February 15, 2008, in a Burlingame hospital after a brief illness. Eunice, his wife of 59 years, predeceased him; his two sons, Michael and George, survive him.

Floyd B. “Bruce” Longtin (Ph.D. Chem) taught at Illinois Tech in Chicago until 1949. The following year he joined DuPont, starting in Chicago, then New Jersey, and finally at their Savannah River Plant in South Carolina, supporting the production of materials for atomic weapons. After retiring in 1978, he returned to teaching at the University of South Carolina. He passed away on October 5, 2007, at the age of 94, leaving his wife, Cecilia, three sons, three daughters, and 13 grandchildren.

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Wilfred “Wil” Garfinkle (B.S. Chem) passed away on November 14, 2007, survived by his wife of 66 years, Wilma, four sons, nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. During World War II, he served in the army near Fort Ord, and later in the navy at the Monterey Presidio. In 1946, he joined his father’s Alameda, CA, business, Clamp-Swing Pricing Company, and passed the reins to his sons when he retired in 1998. A life-long member of Temple Israel in Alameda, he served as their volunteer cantor for 30 years. An Eagle Scout, he also remained active in the Boy Scouts of America’s Alameda Chapter throughout his life.

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After graduating, Kenneth M. Berg (B.A. Chem) served as a flight instructor and patrol plane commander in the navy, and later as a research chemist in industry. From the ’50s

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onward, he worked as a marketing consultant, project development engineer, insurance consultant and finally, real estate broker in Miami, FL. He authored two books, His Name was Andrew and The Saga of the Hog’s Head. He passed away on November 1, 2007, survived by his wife, Jacqueline.

James W. L. “Jim” Leonard (B.S. Chem), a Concord, CA, resident who regularly attended G. N. Lewis Era luncheons with his wife, Laura, passed away on June 18, 2007. He had been on Cal’s swimming and water polo teams as a student.

Paul B. Thompson (B.S. Chem) spent his career at Caltex Petroleum and retired as a regional director. He and his surviving wife, Haviland Coyle (B.S. ’41, Chem), were supporters of the college and regular attendees at the G. N. Lewis Era luncheons. They made their home in Los Gatos, CA. He passed away in April 2008.

Geza S. Ronay (B.A. Chem), who resided in Oakland since emigrating from Hungary in 1927, worked for Shell Development Company in Emeryville for 40 years. He was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Oakland YMCA, the American Chemical Society, and the UC Berkeley Alumni Association. A donor to the college, he was a faithful attendee at G. N. Lewis Era luncheons and other events. He passed away in Oakland on April 2, 2008, predeceased by his wife, Katherine, and survived by two daughters, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Allen C. Triay (B.S. Chem) worked for Rockwell International and lived in Fullerton, CA. He died on December 8, 2007, survived by his wife, Paulette.

Leonard E. Watkins (B.S. Chem) passed away on September 9, 2007, having lived in San Marcos, CA. His wife, Juliette, survives him.

Edward D. Goldberg (B.S. Chem) after serving in the navy during WWII, obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He joined the chemistry faculty at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego in 1949, where he focused his research on the effects of human-introduced pollutants on marine environments. He was considered one of the premier marine geochemists and chemical oceanographers investigating global ocean pollution problems. His findings influenced the state of California and the U.S. Navy to tighten controls on the use of toxic marine paints, and he won a Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1989. Greatly appreciated by colleagues and students alike, he was a regular donor to the College of Chemistry. He passed away on March 7, 2008, survived by his wife, Kathe Bertine Goldberg, a retired professor of geosciences at San Diego State University; a son, three daughters, and three grandchildren.

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William R. Elswick (M.S. ChemE), who piloted his own Cessna Dragonfly, was president and owner of the East Brook Corporation, an investment advisory service in Oxnard, CA. He died on October 31, 2007.

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Horace H. Hopkins (Ph.D. Chem) had a career in nuclear engineering with the Westinghouse Hanford Company in Washington State. After retirement, he and his wife, Lois, lived in Puyallup, WA, and he volunteered as a math tutor. He passed away on April 23, 2008, survived by his wife.

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Roland Jang (M.S., B.S. ’48, ChemE) died on February 22, 2008. He had resided in Hillsborough, CA.

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Donald F. Mastick (Ph.D., B.S. ’42, Chem) served as an editor for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s Annual Review of Nuclear Science and later owned a small company with his wife, Irene, which they sold to retire in Santa Barbara, CA. He died on September 8, 2007.

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James F. Murphy (Ph.D. Chem) was the general manager for Productive Computer in Benicia, CA, and made his home in San Francisco. He passed away on October 27, 2007.

During the ’50s, Robert L. Tromp (B.S. Chem) was a radiochemist for the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He earned an M.S. from the University of Idaho in 1963 and then went on to a 33year career at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. In retirement, he and his wife, Annette, lived in Idaho Falls, ID, where he passed away on March 31, 2008, survived by his wife, one daughter, four sons, and 17 grandchildren.

After completing his doctoral work with Glenn Seaborg, Richard M. Diamond (Ph.D. Chem) served on the faculty at Harvard and Cornell universities before returning to California to work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. During his 37 years at the Lab, he helped revolutionize research into the interior structure of atomic nuclei. In the process, he and colleague Frank S. Stephens (Ph.D. ’55, Chem) developed the High-Energy Resolution Array, which measured cascades of gamma rays from nuclear reactions. They also developed a concept for a major nuclear research instrument now called the “gammasphere” which, in its current version at the Argonne National Laboratory, is used by researchers worldwide. Their work earned them both the prestigious Bonner Prize from the American Physical Society in 1980 and, in 1993, Diamond received the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. Although he retired from LBNL in 1995, Diamond continued his research there almost until the time of his death on Sept. 14, 2007, at the age of 83. His former wife, Berkeley professor Marian Cleeves Diamond, and their two daughters and two sons survive him.

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Spring 2008 Catalyst

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William H. Eustis (Ph.D., B.S. ’43, M.S. ’49, Chem) was a chemistry instructor for the Yakima Valley Community College. In retirement, he and his wife, Orma, made their home in Selah, WA, where he passed away on October 14, 2007.

Richard L. Kowalkowski (B.S. Chem) served with the U.S. Army’s post-war occupation forces in Korea, then joined the Holy Cross Brothers in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, for six years before coming to San Francisco, where he lived and worked as a chemist until his death on April 1, 2008.

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After receiving his degree, Hari D. Sharma (Ph.D. Chem), returned to his native India, where he rose to be head of the radiochemistry and isotope division of the Atomic Energy Commission of India. His concern about the non-peaceful direction of India’s nuclear program in the early ’60s led him to move with his family to Canada, where he became a popular professor of chemistry at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

His research focused on the effects of radiation on humans and the environment.

For a decade following the Chernobyl nuclear accident, he analyzed the radioactivity in Scandinavian mushrooms. He researched the radiation exposure of American workers in the WWII nuclear program and, most recently, led a controversial study that measured radiation levels in veterans and Iraqi women and children caused by the use of munitions made of depleted uranium (DU) that aerosolize and combust on impact, the use of which he called “a crime against humanity.” He died on October 18, 2007, survived by his wife of 56 years, Gudrun, a son, a daughter, and five grandchildren.

Dwight C. Conway (B.S. Chem) earned a Ph.D. in 1956 from the University of Chicago, followed by postdoctoral research at Purdue University and a subsequent assistant professorship there. In 1963, he joined the chemistry faculty at Texas A&M University,

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College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

where he received numerous awards for excellence in teaching. In 2006, he and his wife, Diane, assistant dean of the Mays Business School, retired to Indianapolis, IN, where he passed away on December 5, 2007, survived by his wife and their son, Patrick.

Philip L. Hanst (M.S. Chem) completed his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1958 at Ohio State University. He held positions at AVCO in Wilmington, MA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Optics and Microwave Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, and the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, NC. He founded and was president of Infrared Analysis in Anaheim, CA, which manufactures and sells instrumentation and software for the analysis of trace gases and provides consultation and research services for air pollution measurement and air pollution chemistry. A resident of Durham, NC, he passed away on December 28, 2007.

Joanne V. Pluess Collins (B.S. Chem) passed away on March 16, 2008. She and her husband, Allan “Wayne” Collins (B.S. ’56, Civil Eng), who survives her, made their home in Phoenix, AZ.

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Eileen T. Handelman (Ph.D. Chem) was co-founder of Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA. She was its former dean and a teacher of science and mathematics there for 23 years. As part of the college’s 25th anniversary in 1991, an annual scholarship for students in the natural sciences and mathematics was established in her honor. She died on August 16, 2007, survived by her husband, Robert.

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Raymond Sullivan (B.S. Chem) received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1964 and worked for the Texas

State Aquarium. He passed away on November 7, 2007, survived by his wife, Kathy.

Following his retirement from Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Jack H. Elliott (B.A. Chem) remained active in the Northern California Chapter of the Health Physics Society, an educational organization that supports the safe use of radiation in research, medicine, and industry. He passed away on December 26, 2007.

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Ladislav H. “Laddie” Berka (M.S. Chem) earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Connecticut in 1965 and joined the faculty of the chemistry and chemical engineering departments at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, MA. He had a special interest in forensic science and served as editor of the “Forensic Science Column” in the journal of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, as well as organizing the forensic science colloquia at WPI for many years. His research on fingerprints led to a couple of patents. At the time of his death on February 7, 2008, he was an emeritus research professor and still active at WPI. His wife, Barbara, their two daughters and three granddaughters survive him.

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Luis H. Castro-Conde (B.S. ChemE) consulted for the U.S. Borax Research Corporation and held patents for bleaching wash agents. He passed away on September 21, 2007, in Lancaster, CA. Judith G. (Kiraly) Gilmore (B.S. Chem) of Orinda, CA, passed away on April 11, 2008. She and her husband, John T. “Jack” Gilmore (Ph.D. ’60, Chem), who survives her, have been long-time donors to the College of Chemistry.

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While working as a chemist at the old National Bureau of Standards, Ian R. Bartky (Ph.D.

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Chem) developed an interest in the subject of time standardization. During the oil embargo of 1973–74, a House commerce committee asked him to determine whether Daylight Saving Time should be extended into winter to save energy. His research concluded that the extension would not save much energy, but it led him to look further into horology, the science of measuring time. In retirement, he authored two books: Selling the True Time: Nineteenth-Century Timekeeping in America, hailed as the first comprehensive history of timekeeping in America; and One Time Fits All: The Campaigns for Global Uniformity.

He died on December 18, 2007, survived by his wife of 47 years, Elizabeth Hodgins, with whom he was a donor to the college, and a son and a daughter.

December 27, 2007. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago and worked as a chemist at Argonne National Lab. He also served periodically as an adjunct faculty member at Albion College in Albion, MI, his undergraduate alma mater. While at Argonne, he rose to the position of manager of the analytical chemistry labs in the chemical technology division, and he was a long-time editor of Managing the Modern Laboratory, the journal of the Analytical Laboratory Management Association. On the Web, students and co-workers at Albion and Argonne expressed an outpouring of appreciation for his teaching, his integrity, his work, and his wonderful sense of humor.

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Edward B. Barrios (B.S. Chem) passed away on December 18, 2007, having lived in Fort Collins, CO.

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Dennis D. Davis (Ph.D. Chem) was a professor of chemistry at New Mexico State University. He died October 26, 2007.

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David W. Green (Ph.D. Chem) was killed in a car accident on

(Postdoc Chem) moved to Half Moon Bay, CA, worked at California Biotechnology and COR Therapeutics developing drugs and, in 2003, co-founded Portola Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco.

During his 25-year career, he was the lead scientist in the development of Natrecor, used to treat patients with acute heart failure, and Integrilin, a drug that prevents heart attacks during heart procedures.

Three more drugs he helped discover were in clinical trials at the time of his death on June 25, 2006. He is survived by his parents and sisters; his wife, Carroll Anna Crew; and their son, Ian. After leaving Berkeley, Christopher R. Schmid (Postdoc Chem) took a position as a process chemist in the Chemical Product Research & Development group at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, IN. His work contributed to the synthesis of the pharmaceutical products Gemzar and Evista and more than a dozen development drug candidates. He was promoted to research adviser at Lilly, published more than 15 papers, and held several patents. He served as an associate editor of Organic Process Research & Development and was a founding member of its editorial board. He also co-founded the Christian Leaders for Africa and was active in the Light of the World Ministries. He died of lymphoma on Dec. 26, 2007, in Indianapolis.

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John Gahimer (M.S. ChemE) of St. Charles, MO, died on April 29, 2008. His scientific career included positions with Battelle, the U.S. Department of Energy, DuPont, Celanese, and the Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago. He also worked as a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker. His wife, Karen, of St. Charles, MO, two daughters and two grandchildren survive him.

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Richard E. Moore (Ph.D. Chem), professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, passed away on December 10, 2007, after a battle with multiple myeloma and pneumonia. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Hawaii in the developing field of marine natural products and joined their faculty in 1966. His research there led to the discovery of anticancer agents derived from cyanobacteria.

He retired in 2003 after 42 years of service, during which he published nearly 300 papers and filed more than 100 patent applications. Marilyn, his wife of 47 years, four children, and nine grandchildren survive him.

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Alain W. C. Tsang (B.S. ChemE), a donor to the college, was a resident of Hong Kong working with Finland Investment. He passed away on September 24, 2007.

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Paul E. Duerksen (B.S. Chem) was a quality assurance coordinator for SVL Analytical in Kellogg, ID, and a resident of Silverdale, WA. He died on November 13, 2007.

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Patrick Wong (B.S. ChemE), a resident of Orinda, CA, and an officer of the California State Highway Patrol, passed away on October 4, 2007.

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After completing postdoctoral work at Berkeley, Robert Scarborough

Upon completion of his work at Berkeley, Martin Kohler (Postdoc Chem) took a position as a deputy department head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry with the Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) in Dübendorf, Switzerland. In May 2007, the government of the Swiss Kanton of Solothurn announced his appointment as the head of food control for the health office. He died on November 26, 2007.

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compiled by dorothy read

Spring 2008 Catalyst

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’08 commencement C O L L E G E O F C H E M I S T R Y, U C B E R K E L E Y MAY 24, 2008 • 7:00 PM • ZELLERBACH HALL

Berkeley: The Tacit Dimension EXCERPTS FROM COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY JOHN PRAUSNITZ

“The atmosphere on this campus pleads for a balance between science and humanistic knowledge. Berkeley believes that the humanities are an essential part of that legitimate inquiry which must be pursued to attain a high quality of life.”

“I am saying that Berkeley believes in vitality, optimism and beauty just as it believes in science and humanities. I am saying that Berkeley affirms all aspects of life that make life worthwhile. By witnessing and being a part of that affirmation, you have received an element of education of which you have, perhaps, been unaware.”

“Graduation is primarily a celebration of joy, of looking back with satisfaction on past achievements and of looking ahead with anticipation toward mastering new challenges. There is no rational reason for putting on a cap and gown, for exchanging congratulations, for eating cake, for presenting bouquets of flowers, for smiling at the camera.”

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“When you leave Berkeley, you will carry with you a sense of values based on Berkeley’s tacit dimension: the respect for truth based on evidence, the respect for broad knowledge that goes beyond scientific inquiry and most of all, the respect for nature, the importance of fun and humor and beauty and imagination, the conviction that life should be lived fully.” for full text of speech, please see: chemistry.berkeley.edu/commencement/address/2008_address.html

John Prausnitz, winner of the National Medal of Science in 2005, has been an outstanding teacher and researcher at Berkeley for more than 50 years. In 1955 he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Berkeley as assistant professor, rising to the rank of professor in 1963. He was appointed a professor of the Graduate School upon his retirement in 2004.

He is one of a very few scholars to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees from three universities in Europe and an honorary Doctor of Science from Princeton.

College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Catalyst

nonprofit org. u.s. postage paid university of california

university of california berkeley

College of Chemistry 420 latimer hall #1460 berkeley, ca 94720-1460

Upcoming 2008 Alumni Events Fast Forward to Your Future September 25 5:30–7:30 p.m.

180 Tan Kah Kee Hall, Berkeley Campus Alumni from chemistry, chemical biology and chemical engineering are needed to participate at this worthwhile student event! There will be three professional panels that will include alumni discussing their career fields and giving students the chance to ask questions as they explore their career options. A reception and time for networking will follow the panel discussions. For more information and to volunteer to participate as a panelist, contact Camille Olufson at colufson@berkeley.edu or by phone 510/643.7379.

Homecoming Weekend October 3 11:00 a.m.–noon Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, Berkeley Campus Chemical engineering professor David V. Schaffer will present a talk entitled “Engineering the Future: New Stem Cell and Gene Therapies.”

New molecular therapies based on stem cells and gene delivery have significant potential to create cures for numerous devastating illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes. Before these approaches can succeed, however, a number of engineering challenges must be overcome. Schaffer will discuss how his work applies principles of molecular and cellular engineering to overcome these challenges and helps translate research potential into clinical reality.

October 4

9:00–10:00 a.m.

Location TBA, Berkeley Campus “Travels from the Human Genome to Mars” will be presented by Professor Richard A. Mathies of the chemistry department.

Microfabrication, a common tool for electronics manufacture in the Silicon Valley, is now being used to fashion microfluidic chips or wafers that can perform sensitive biochemical analyses on liquid samples thousands of times smaller than a drop. This microanalysis technology, developed initially to meet the demands of the Human Genome Project, is now being used in a wide

variety of applications including infectious disease detection, genotyping, and forensic identification.

The most “far-out” application is the development of an instrument that will travel to Mars to test for chemical signs of extraterrestrial life.

Prior to the lecture, attend a complimentary continental breakfast in the Latimer Lobby from 8:30–9:00 a.m.

“Free Radicals” and “CHEMillennium” Alumni Era Brunch October 4 10:30 a.m.–noon Seaborg Room, The Faculty Club Join us for a brunch with fellow classmates and alumni from the graduating years of 1963–99.

The college’s new dean will emcee this event and will discuss his/her vision and goals for the next few years. To register online, go to chemistry.berkeley.edu/alumni/events.html.

Reserved parking will be available. Children are welcome at this casual event! Following the brunch, watch the Bears roll over the Sun Devils!

AIChE Reception for Alumni and Friends November 18 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Location TBA, Philadelphia, PA Join Chemical Engineering Chair Jeff Reimer at this annual alumni and friends reception held in connection with the AIChE annual meeting. Check online for more details as the date approaches.

“Alumni of the G.N. Lewis Era” Luncheon November 15 12:00–2:00 p.m.

Heyns Room, The Faculty Club Save the date! Alumni and friends from the pre1945 graduating years are invited to attend this annual luncheon. Look for a separate mailing in early fall.

MIT-Stanford-UC Berkeley Nanotechnology Forums Check the homepage at http://mitstanford berkeleynano.org/ for more information on these monthly nanotech forums.

+ For a list of College of Chemistry seminars, please go to chemistry.berkeley.edu and select Seminars & Events.

+ For alumni events, see chemistry.berkeley.edu/alumni/events.html. background image: rayograph courtesy of mic helle douskey