Hello, Welcome to the Chemistry Department at UC Davis.

I am the new Chair of Chemistry, since July 1st of 2008. I am an analytical chemist with research interest in mass spectrometry applied to disease markers and nutrition. The Chemistry Department is one of the largest departments at UC Davis, consisting of over 40 faculty members and 220 graduate students. The research interests in the department are diverse, spanning areas that overlap with physics, materials, and biological sciences.

If you are an undergraduate and are planning or thinking of majoring in chemistry, we offer you some of the best instructors on campus. Our faculty has won numerous teaching awards that highlight the department’s strong efforts in teaching. Our Undergraduate Chemistry Major includes three applied chemistry emphasis areas that can help undergraduate students focus on specific interest areas: an emphasis in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, or Chemical Physics.

If you are a graduate student and thinking of doing your doctorate in the Department, our faculty is renowned, leading their respective fields in areas as diverse as nanotechnology, pharmacology, synthesis, catalysis, laser spectroscopy, magnetic resonance, and environmental chemistry. Our faculty has also won numerous research awards, and many are editors or members of the advisory boards of top-level journals. In addition, the chemistry department is part of a larger graduate group, which provides graduate students even more research opportunities with faculties in other departments. Applications for entering our graduate research program can be found at our graduate studies page.

With the plan to expand our chemical biology emphasis and further strengthen training in synthesis, biotechnology and pharmacology, we hired two new assistant professors in 2007: Dr. Jared Shaw whose interests are in stereoselective methodology, natural product synthesis, and chemical biology, and Dr. Annaliese Franz whose interests are in organic synthesis, asymmetric catalysis, and chemical biology.

With the global problems of the energy, we are currently searching for two new assistant professors in the field of energy research, one energy position related to inorganic/materials science and the other energy position related to biological sciences. If you are interested in applying, there will be information posted on the department homepage.

If you are interested in working with a group of energetic professors and students on a global problem with world-class facilities, then I strongly encourage you to join us.

Thank you for visiting our department website.

Carlito Lebrilla
August 28, 2008