Five University of California, San Diego academic staff members recognized for their exceptional scientific accomplishments by the National Academy of Sciences.
The University of California San Diego (UCSD) has seen a significant milestone with five of its professors being elected to membership in the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The elected professors are Dmitri Basov, Lawrence Goldstein, Terence Hwa, Clifford Kubiak, and Kimberly Prather.
Clifford Kubiak, the Distinguished Professor and former chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD, holds the Harold C. Urey Chair in Chemistry. Kubiak's research group is renowned for developing catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Chemical Society (ACS). Before joining UCSD in 1998, Kubiak was a faculty member at Purdue University.
Kimberly Prather, a Distinguished Professor who holds a joint appointment between UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is the founding director of the National Science Foundation Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE). Prather's research focuses on understanding the influence of atmospheric aerosols on clouds, human health, and climate. She received her PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Davis. In 2019, Prather became the first woman at UCSD to be elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Prather's current research focus is on atmospheric chemistry, particularly studying airborne particles and their impacts on climate and human health. She is also the founding director of the Atmospheric Composition & Chemistry - Models & Data (ACCMD) program, a research initiative that aims to understand the complex chemical processes that occur in the Earth's atmosphere.
Lawrence Goldstein, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Neurosciences in the UCSD School of Medicine, has a research focus on unraveling how molecular motors interact with and control the behavior of axonal vesicles in neurons, and how defects in these processes underlie neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease. Before that, he was a postdoctoral associate with Mark S. Wrighton at MIT (1980-81).
Terence Hwa, the Presidential Chair and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics with a joint appointment in the Division of Biological Sciences, is known for his research in condensed matter physics, particularly in the areas of superconductivity, quantum materials, and two-dimensional materials. He has also made significant contributions to the field of infrared nano-optics.
Dmitri Basov, an affiliated UCSD professor in the Department of Physics, has research interests that include physics of quantum materials, superconductivity, two-dimensional materials, and infrared nano-optics.
UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla stated that having five professors inducted into the National Academy of Sciences speaks volumes of the innovative and visionary nature of the university. The elected professors bring the total number of NAS members from UCSD to 86. Their work spans fields ranging from medicine and biological sciences to atmospheric chemistry and physics.
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