School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 1-20 of 57 Results
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Hans Andersen
David Mulvane Ehrsam and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor in Chemistry, Emeritus
BioProfessor Emeritus Hans C. Andersen applies statistical mechanics to develop theoretical understanding of the structure and dynamics of liquids and new computer simulation methods to aid in these studies.
He was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. He studied chemistry as an undergraduate, then physical chemistry as a doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S. 1962, Ph.D. 1966). At MIT he first learned about using a combination of mathematical techniques and the ideas of statistical mechanics to investigate problems of chemical and physical interest. This has been the focus of his research ever since. He joined the Stanford Department of Chemistry as Assistant Professor in 1968, and became Professor of Chemistry in 1980. He was named David Mulvane Ehrsam and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor in Chemistry in 1994. Professor Andersen served as department chairman from 2002 through 2005. Among many honors, his work has been recognized in the Theoretical Chemistry Award and Hildebrand Award in Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids from the American Chemical Society, as well as the Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching and Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford. He has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Professor Andersen’s research program has used both traditional statistical mechanical theory and molecular dynamics computer simulation. Early in his career, he was one of the developers of what has come to be known as the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen theory of liquids, which is a way of understanding the structure, thermodynamics, and dynamics of simple dense liquids. Later, he developed several new simulation techniques – now in common use – for exploring the behavior of liquids, such as simulation of a system under constant pressure and/or temperature. He used computer simulations of normal and supercooled liquids to study the temperature dependence of molecular motion in liquids, crystallization in supercooled liquids, and the structure of amorphous solids.
Professor Andersen also developed and analyzed a class of simple lattice models, called facilitated kinetic Ising models, which were then widely used by others to provide insight into the dynamics of real liquids. He simulated simple models of rigid rod polymers to understand the dynamics of this type of material. More recently, in collaboration with Professor Greg Voth of the University of Chicago, he has applied statistical mechanical ideas to the development of coarse grained models of liquids and biomolecules. Such models can be used to simulate molecular systems on long time scales. He has also used mode coupling theory to describe and interpret experiments on rotational relaxation in supercooled liquids and nematogens, in collaboration with Professor Michael Fayer of the Stanford Chemistry Department. -
Steven Banik
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
BioSteven Banik’s research interests center on rewiring mammalian biology and chemical biotechnology development using molecular design and construction. Projects in the Banik lab combine chemical biology, organic chemistry, protein engineering, cell and molecular biology to precisely manipulate the biological machines present in mammalian cells. Projects broadly aim to perform new functions that shed light on regulatory machinery and the potential scope of mammalian biology. A particular focus is the study of biological mechanisms that can be coopted by synthetic molecules (both small molecules and proteins). These concepts are applied to develop new therapeutic strategies for treating aging-related disorders, genetic diseases, and cancer.
Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford, Steven was a NIH and Burroughs CASI postdoctoral fellow advised by Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi at Stanford. His postdoctoral research developed approaches for targeted protein degradation from the extracellular space with lysosome targeting chimeras (LYTACs). He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2016, where he worked with Prof. Eric Jacobsen on synthetic methods for the selective, catalytic difluorination of organic molecules and new approaches for generating and controlling reactive cationic intermediates in asymmetric catalysis. -
Zhenan Bao
K. K. Lee Professor, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering, of Chemistry, and of Bioengineering
BioZhenan Bao joined Stanford University in 2004. She is currently a K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering, and with courtesy appointments in Chemistry, Bioengineering and Material Science and Engineering. She was the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018-2022 and in 2025. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the current faculty director. Bao received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995 and joined Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She became a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 2001. Professor Bao currently has more than 800 refereed publications and more than 80 US patents with a Google Scholar H-index 237.
Bao is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Bao was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2021. She is a Fellow of AAAS, ACS, MRS, SPIE, ACS POLY and ACS PMSE.
Bao is a member of the Board of Directors for the Camille and Dreyfus Foundation from 2022. She served as a member of Executive Board of Directors for the Materials Research Society and Executive Committee Member for the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering division of the American Chemical Society. She co-founded C3 Nano Co. (acquired by Du Pont) and PyrAmes, which have produced products used in commercial smartphones and hospitals, respectively. Multiple inventions from her lab have been licensed and served as foundational technologies for several additional start-ups.
Bao was a recipient of the VinFuture Prize Female Innovator 2022, ACS Award of Chemistry of Materials 2022, MRS Mid-Career Award in 2021, AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award 2021, ACS Central Science Disruptor and Innovator Prize in 2020, ACS Gibbs Medal in 2020, the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Federal Minister of Science in 2018, the L'Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award North America Laureate in 2017. She was awarded the ACS Applied Polymer Science Award in 2017, ACS Creative Polymer Chemistry Award in 2013 ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2011. She is a recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize in 2009, IUPAC Creativity in Applied Polymer Science Prize in 2008.
In Stanford, Bao has pioneered molecular design concepts and fabrication processes to advance the scope and applications of skin-inspired electronics. Her group discovered nano confinement effect of conjugated polymers in polymer blends, which established the fundamental foundation for skin-inspired electronic materials and devices. Her work has resulted in new materials and device solutions for soft robotics, wearable and implantable electronics for precision health, precision mental health and advanced tools for understanding neuroscience and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Building on chemical insights, her group has developed foundational materials and devices that enabled a new generation of skin-inspired soft electronics. They provide unprecedented opportunities for understanding human health through developing monitoring, diagnosis and treatment tools. Some examples include: a neuromorphic e-skin that can sense force and temperature and directly communicate with brain, a wireless wound healing patch, a soft NeuroString for simultaneous neurochemical monitoring in the brain and gut, soft high-density electrophysiological recording array, a meta-learned skin sensor for detailed body movements, a reconfigurable self-healing electronic skin. -
Stacey Bent
Jagdeep & Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Eng, Professor of Energy Science and Eng, Senior Fellow at Precourt & Prof, by courtesy, of Electrical Eng, Materials Sci Eng & Chemistry
On Leave from 04/01/2025BioThe research in the Bent laboratory is focused on understanding and controlling surface and interfacial chemistry and applying this knowledge to a range of problems in semiconductor processing, micro- and nano-electronics, nanotechnology, and sustainable and renewable energy. Much of the research aims to develop a molecular-level understanding in these systems, and hence the group uses of a variety of molecular probes. Systems currently under study in the group include functionalization of semiconductor surfaces, mechanisms and control of atomic layer deposition, molecular layer deposition, nanoscale materials for light absorption, interface engineering in photovoltaics, catalyst and electrocatalyst deposition.
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Carolyn Bertozzi
Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology
BioCarolyn Bertozzi is the Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Radiology at Stanford University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1993. After completing postdoctoral work at UCSF in the field of cellular immunology, she joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1996. In June 2015, she joined the faculty at Stanford University and became the co-director and Institute Scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H.
Prof. Bertozzi's research interests span the disciplines of chemistry and biology with an emphasis on studies of cell surface glycosylation pertinent to disease states. Her lab focuses on profiling changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection, and exploiting this information for development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, most recently in the area of immuno-oncology.
Prof. Bertozzi has been recognized with many honors and awards for both her research and teaching accomplishments. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Some awards of note include the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Lemelson-MIT award for inventors, Whistler Award, Ernst Schering Prize, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award, and Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award of the Protein Society. Her efforts in undergraduate education have earned her the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award and the Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. -
Steven Boxer
Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPlease visit my website for complete information:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/boxer/ -
Megan Brennan
Advanced Lecturer
BioDr. Megan Brennan's interests include the development of organic chemistry lab courses that give students hands-on opportunities to explore chemistry while reinforcing and building upon concepts learned in lecture classes. She aims for her labs to bring chemistry to life, and to afford students a chance to have fun and experience a taste of scientific discovery.
While studying chemistry at Lafayette College (B.S. 2002), Dr. Brennan worked on the preparation of triazaphenanthrenes and the Oxa–Pictet–Spengler reaction of 1-(3-furyl)alkan-2-ols. She completed her doctoral work at Stanford (Ph.D. 2008), conducting her thesis research in palladium asymmetric allylic alkylation under the advisement of Professor Barry Trost. During her postdoctoral research with Professor Scott Miller at Yale University, she investigated the use of peptides containing a thiazole side chain for use in acyl anion chemistry. She joined the teaching staff at University of California, Berkeley in 2010 before coming returning to Stanford in 2011 to spearhead the development of a new summer organic chemistry sequence, a comprehensive course designed for pre-meds, offering an entire year of organic chemistry in nine weeks.
Dr. Brennan also acts as the liaison to the chemistry majors, to promote events with faculty in both the academic and social aspect: providing an environment that allows students to be comfortable and able to learn, while helping them take advantage of every opportunity that Stanford offers.
Dr. Brennan's current research is in the development classroom experiments that bring cutting edge industrial and academic research into the undergraduate laboratory experience. -
Noah Burns
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in our group explores the boundaries of modern organic synthesis to enable the more rapid creation of the highest molecular complexity in a predictable and controllable fashion. We are particularly inspired by natural products not only because of their importance as synthetic targets but also due to their ability to serve as invaluable identifiers of unanswered scientific questions.
One major focus of our research is selective halogenation of organic molecules. Dihalogenation and halofunctionalization encompass some of the most fundamental transformations in our field, yet methods capable of accessing relevant halogenated motifs in a chemo-, regio-, and enantioselective fashion are lacking.
We are also interested in the practical total synthesis of natural products for which there is true impetus for their construction due to unanswered chemical, medicinal, biological, or biophysical questions. We are specifically engaged in the construction of unusual lipids with unanswered questions regarding their physical properties and for which synthesis offers a unique opportunity for study. -
Leah B. Bushin
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
BioLeah Bushin is a chemical biologist and natural products chemist working at the interface of primary and secondary metabolism and leverages these insights to discover and produce novel natural products.
The Bushin research group will investigate novel metabolic pathways, enzymes, and bioactive molecules across all kingdoms of life, intending to repurpose them to address challenges in human health and environmental sustainability. Current efforts will primarily center on developing strategies for the efficient microbial production of compounds and materials at scale, as well as high-throughput approaches for engineering enzymes to perform synthetic reactions. More broadly, as the group designs and refines bioproduction platforms, they hope to deepen their fundamental understanding of cellular metabolism. With genome sequencing revealing an immense reservoir of untapped biosynthetic potential, their work aims to uncover and harness nature’s chemical diversity for drug discovery and synthetic derivatization. -
Lynette Cegelski
Monroe E. Spaght Professor of Chemistry and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in the Cegelski laboratory is driven by the need to uncover and define the chemistry that underlies outstanding challenges in human health, the environment, and sustainability. Beyond discovery, we use chemistry as a tool to innovate and create solutions to these pressing problems. The laboratory is highly interdisciplinary, designing experimental approaches to understand how complex biological systems are built, organized, and controlled, and then perturb and influence assembly processes. The lab develops new methods and uniquely leverages: (1) small molecules in new biochemical assay development, chemical genetics approaches, and therapeutic discovery in infectious diseases, (2) fluorescence and electron microscopy coupled to analytical HPLC, mass spectrometry, and complementary biochemical techniques, and (3) spectroscopy, particularly solid-state NMR, to uncover new “dark matter” and define chemistry in insoluble, heterogeneous and complex assemblies relevant to human health, plants, and the ocean.
Long-standing efforts in the laboratory focus on defining mechanisms underlying bacterial biofilm formation and identifying new antibiotic and anti-virulence strategies, including advancing therapeutic candidates for the most difficult-to-treat infections. Through these efforts, we uncovered a new chemical structure in nature: phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) cellulose. Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on earth and this discovery provided the first experimental validation of a naturally produced chemically modified cellulose. We are developing alternatively modified celluloses and polysaccharides and advancing new solutions for ecofriendly, sustainably sourced, and recyclable materials. Collectively, our projects span disciplines from molecular structure and assembly chemistry to living microbial communities and natural marine systems, while aiming to translate fundamental discoveries into therapeutic and materials solutions. -
James K. Chen
Jauch Professor and Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology, of Developmental Biology and of Chemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur laboratory combines chemistry and developmental biology to investigate the molecular events that regulate embryonic patterning, tissue regeneration, and tumorigenesis. We are currently using genetic and small-molecule approaches to study the molecular mechanisms of Hedgehog signaling, and we are developing chemical technologies to perturb and observe the genetic programs that underlie vertebrate development.
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Christopher Chidsey
Associate Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Chidsey group research interest is to build the chemical base for molecular electronics. To accomplish this, we synthesize the molecular and nanoscopic systems, build the analytical tools and develop the theoretical understanding with which to study electron transfer between electrodes and among redox species through insulating molecular bridges
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James Collman
George A. and Hilda M. Daubert Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus
BioProfessor Emeritus James Collman has made landmark contributions to inorganic chemistry, metal ion biochemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and transition metal organometallic chemistry. He pioneered numerous now-popular research tools to reveal key structural and functional details of metalloenzymes essential to respiration and energy, and hemoglobin and myoglobin, essential to oxygen transport in the blood.
Born 1932 in Beatrice, Nebraska, James P. Collman studied chemistry at U. Nebraska–Lincoln (B.S. 1954, M.S. 1956). His doctoral work at U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Ph.D., 1958) focused on Grignard reagents. As a faculty member at U. North Carolina, he demonstrated aromatic reactivity in metal acetylacetonates, and he developed metal complexes that hydrolyze peptide bonds under physiological conditions. He came to Stanford University as Professor of Chemistry in 1967. Among many honors, Prof. Collman’s was elected to the National academy of Sciences in 1975, and named California Scientist of the Year in 1983.
At Stanford, Prof. Collman invented a new paradigm for studying biological systems using functional synthetic analogs of metal-containing enzyme systems, free from the protein coatings that can affect metalloprotein chemical properties. This strategy allowed him to elucidate the intrinsic reactivity of the metal center as well as the effects of protein-metal interactions on biological function.
One focal point of this research has involved heme-proteins such as the oxygen (O2) carrier hemoglobin (Hb), and the O2-storing protein myoglobin (Mb). Prof. Collman was the first to prepare and characterize stable, functional analogues of the Hb and Mb active sites, which contain an iron derivative of the large flat “porphyrin” ligand. In his “picket fence” porphyrin, groups installed on the periphery block side reactions, which would otherwise degrade the structure. This protected iron complex manifests the unique magnetic, spectroscopic and structural characteristics of the O2-binding Hb and Mb sites, and exhibits very similar O2-binding affinities.
The Collman Group also prepared functional mimics of the O2-binding/reducing site in a key respiration enzyme, cytochrome c oxidase, CcO, which converts O2 to H2O during biosynthesis of the energy storage molecule ATP. This enzyme must be very selective: partial O2 reduction products are toxic. Prof. Collman invented a powerful synthetic strategy to create analogs of the CcO active site and applied novel electrochemical techniques to demonstrate that these models catalyze the reduction of O2 to water without producing toxic partially-reduced species. He was able to mimic slow, rate-limiting electron delivery by attaching his CcO model to a liquid-crystalline membrane using “click chemistry.” He demonstrated that hydrogen sulfide molecules and heterocycles reversibly bind to the metal centers at CcO’s active site, connecting a synthetic enzyme model to simple molecules that reversibly inhibit respiration. These respiration inhibitors exhibit physiological properties, affecting blood clotting and controlling the effects of the hormone, nitric oxide, NO.
In addition, Prof. Collman performed fundamental studies of organometallic reactions. He also prepared and characterized homodinuclear and heterodinuclear complexes having metal-metal multiple bonds, and made the first measurements of the rotational barriers found in multiple metal-metal bonds.
Prof. Collman’s impactful textbook “Principles and Applications of Organotransition Metal Chemistry” has seen multiple editions. His book “Naturally Dangerous: Surprising Facts About Food, Health, and the Environment” explains the science behind everyday life, and received favorable reviews in Nature and The Washington Post. -
Bianxiao Cui
Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor of Chemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur objective is to develop new biophysical methods to advance current understandings of cellular machinery in the complicated environment of living cells. Currently, we are focusing on four research areas: (1) Membrane curvature at the nano-bio interface; (2) Nanoelectrode arrays (NEAs) for scalable intracellular electrophysiology; (3) Electrochromic optical recording (ECORE) for neuroscience; and (4) Optical control of neurotrophin receptor tyrosine kinases.
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Yi Cui
Fortinet Founders Professor, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, of Energy Science and Engineering, of Photon Science, Senior Fellow at Woods, at Precourt and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemistry
BioCui studies fundamentals and applications of nanomaterials and develops tools for their understanding. Research Interests: nanotechnology, batteries, electrocatalysis, wearables, 2D materials, environmental technology (water, air, soil), cryogenic electron microscopy.
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Hongjie Dai
The J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus
BioProfessor Dai’s research spans chemistry, physics, and materials and biomedical sciences, leading to materials with properties useful in electronics, energy storage and biomedicine. Recent developments include near-infrared-II fluorescence imaging, ultra-sensitive diagnostic assays, a fast-charging aluminum battery and inexpensive electrocatalysts that split water into oxygen and hydrogen fuels.
Born in 1966 in Shaoyang, China, Hongjie Dai began his formal studies in physics at Tsinghua U. (B.S. 1989) and applied sciences at Columbia U. (M.S. 1991). He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard U and performed postdoctoral research with Dr. Richard Smalley. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1997, and in 2007 was named Jackson–Wood Professor of Chemistry. Among many awards, he has been recognized with the ACS Pure Chemistry Award, APS McGroddy Prize for New Materials, Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics and Materials Research Society Mid-Career Award. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Dai Laboratory has advanced the synthesis and basic understanding of carbon nanomaterials and applications in nanoelectronics, nanomedicine, energy storage and electrocatalysis.
Nanomaterials
The Dai Lab pioneered some of the now-widespread uses of chemical vapor deposition for carbon nanotube (CNT) growth, including vertically aligned nanotubes and patterned growth of single-walled CNTs on wafer substrates, facilitating fundamental studies of their intrinsic properties. The group developed the synthesis of graphene nanoribbons, and of nanocrystals and nanoparticles on CNTs and graphene with controlled degrees of oxidation, producing a class of strongly coupled hybrid materials with advanced properties for electrochemistry, electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. The lab’s synthesis of a novel plasmonic gold film has enhanced near-infrared fluorescence up to 100-fold, enabling ultra-sensitive assays of disease biomarkers.
Nanoscale Physics and Electronics
High quality nanotubes from his group’s synthesis are widely used to investigate the electrical, mechanical, optical, electro-mechanical and thermal properties of quasi-one-dimensional systems. Lab members have studied ballistic electron transport in nanotubes and demonstrated nanotube-based nanosensors, Pd ohmic contacts and ballistic field effect transistors with integrated high-kappa dielectrics.
Nanomedicine and NIR-II Imaging
Advancing biological research with CNTs and nano-graphene, group members have developed π–π stacking non-covalent functionalization chemistry, molecular cellular delivery (drugs, proteins and siRNA), in vivo anti-cancer drug delivery and in vivo photothermal ablation of cancer. Using nanotubes as novel contrast agents, lab collaborations have developed in vitro and in vivo Raman, photoacoustic and fluorescence imaging. Lab members have exploited the physics of reduced light scattering in the near-infrared-II (1000-1700nm) window and pioneered NIR-II fluorescence imaging to increase tissue penetration depth in vivo. Video-rate NIR-II imaging can measure blood flow in single vessels in real time. The lab has developed novel NIR-II fluorescence agents, including CNTs, quantum dots, conjugated polymers and small organic dyes with promise for clinical translation.
Electrocatalysis and Batteries
The Dai group’s nanocarbon–inorganic particle hybrid materials have opened new directions in energy research. Advances include electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and water splitting catalysts including NiFe layered-double-hydroxide for oxygen evolution. Recently, the group also demonstrated an aluminum ion battery with graphite cathodes and ionic liquid electrolytes, a substantial breakthrough in battery science. -
Laura M.K. Dassama
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and of Microbiology and Immunology
BioLaura Dassama is a chemical biologist who uses principles from chemistry and physics to understand complex biological phenomena. Her group’s primary goal is to use detailed understanding of the factors that enable interactions between biological molecules to provide insights that allow functional control of those molecules. Her research projects aim to 1) discover the drivers of biomolecular interactions and 2) leverage that information to modulate disease relevant proteins.
