Welcome to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD is a great department that just keeps getting better. In less than 50 years, UCSD and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have established a reputation as leading centers for research and teaching in the United States and worldwide... more
Message from the Chair
Welcome to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD is a great department that just keeps
getting better. In less than 50 years, UCSD and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
have established a reputation as leading centers for research and teaching in the United
States and worldwide.
The National Research Council recently ranked UCSD as one of the top ten PhD-granting universities.
The Institute for Scientific Information ranked our department sixth in the nation for "High Impact
U.S. Universities, 2001-2005". The 2005 US News and World Report ranking of "Best Graduate Schools"
listed our program in Biochemistry as seventh in the nation. Of course we're also proud that Newsweek
magazine named UCSD as the 'hottest' place to do science in 2005. Our distinguished faculty includes
members of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
investigators, and Nobel Prize-winner Mario Molina and Roger Tsien.
We build on our established strengths in two ways: (1) through continued growth, and (2) through
innovation at the dynamic interfaces between chemistry and other scientific disciplines, including
biology, medicine, physics, earth and atmospheric sciences, and engineering. The UCSD campus continues
to expand rapidly and includes cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research centers such as the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the California Institute for
Telecommunications and Information Technology, and the Center for Theoretical Biophysics. Not only
is UCSD one of the most rapidly growing public universities in the nation, but our department is
one of the highest impact in the nation. Student enrollments in both the undergraduate and graduate
program are increasing each year; we now award more B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees than any other
department in the nation (Chemical & Engineering News, July 2006).
UCSD is located at the epicenter of a prestigious La Jolla research community. Collectively with
our neighboring research institutes and industrial laboratories, the critical mass of "science
on the mesa" provides a tremendous research climate that offers opportunities and resources found
nowhere else in the world. In addition to the Salk, Burnham and Scripps Research Institutes, the
local region is home to a dynamic biotech industry recently referred to as "Biotech Eden" by
Chemical & Engineering News.
Our department mirrors this dynamic interdisciplinary environment, with research interests spanning
biochemistry, biophysics, inorganic, organic, physical and theoretical chemistry, surface and materials
chemistry, and atmospheric and environmental chemistry. State-of-the-art facilities and equipment
support our research and educational programs. Our students and postdocs are equally diverse, and
enter the work force in a breadth of areas, including academia, national laboratories, biotech and
other industries.
As you browse through our Web site, I hope you will develop a sense of why we are proud of our
past achievements and why we are optimistic and excited about our future.
Robert E. Continetti, Chair
Robert E. Continetti, Chair
Department Chair, Vice Chairs and Chief Operating Officer
Department Chair
Professor Robert E. Continetti
UHA, Rm. 3020E
Phone: (858) 534-5559
Email: rcontinetti@ucsd.edu
Chief Operating Officer
Steve Ford
UHA, Rm. 2040
Phone: (858) 534-0203
Email: sford@ucsd.edu
Vice Chair, Graduate Education
Professor Judy Kim
YH, Rm. 4010
Phone: (858) 534-8080
Email: judyk@ucsd.edu
Vice Chair, Undergraduate Education
Professor Douglas Magde
YH, Rm. 4010
Phone: (858) 534-3199
Email: dmagde@ucsd.edu
Administrative Assistant
Angela Douglas
UHA, Rm. 2040-J
Phone: (858) 534-3577
Email: adouglas@ucsd.edu