Named Lectures
Michio Yanai Distinguished Lecture
Michio Yanai was a ground-breaking researcher who focused on tropical cyclones easterly waves equatorial waves intra-seasonal oscillation, cloud clusters, monsoon inter annual variability, and more. His work is still used as a resource today. In his honor, the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences has founded the Annual Yanai Distinguished Lecture which will feature an esteemed guest speaker covering topics related to his research relevant to the world today.
The 6th Annual Michio Yanai Distinguished Lecture featured Inez Y. Fung, Founding Director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center and the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, took place on May 30th, 2019. Fung’s lecture was titled From there to here: A brief history of projecting climate and environmental change.
Richard Bernstein Lecture
Richard Bernstein was a much-honored professor of physical chemistry at UCLA, he was known for pioneering molecular beam studies of the ultrafast processes that occur in chemical reactions. UCLA colleagues, friends, and family, started the Bernstein Lectureship Fund in 1991 for yearly lecture on physical chemistry in his memory.
The 2019 Bernstein Lecture featured Professor Gregory Engel, from the University of Chicago, with a lecture titled “Tracking Ultrafast Dynamics and Transport at the Mesoscale: From Coherent Dynamics in Photosynthesis to Optical Resonance Imaging.”
Orville L. Chapman Lecture
The Chapman Lecture was established in 2013 to commemorate the work in physical organic chemistry by Professor Orville Chapman (1932-2004) who was an internationally recognized and distinguished professor of organic chemist.
The 2019 Chapman Lecture brought a former postdoctoral scholar of Chapman’s back to campus. Professor François Diederich studied under Chapman from 1979 to 1981, he came back for this lecture titled “Molecular Recognition in Chemical and Biological Systems: Chemical Models and Biostructural Investigations.”
Donald J. Cram Lecture
Donald J. Cram was a legendary scientist and teacher at UCLA for 50 years. Cram’s career touched many subjects, but two themes pervade his chemistry: the application of stereochemistry and chirality as research tools (Cram’s Rule was one result of this interest), and the design of molecular architecture for particular functions. The Cram Lectures now honor his work.
The 2017 Cram Lecture featured Professor Kevan M. Shokat’s lecture titled “Chemical Strategies for Drugging Undruggable Targets in Oncology.”
Christopher S. Foote Lecture
The Foote lectures honors UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Christopher Spencer Foote , an organic chemist. He discovered the role of singlet oxygen in photooxidations, and spent much of his career elaborating the chemistry of this simple but highly reactive molecule.
The 2018 Foote Lecture featured Professor Eric Block from the Department of Chemistry and the University of Albany, SUNY, with a lecture titled “Fifty Years of Smelling Sulfur: From the Chemistry of Garlic to the Molecular Basis for Olfaction”.
M. Frederick Hawthorne Lecture
M. Frederick Hawthorne considered a pioneer in boron chemistry, having created, alongside colleagues, a collection of boranes, carboranes and metallacarboranes, which have been used in a variety of applications, including medical imaging, drug delivery and nanomachines. The lectures were established in 2011 with Professor Hawthorne delivering the inaugural lecture.
The 2018 Hawthorne Lecture was given by Professor Stephen Buchwald of MIT, with a lecture titled “Palladium-Based Methodology in Imaging and Bioconjugation”.
Daniel Kivelson Lecture
The Kivelson lecture celebrates and honors the life and career of UCLA physical chemistry professor Dr. Daniel Kivelson who passed away in 2003. Kivelson made important contributions to the theory of molecular relaxation in fluids throughout his career and carried out complementary experimental studies by light scattering, in which he was an early leader.
The 2019 Kivelson Lecture featured Professor Ken A. Dill from Stony Brook University, with a lecture titled “Maximum Caliber, a Second-Law-like Variational Principle for Dynamics & Networks”.
Charles and Carolyn Knobler Lecture
The Knobler Lectures have been made possible by the strong support of alumni, colleagues, and friends, honors Prof. Charles Knobler and his wife Dr. Carolyn Knobler who have been extraordinary contributors to the science, life, and spirit of the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry over more than five decades.
The 5th annual Carolyn & Charles Knobler Lecture was given by Professor Daan Frenkel from the University of Cambridge, his lecture was titled “Counting the Uncountable: Entropy Beyond Boltzmann”.
John D. and Edith M. Roberts Lecture
The Roberts’ Lecture honors UCLA alumnus John D. Roberts (1918-2016) who was one of the most influential chemists of the last 75 years. The lectures are made possible by efforts spearheaded by a former postdoc in Roberts’ lab, Marjorie Caserio.
The 2018 Roberts’ Lecture featured Professors George Whitesides of Harvard, and David Schuster of NYU, two of Roberts’ former graduate classmates at Caltech.
Norma Stoddart Prize Lecture
The Norma Stoddart Prize Lectures honor Norma Stoddart, a brilliant UCLA Chemist who contributed to many papers. Her husband, Fraser Stoddart, Nobel laureate, started the prize in 2004 to honor Academic Excellence and Outstanding Citizenship, it is open to all current and recently graduated research students and fellows of the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
The 2018 Norma Stoddart Lecture was given by Alumna Nako Nakatsuka, an ETH Zurich postdoctoral fellow. Her lecture was titled “Aptamer-Functionalized Field-Effect Transistors for Serotonin and Dopamine Sensing”.
Glenn T. Seaborg Medal Dinner and Symposium
Glenn T. Seaborg was on elf the most remarkable and influential chemists of the 20th century, element 106 is named after Seaborg: Seaborgium. He was the first recipient of the Glenn T. Seaborg Medal in 1987, and attended the Symposium every year he was able to.
The 2019 Seaborg Medal winner is Dr. Alivisatos, a Samsung Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering at UC Berkeley.
Saul Winstein Lecture
David Saxon Lecture
David Saxon was the chair of the Physics Department and became Dean of Physical Sciences before being named to UCLA’s top academic post, now known as Executive Vice Chancellor. Professor Charles Kennel, established the David Saxon Lecture in 1987, an annual lectureship for esteemed physics researchers and professors.
Most recently, Alexei Kitaev, Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics at Caltech, did the 2019 Saxon Lecture titled “Quantum chaos and black holes”.
Moossa J. Arman Physics Colloquium: Science and Innovation
The Moossa J. Arman Physics Colloquium it was created in memory of Moossa J Arman, an alumnus of the Physics Department, to highlight innovations in the area of physics and materials science.
The 2019 Moossa J. Arman Physics Colloquium was presented by Terrence Sejnowski, with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, with a lecture titled “A Deep Learning Revolution for Science”.
Jan de Leeuw Seminar
Jan de Leeuw helped start the Statistics Department at UCLA, with leadership, knowledge and ambition, de Leeuw and two colleagues approached the dean and helped set statistics apart from other departments in the Physical Sciences in 1994.
The 2018 Jan de Leeuw Seminar was presented by Kenneth Lange, Professor of Statistics, Biomathematics, and Human Genetics, with a focus on Examples of MM Algorithms.
Tannas Jr. Lecture (presented in partnership with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering)
Lawrence E Tannas Jr. has made huge innovations for the aerospace, has published over 100 technical papers, holds 39 patents, and has created and taught classes at UCLA extension for 20 years. The Tannas Jr. Lecture celebrates his innovation in the fields in which he Tannas Jr. has made a difference in.
The 2018 Tannas Jr. Lecture was given by Michael Graetzel, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, with a lecture titled “Molecular Photovoltaics and Perovskite Solar Cells”.
Green Family Lecture Series
Starting in 2011, IPAM’s co-founder and former director Mark L. Green and his family started an endowment to support an annual lecture series at IPAM, then expanded it to twice a year in 2017. The Green Family Lecture Series has attracted speakers of the highest international stature. Their lectures cover topics of interest to IPAM participants, the university audience and the broader community.
Most recently, in 2019 Emmanuel Candes, the Barnum-Simons Chair in Mathematics and Statistics and a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, gave a lecture titled “Sailing Through Data: Discoveries and Mirages”.
Julian Schwinger Workshop on Multiscale Physics
The Julian Schwinger Foundation and UCLA’s Division of Physical Sciences gifted IPAM with funds to start an annual series of IPAM workshops on multi scale physics or theoretical physics.
One of the workshops was broken into a multipart series, called Complex High-Dimensional Energy Landscapes, one part was titled “Stochastic Sampling and Accelerated Time Dynamics on Multidimensional Surfaces”.
Mautner Memorial Lecture Series
The Mautner Memorial Lecture Series and Graduate Awards were established in 1983 by the late Leonard Mautner (1917-2006) to recognize the importance of scientific thought and provide a forum for the dissemination of scientific discovery to students and the public.
The 2018 Mautner Memorial Lecture featured Nobel Laureate Sir Fraser Stoddart. He gave two lectures: one on his life and career titled “My Journey to Stockholm”, and one on mechanical innovations of the past century, titled “Engines Through the Ages”.