Chemistry Commencement

Image courtesy of Dr. Sandra Sachs

The Department Commencement Ceremony is set for June 12th, 2022, 12:30pm PDT. Sapp Auditorium. Masks are recommended. We will have one ceremony for the class of 2020, 2021, and 2022. No tickets are required. We will zoom it into the room next door, Sapp Lecture, if someone wants more space and for crying babies. Lunch will follow on the patio. If you are not sure if you have told Roger Kuhn you will participate, please write to him, roger.kuhn [at] stanford.edu. 

2022 Commencement Speaker:

Sandra B. Sachs, Oakland Police Department Criminalistics Laboratory

Sandra Sachs, Ph.D. is the Laboratory Manager of the Oakland Police Department Criminalistics Laboratory.  She received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Stanford University in 2001, studying under Christopher E.D. Chidsey. Her thesis was on “Thiol Monolayers for Study of Interfacial Electron Transfer:  Synthesis, Rate Measurements and Use”.  

After graduation, Sandra began a career in Forensic Chemistry at the San Francisco Crime Laboratory as a bench Chemist from 2001 through 2005. She continued her career at the SF Medical Examiner’s office in forensic toxicology from 2005 to 2007, and then transitioned to the Oakland Police Department, where she served as the Drug Analysis Unit Supervisor until 2017 when she became the manager of the entire Crime Laboratory.

Sandra has presented research at regional, national and international conferences including a keynote address for a DEA symposium, served on federal committees [OSAC (Seized Drugs) and SWGDRUG], taught mass spectrometry to forensic professionals through the California Criminalistics Institute, was elected as the Criminalistics Chair of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, assessed forensic laboratories seeking ISO accreditation and has testified over 100 times.

To see past commencement ceremonies, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about the University-wide commencement ceremony, please visit the university commencement site