Chair's Welcome Message

Welcome to Stanford Chemistry!

Message from the Chair, Justin Du Bois

Together, we are a spirited and engaged community of students, postdoctorates, staff, and faculty dedicated to educating the next generation of chemical scientists and driving the frontiers of research. Our community thrives on the energy and creativity of all our members as well as the myriad partnerships we have with others on the Stanford campus and beyond. Research in our department is uncovering the molecular mysteries of nature, revealing fundamental principles that govern molecular structure and function, and advancing bold new innovations that impact society. Our work spans the entirety of the discipline and addresses contemporary problems in analytical, biophysical, materials and energy science, catalysis, chemical biology, microbiology, immunology, and neuroscience. We invite you to visit our website to learn more. Collectively, we are guided by our foundational understanding of atomic and molecular structure and chemical reactivity, along with a bedrock conviction in the transformative power of chemistry to benefit the world.

Our community is inclusive and seeks members from all backgrounds and with differing viewpoints. Our strength as a department is rooted in our collective curiosity, our openness to new ideas, our willingness to debate, and our mutual support for one another. At Stanford, we are fortunate to be part of a larger scientific and engineering ecosystem, with neighbors in biology, physics, mathematics, statistics, engineering, computer science, and medicine. The proximity of our colleagues in other disciplines facilitates the rapid and regular exchange of knowledge, fosters collaboration, and spurs new and exciting research opportunities. In Chemistry and in a century that has been aptly termed by some as the ‘Molecular Age’, we are inventing the future!

This fall and next, we are delighted to welcome to our department two new young faculty colleagues, Dr. Leah Bushin and Dr. Michael Ziebel. Leah is joining us from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego where she performed research as a postdoctoral scholar. Leah’s interests span chemical and molecular biology, biochemistry, and chemical synthesis. Michael will arrive in fall 2026 from Columbia University, where he is currently conducting postdoctoral research. Michael’s work combines synthetic inorganic and physical chemistry with materials science. We are so pleased that they chose to join us.

We are all looking forward to an exciting and successful year ahead and encourage you to visit our department and to learn more about us.

Justin Du Bois
Chair, Department of Chemistry
Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry and, by courtesy,
Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology
Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education