Alumnus Wei Zhang (PhD, '05, Moore) has been appointed the chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder.
He served as the Associate Chair of the chemistry department for three years before taking the Chair position in July 2022.
He said he is honored to have the opportunity and will balance the new duties in addition to continuing to maintain his highly active and productive research program.
"I am looking forward to working with the college and campus leadership in addition to the peer departments and institutions to foster collaboration and interdisciplinary research and further strengthen our programs in materials, synthesis, spectroscopy, theory, and atmospheric chemistry," he said. "I believe by crossing organizational boundaries and bringing together diverse disciplines, we can innovate and tackle the challenges of our day, including energy, environmental, and public health-related issues."
After completing his PhD in chemistry at Illinois and then a postdoc stint at MIT, Zhang started his independent career at the Department of Chemistry at University of Colorado Boulder in 2008, and was promoted to Associate and Full Professor in 2014 and 2018, respectively. His research is focused on utilizing dynamic covalent chemistry to develop novel organic and hybrid functional materials targeting a broad range of environmental, energy and biological applications, such as carbon capture, molecular separation, nanocomposite fabrication, energy storage, and self-healing materials.
He has published 145 peer-reviewed articles, given over 130 invited talks, and received over a dozen patents. The awards and honors he has received include Guest Professorship at ETH Zürich, Provost’s Faculty Achievement Award, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, CAPA Distinguished Junior Faculty Award, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, NSF CAREER Award, and University New Inventor of the Year.