Annual Caress Lecture: Dr. Joseph S. Francisco, President's Distinguished Professor, Professor of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania

The GW Department of Chemistry is pleased to present our annual Caress Lecture featuring Dr. Joseph S. Francisco

Water is one of the most abundant resources in our atmosphere and, because of its ability to be both a hydrogen bond donor and acceptor, water can form very stable new chemical species, not considered in the chemistry of the atmosphere before. These new chemical entities can dramatically affect the chemistry in the atmosphere, including heterogeneous removal and alteration of the photochemical properties of the atmospheric species. It also provides fundamental new insight into chemistry on clouds that have never been imagined - turning clouds into mini-chemical reactors. An overview of both experimental and theoretical investigations of water effects on gas phase reactions will be made, with the goal of providing an understanding of new fundamental concepts underlying water effects on reactions in our atmosphere.

About the Speaker

Joseph S. Francisco is the President's Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977 and his doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. From 1983-85, Francisco trained as a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge in England, and then returned to MIT as a Provost Postdoctoral Fellow. He was also a Visiting Associate in Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology.

Over his career to date, Francisco has published more than 801 journal articles, written several book chapters, and is co-author of a fundamental textbook, Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics, that is considered a "classic" in the field for about 30 years; and author of the forthcoming book, Atmospheric Chemistry by Cambridge University Press. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Francisco is currently an Executive Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and he has recently been appointed as a member of the Editorial Board for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Francisco has served on the National Academy of Sciences Council and on the Governing Board of the National Research Council. He currently serves on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Council, and the Board of Directors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was President of the American Chemical Society in 2010.

Location: SEH B1220. Please note that this is an in-person and online special presentation. Reception will follow.

Registration Link for GW Alumni and Non GW Attendees

The Caress Lecture Series

The Caress lecture series was established by Drs. Edward and Virginia Caress and is designed to feature leaders in their fields who have made substantive contributions to any area of chemistry as determined by a committee of the faculty.

Please join us either virtually or in-person.  If you are outside of GW and would like to join, just drop us an email at [email protected] and let us know that you are coming.

All are welcome. If you plan on attending please email [email protected]. Thank you.