Chemistry & Biochemistry

Giving to Chemistry & Biochemistry

Welcome from the Department Chair

Welcome, alumni and friends. Thank you for your support of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at San Diego State University. The Department has 22 full-time graduate faculty, six full-time staff, about 80 graduate students, and over 300 undergraduate majors.

We're immensely proud of the contributions of our younger faculty to the university's research and educational missions. Our work has extended beyond these foundational missions to include outreach to area high schools and middle schools, new initiatives to improve support for graduate student mental health and pregnancy, and proposing courses to improve the diversity of students going to STEM professions.

Please consider supporting the Department's work through donations to our endowment funds. Proceeds from these endowments directly benefit our students by funding educational, research, and travel opportunities. The endowments support student scholarships, our weekly research seminar program, an annual faculty and student research symposium, student and faculty attendance at national research conferences, and maintenance of the research labs in which all our chemistry majors learn to grapple with real scientific problems.

If you would like additional information about the academic or research programs in our department, please contact my office at (619) 594-5595. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have and to fill you in on the latest developments here at SDSU.

Sincerely,

Andrew L. Cooksy
Professor and Chair

Funding opportunities for SDSU Chemistry & Biochemistry

• The Joi Weeks Fund for African American Chemists. This fund supports scholarships to promising African American undergraduate and graduate students.
• The Chemistry Graduate Student Association (CGSA) accepts donations to support social events that stimulate social networking and also host informational events that educate our graduate cohort on crucial topics such as financial management, employment rights, and career development.
• Chemistry Endowment Fund. This is our general endowment, which provides us with the greatest degree of disrection in spending, funding TA awards, student research presentation awards, small parts for instrument maintenance, travel to conferences, software for teaching and research labs, computers, and emergency purchases to repair equipment.
• Alfred McLeod Chemistry Endowment. The McLeod fund provides support for the Department's major equipment, including matching funds to increase our access to federal funding for research instruments.
• Several funds have been established in honor of past faculty in the Department whose contributions continue to inform and inspire the work of our faculty and students. Please consider donations in honor of
  • Prof. Diane K. Smith. Diane Smith was a deeply beloved member of the department from 1990 to 2022. An extraordinary colleague in all respects, Diane was long-time chair of the department's Curriculum Committee, led an internationally recognized program in electrochemical characterization of hydrogen-bonded complexes, and served as the mainstay instructor of Chem 201, the second semester general chemistry course, for over 20 years. Diane was awarded the Jaroslav Heyrovsky prize for Molecular Electrochemistry by the International Society of Electrochemistry shortly before her untimely death from scleroderma in 2022. Diane is fondly remembered by generations of undergraduate and graduate students. This fund provides scholarships to undergraduate researchers.
  • Prof. Michael Malley. Mike Malley was a groundbreaking physical chemist who served in the department from 1970 to his untimely passing in 1991 at the age of 51. He worked in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy at its inception, and supervised the work of postdoc Gérard Mourou, who went on to share the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for extensions of that work. This fund supports annual scholarships to graduate students in chemistry.
  • Prof. Maury A. Ring. Maury Ring is an inorganic chemist who served the department from 1962 to 1995, during which time his partnership with physical chemist Ed O'Neal created probably the most fruitful collaboration in the department's history. Together they pioneered studies of silane chemistry, with funding from NSF and numerous other sources. This fund supports student scholarships and research needs in the area of inorganic chemistry.
  • Prof. Harold (Hal) Walba. Hal Walba was a key figure in the department's growth, serving on the faculty from 1949 to 1986 and as chair from 1961 to 1964 as plans for the joint Doctoral Program were being developed. An organic chemist and Fellow of the AAAS, Walba collaborated closely with Robert Isensee over much of his career. This fund supports graduate student fellowships in organic chemistry.

Ways to donate to SDSU Chemistry & Biochemistry

• Go to the SDSU Online Giving page. Click on the Donate button and select "Academics," "College of Sciences," and "Chemistry and Biochemistry." If you wish to donate to a specific fund among those listed above, please indicate this in the "Other Designation." text box at the end of the "Selected Designations" table.
  
• Mail a gift (payable to the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry) to the following address.
  
  
  Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
  5500 Campanile Drive, GMCS 209
  San Diego, CA 92182-1030 (U.S.A.)
  
  If you would like to donate to a specific fund, just add that to the notes line of your check. And thank you very much.