Dr. Omar M. Yaghi

Dr. Omar M. Yaghi (born 1965, Amman, Jordan) is a Jordanian-American chemist, currently the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. He and his research laboratories design and produce classes of compounds now known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs),^[1][2] zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Among MOFs, there are substances with extremely high surface areas (5,640 m²/g for MOF-177)^[3] and with very low crystalline densities (0.17 g·cm⁻³ for COF-108).^[4] He has successfully developed these materials from basic science to applications in clean energy technologies including hydrogen and methane storage, and carbon dioxide capture and storage.

Biography

Yaghi received his PhD in 1990 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He was an National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (1990–1992) with Professor Richard H. Holm. He was on the faculties of Arizona State University (1992–1998), the University of Michigan (1999–2006), and the University of California, Los Angeles (2007-2012). His early accomplishments in the design and synthesis of new materials have been honored by the Solid State Chemistry Award of the American Chemical Society and Exxon Co. (1998) and the Sacconi Medal of the Italian Chemical Society (1999). His work on hydrogen storage was recognized by Popular Science which listed him among the 'Brilliant 10' scientists and engineers in the United States in 2006,^[5] and the US Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Award for outstanding contributions to hydrogen storage (2007). He was the sole recipient of the Materials Research Society Medal for pioneering work in the theory, design, synthesis and applications of metal-organic frameworks^[6] and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Newcomb Cleveland Prize for the best paper published in Science (2007).^[7] He is the recipient of the American Chemical Society Chemistry of Materials Award (2009). He is listed among the top ten most highly cited chemists worldwide (1998–2008).^{[citation needed]}