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Frances Arnold, PhD

Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry
California Institute of Technology
2023 Kuggie Vallee Distinguished Lecture

Frances Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology.  In 2018, Arnold received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering directed evolution methods used to make enzymes for applications in sustainable chemistry across medicine, consumer products, agriculture, fuels and chemicals. In 2021, she was appointed Co-Chair of the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) by President Biden. Arnold received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama. She has co-founded three companies in sustainable fuels and chemicals and serves as a Director of Alphabet and Illumina. Arnold has been elected to the US National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican. Arnold received her BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kuggie Vallee Distinguished Lecture - September 14, 2023 - Yale University: Innovation by Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life