As 2024 comes to a close, I’m adjusting to my new role as department chair. I have been a UW-Madison faculty member for over 37 years, and my new position within the department has given me a new perspective. I now have a broader awareness of the incredible work underway across the large Chemistry community.
One of our most immediate challenges during my first year is to prepare a comprehensive department self-study. We have been directed by the College of Letters & Science to review our accomplishments over the past 10 years. We will use this opportunity to generate a strategic plan for the next 10 years, with the goal of maximizing outcomes for our students and scholarly contributions to the rest of the world. This exercise will have us considering our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the context of our instructional programs, scholarship, outreach, and administrative structure.
Another major task this year, and throughout my time as chair, will be to hire new faculty members, because we are in the midst of a wave of retirements. One search is currently underway.
Maintaining our position as a top-ranked chemistry program requires resources beyond those provided by the University. Thus, we face the perennial challenge of securing donations for the department. Finding and sustaining resources is critical to fortifying our graduate program, recruiting new faculty, helping to retain current faculty, maintaining high-end instrumentation, and enabling building renovations to support current and future research programs.
Our many achievements and innovations offer a strong case for supporting the department. I mention a couple of examples below; more will be found in this issue. An exciting advance for the department’s undergraduate program is the newly created CHEM 361—Machine Learning in Chemistry. This course will bridge a divide between chemistry and data science and open new opportunities for our students. Topics will include generative models for organic synthesis, force fields, application to phase transitions, structure and dynamics of molecular systems, and AI-driven drug discovery.
We were delighted to welcome a new colleague, Prof. Julian Cooper, this past summer. Julian specializes in soft materials research.
We are making progress toward more equitable access to advanced study in chemistry. Our efforts in this area have been recognized by the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools with the 2024 Award for Excellence and Innovation in Graduate Education.
I invite you to read more about these and other triumphs, and the people behind them, in this issue of the Badger Chemist. We owe a debt of gratitude to the past, present, and future Badger Chemists who move us forward.
Best,
Professor Sam Gellman
Irving Shain Chair of Chemistry | Vilas Research Professor