John C. Hemminger earned his B.S. in Chemistry from UCI in 1971. He obtained his M.S. in Chemistry (1973) and Ph.D. in Chemical Physics (1976) from Harvard University. Following two years as an NSF postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he joined the Chemistry faculty at UC Irvine in 1978 where he is now Professor of Chemistry. He has served the UCI campus as Chair of the Chemistry Department, Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, and most recently as the Vice Chancellor for Research. Hemminger’s research has involved a diverse range of fundamental studies of the chemistry and physics occurring at surfaces and interfaces, with applications to the optical properties of nanostructured surfaces, surface reaction chemistry, catalyst performance, and atmospheric chemistry (with a particular emphasis on the liquid/vapor interface). He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and mentored over 55 graduate students and 30 postdoctoral researchers. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Vacuum Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received National Awards from the American Chemical Society (the Arthur W. Adamson award) and from the American Vacuum Society (the Medard W. Welch award). Since 2003 Hemminger has served as Chair of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) of the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy.