Gregory C. Fu, a new faculty member and the Altair Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, uses his intuition and creativity to develop new chemical reactions that make chemical conversions more efficient—enabling organic chemists to convert reactants into their desired products in fewer steps or with higher yields than previously possible, for example. He talks about the creative aspects of organic chemistry, some of his current work, and making the move to Caltech.

"I grew up cooking, waiting tables, and doing dishes in the family diner in Chicago," says Jonas Peters. These days, as Caltech's Bren Professor of Chemistry, Peters is more an executive chef than a spatula jockey: he coordinates the menu and helps dream up the recipes for new molecules, but his students whip them up and wash the glassware.

Providing a possible new route to hydrogen-gas production, researchers at Caltech have devised a series of chemical reactions that allows them, for the first time, to split water in a nontoxic, noncorrosive way, at relatively low temperatures.

Sarah E. Reisman, an assistant professor of chemistry at Caltech, will receive the WCC Rising Star Award today, making her one of 10 midcareer women chemists to be honored with the award in its inaugural year. The distinction, bestowed by the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) of the American Chemical Society (ACS), will be presented at the society's 243rd national meeting in San Diego and is intended to help promote the retention of women in science.