Vartkess Ara Apkarian is a noted

physical chemist Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical me ...

and a Professor of Chemistry at The University of California, Irvine. He is the Director of

Center for Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit Center for Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit or CaSTL Center is a National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation. The CaSTL Center was established through a cooperative agreement between the National Science Foundation and the Univers ...

, a

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Center for Chemical Innovation. He graduated from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

with B.S. degrees in Chemistry followed by Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University, he joined the University of California as Chemistry faculty in 1983. He served as the Chair of the Chemistry Department (2004-2007) at UC Irvine. He is a Foreign Member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Armenia The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri az ...

, and a Fellow of

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

s. His teaching and research has been recognized with awards including the

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

(1996), USC Distinguished Alumnus (2007), Charles Bennett Service Through Chemistry Award of ACS (2008) ACS Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry (2014), Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Jyväskylä The University of Jyväskylä ( fi, Jyväskylän yliopisto) is a research university in Jyväskylä, Finland. It has its origins in the first Finnish-speaking Teacher Training College (the so-called Teacher Seminary), founded in 1863. Ar ...

, Finland (2016). His recent scientific contributions include creating a single-molecule

sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

and developing tools to confine the light to atomic dimensions. His team visualized the internal structure of single molecules and imaging the normal vibrational modes of single molecules.

References

Physical chemists University of California, Irvine faculty University of Southern California alumni Northwestern University alumni Living people American people of Armenian descent Nanoscale Science Research Centers American nanotechnologists Ultrafast spectroscopy Year of birth missing (living people) {{chemist-stub