Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts
University of California, Irvine
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Primary Section: 16, Geophysics Secondary Section: 14, Chemistry Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2006)
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Biosketch
Barbara Finlayson-Pitts is Professor of Chemistry Recalled at the University of California, Irvine, UCI Distinguished Professor Emerita and Co-Director of AirUCI. She did her undergraduate degree at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada (1970) and her Ph.D. at UC Riverside (1973). She joined the faculty at California State University Fullerton in 1974 where she taught and carried out research until moving in 1994 to the University of California, Irvine. Her research and teaching have been recognized by a number of awards, including the American Chemistry Society (ACS) Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science & Technology, the ACS Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal, the Coalition for Clean Air Carl Moyer Award for Scientific Leadership and Technical Excellence, the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award from the California Air Resources Board, Honorary Lifetime membership in Iota Sigma Pi, the UCI Academic Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Research, the 2018 Polanyi Medal and the 2019 Environment Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Research Interests
Professor Finlayson-Pitts' research focuses on laboratory studies of reactions that occur in the atmosphere, particularly those that lead to particle formation and growth, or that increase toxicity such as atmospheric transformations of pesticides. Professor Finlayson-Pitts is author or coauthor of more than 200 scientific publications and two books on atmospheric chemistry, the latter coauthored with her late husband, James N. Pitts Jr. She co-chaired the 2016 National Academy of Science report "The Future of Atmospheric Chemistry Research".
