Chemistry, Department of
Department of Chemistry: Faculty Interviews
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Date of this Version
4-13-2026
Document Type
Article
Citation
Transcript, April 13, 2026
Abstract
Dr. Dave Berkowitz was born in Urbana, Illinois. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago, where he did undergraduate research. Next, he earned his doctorate from Harvard University. However, his advisor, Steve Benner, moved from Harvard to ETH Zurich, also called the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Dave accompanied him to Zurich, where he completed his dissertation work. When Dave returned to the U.S., he did a postdoc with the legendary Samuel Danishefsky at Yale University. In 1991, he joined UNL as an assistant professor of chemistry and quickly rose through the ranks. Dave is now in his 35th year in the department. Let me mention three remarkable things about Dave before we start. One is that he served as chair of the department, except his term was interrupted when he became a program officer at NSF. Another is that once he was done at NSF, he co-established the Nebraska Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline, a partnership between UNL and the Medical Center in Omaha. Finally, and most recently, he served as assistant director of the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Comments
Copyright 2026, Mark Griep. Used by permission.