About Us

Scientists at SLAC observe chemical reactions in unprecedented detail and find ways to make them more efficient, with the goal of using chemistry to help solve the nation’s energy challenges.

Everything we do and everything we see around us has chemistry at its core – from the way living things function to the fuels that give us light, heat and mobility and the consumer goods that make life comfortable. SLAC gives researchers an unrivaled set of tools for following chemical reactions step by step, at quadrillionths-of-a-second timescales, and improving catalysts that make reactions more efficient. The results feed efforts to improve batteries, fuel cells and solar power, make industrial processes greener and find entirely new ways to make fuels from sunlight.

The majority of the Chemical Science Division's funding comes from the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences (CSGB) Division of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). We leverage SLAC facilities and expertise, as well as the Stanford environment to develop research programs of scale with attention to DOE mission. Our two central areas of research strength include Ultrafast Chemical Science at the PULSE Institute, and Chemical Catalysis at the SUNCAT Center. There is significant growth potential for each of these area and for the necleation of new research foci.