Science Cafe Las Vegas, Wednesday 09/02 @ McMullins Irish Pub

Try to arrive before 6:30pm so we can sit together and to get a parking spot. RSVPs are not required, but appreciated so we know how many to expect. The room gets full early making seating a challenge.
Science Cafe on Wednesday, 9/2/2026. Presentation begins at 7pm.

Speaker:
Arumugam Jayaraman, Ph.D., an assistant professor at UNLV's Chemistry and Biochemistry Department

Description:
"What If Common Atoms Could Do Extraordinary Chemistry?"

Catalysts quietly shape our lives, helping make medicines, materials, food, and clean water. In nature, enzymes perform this work with remarkable precision, acting like tiny molecular machines that speed up life’s essential reactions. Due to the increased demand, for decades, chemists have used precious metals such as gold, palladium, and platinum to achieve similar work in labs and industry. These metals are powerful, but they are also rare, costly, and difficult to rely on sustainably at a global scale. My research asks a simple question: can we keep the power of precious-metal chemistry without depending on precious metals? In my group, we explore inexpensive, abundant atoms such as carbon, boron, aluminum, and phosphorus, tuning them to behave in ways once thought possible only for precious metals. Join me to explore how ordinary atoms can be designed to do extraordinary chemistry and help build a more sustainable future for the synthesis of value-added chemicals.