CCST Board Member
Rachel A. Segalman
Board of Directors
Rachel A. Segalman
Vice Chancellor for Research and Edward Noble Kramer Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Materials
UC Santa Barbara
Rachel Segalman is the Vice Chancellor for Research and Edward Noble Kramer Distinguished Professor at UC Santa Barbara. As Vice Chancellor, she serves as UCSB’s chief research officer, overseeing the Office of Research and guiding the strategic direction of the university’s research enterprise across all disciplines. Her portfolio includes advancing extramural funding, supporting faculty and research teams, and fostering the interdisciplinary collaborations for which UCSB is known. As a faculty member, her research involves controlling the hierarchical structure and thermodynamics of energy-relevant polymers including water separation membranes, polyelectrolytes, and semiconducting and bioinspired polymers.
Dr. Segalman earned a Bachelors degree with Highest Honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas (1998), and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara (2002). She was a Professor of Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories from 2004-2014. She then moved to UCSB in 2014 and was Department Chair of Chemical Engineering at UCSB from 2015 until 2023. Dr. Segalman is also a member of the Science and Technology Committee for the Lawrence Livermore National Security, a co-author of the recent National Academies study, “Chemical Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century,” and a member of the National Academies Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC).
Among other awards, Dr. Segalman received the E.O. Lawrence Prize from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Andy Acrivos Award for Professional Progress from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award, the Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society, and the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (DoW). She is also a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
