Julia Chan (chemist)

Chan moved to New York City at the age of eight and spent her childhood in North America.[1] Chan studied at Baylor University and graduated in 1993.[2][3] Initially a music major – specialising in the violin – she soon became interested in chemistry.[4] At Baylor, Chan worked under the supervision of Carlos Manzanares and Marianna Busch. She earned her doctoral degree under the supervision of Susan M. Kauzlarich at the University of California, Davis in 1998.[5] Chan completed postdoctoral research in the ceramics division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.[6] She has continued to play violin in her church orchestra.[4]

Chan began her career as an assistant professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University in 2000. In 2002 she was awarded an National Science Foundation CAREER Award and selected as one of the American Chemical Society women making an impact in chemistry.[4] In 2004 Chan was awarded an ExxonMobil Faculty Fellowship Award. She was part of the 2010 American Chemical Society Women Chemists of Colour Summit.[7] She joined the chemistry department at University of Texas at Dallas as a full professor in 2013.[2] In 2022 Chan moved to Baylor University.

At the Baylor University, Chan investigates the physical properties of magnetic materials synthesized in her laboratory, with a focus on quantum materials that contain lanthanide cations.[8] She has developed new techniques to grow single crystals of intermetallic phases. She was the Guest Editor of the American Chemical Society Inorganic Chemistry theme issue on Solid-State Inorganic Chemistry.[9] In 2019 Chan was inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Science.