Neil K. Garg, Ph.D.
Distinguished Kenneth N. Trueblood Professor & Vice Chair
Associate Dean for Research (UCLA Physical Sciences)
B.S., New York University (2000)
Ph.D., Caltech (2005)
NIH postdoctoral fellow, UC Irvine (2005–2007)
Email: neilgarg@ucla.edu
Office: (310) 825-1536
5505C Molecular Sciences Building
Neil is a Distinguished Professor and the inaugural holder of the Kenneth N. Trueblood Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry. He has served as Chair (2019–2023) and Vice Chair (2012–2016 and 2023-present) for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, as well as Associate Dean for Research for UCLA Physical Sciences (2026–present). He also served as Faculty-in-Residence in the UCLA undergraduate community for nine years. Neil is a co-founder of ElectraTect as well as a popular speaker and consultant for teaching, scientific, policy, government, and legal matters.
Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Neil received a B.S. in Chemistry from New York University where he did undergraduate research with Professor Marc Walters. During his undergraduate years, he spent several months in Strasbourg, France while conducting research with Professor Mir Wais Hosseini at Université Louis Pasteur as a NSF REU Fellow. Neil obtained his Ph.D. in 2005 from the California Institute of Technology under the direction of Professor Brian Stoltz. He then joined Professor Larry Overman’s research laboratory at the University of California, Irvine as an NIH Postdoctoral Scholar.
Neil joined the faculty at UCLA in 2007. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012, and then to Full Professor in 2013. In 2020, he was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor.
Honors and Awards
• 2026 Science & Education Pioneer Award, UCLA
• 2026 Centenary Prize, Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2026 Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Award Finalist, UCLA
• 2026 Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, UCLA
• 2025 David A. Evans Award for the Advancement and Education of Organic Synthesis, American Chemical Society
• 2025 Herbert Newby McCoy Award, UCLA
• 2024 Horizon Prize (Garg Strained Intermediate Team), Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2023 Herbert Newby McCoy Award, UCLA
• 2023 Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science, AAAS
• 2022 Faculty Mentoring Honor Society, UCLA
• 2022 Fellow, American Institute of Chemists
• 2022 Mukaiyama Award
• 2021 Horizon Prize (Garg Molecular Educators Team), Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2021 Horizon Prize (Tang/Houk/Garg Pericyclase Team), Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2020 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists (Finalist)
• 2020 Uncommon Bruin Honoree, UCLA Athletics
• 2019 Edward Leete Award, American Chemical Society
• 2019 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry
• 2019 Defense Science Study Group (Class of 2022–2024), U.S. Department of Defense
• 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award, New York University
• 2019 Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education, ASBMB
• 2018 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2018 Fellow, American Chemical Society
• 2018 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists (Finalist)
• 2018 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching
• 2017 HHMI Professors Competition (Finalist), Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• 2017 Higher Education Award, Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2017 Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis, American Chemical Society
• 2016 Catalysis Science Award of Encouragement, Mitsui Chemicals
• 2016 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2016 Merck Award, Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2016 Thieme–IUPAC Prize
• 2016 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award
• 2015 California’s U.S. Professor of the Year, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• 2015 Herbert Newby McCoy Award, UCLA
• 2015 Gold Shield Faculty Prize, UCLA
• 2015–2016 Chemistry Lectureship, Novartis
• 2015 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, American Chemical Society
• 2014 Distinguished Teaching Award & Eby Award for the Art of Teaching, UCLA
• 2014 Honorary Faculty Member Award, Mortar Board National Honor Society, UCLA
• 2014 Dr. Robert Stevenson Faculty-in-Residence Award, UCLA Office of Residential Life
• 2013 Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Bristol-Myers Squibb
• 2013 Professor of the Year, UCLA Bruinwalk
• 2013 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
• 2012 S. T. Li Prize for Achievements in Science and Technology
• 2012 Pharmaceutical Roundtable Grantee Award, ACS Green Chemistry Institute
• 2012 A. P. Sloan Research Fellowship
• 2012 Glenn T. Seaborg Award
• 2012 Excellence in Chemistry Award, Roche
• 2011 Hanson–Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching, UCLA
• 2011 Herbert Newby McCoy Award, UCLA
• 2011 Excellence in Chemistry Award, AstraZeneca
• 2011 Young Investigator Award, Amgen
• 2010 Grantee Award, Eli Lilly
• 2010 Young Professor Award, DuPont
• 2010 CAREER Award, National Science Foundation
• 2010 Chemistry Journal Award, Thieme
• 2010 Faculty Research Grant, UCLA
• 2009 New Investigator Award, Boehringer Ingelheim
• 2008 Faculty Career Development Award, UCLA
• 2008 Faculty Research Grant, UCLA
• 2006–2010 Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), National Institutes of Health
• 2005–2006 Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Institutes of Health
• 2005 Herbert Newby McCoy Thesis Award, California Institute of Technology
• 2002 Travel Fellowship, Dow Chemical Company
• 2001–2004 National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship
• 2000 Phi Beta Kappa
• 2000 George Granger Brown Scholarship Award in Chemistry
• 2000 American Institute of Chemists Prize
• 1999 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, New York University
• 1999 Research Experience for Undergraduates Fellowship, National Science Foundation
Podcasts and Interviews
Lectureships
Plenary Lecture – Torkil Holm Symposium, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2028.
Dreyfus Lectures – California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, 2027.
Distinguished V. J. Shiner Lecture – Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 2027.
Jeremiah P. Freeman Organic Syntheses Lecture – University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 2027.
3M/Ronald A. Mitsch Lecture – Hamline University, St. Paul, MN, 2027.
Sterling Lecture – Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2026.
Leermakers Lecture – Wesleyan University, Middleton, CT, 2026.
Mary E. Kapp Lecture – Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 2026.
Organic Syntheses Lecture – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2026.
Paul A. Grieco Distinguished Lecture – Montana State University, Boseman, MT, 2026.
Eurofins Alphora Lecture – University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 2026.
Princeton Organic Symposium Lecture – Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 2026.
Roberts Lecture – California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 2025.
Dreyfus Lectures – Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 2025.
Keynote Lecture – C&EN’s Talented 12 Symposium, ACS National Meeting, Washington, DC, 2025.
Plenary Lecture – Heron10 Conference on Reactive Intermediates, Heron Island, Australia, 2025.
Plenary Lecture – National Organic Chemistry Symposium (NOS), Troy, NY, 2025.
Boekelheide Lectures – University of Oregon, Eugene, IL, 2025.
Larson Lectures – University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, 2025.
Dreyfus Lectures – Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, 2024.
Overman Lecture – University of California, Irvine, CA, 2024.
Erdtman Lecture – KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024.
SinoCompound Lecture – The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, 2024.
Herschbach Lectures – Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2022.
Mukaiyama Award Lecture – 38th Seminar on Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Kitakyushu, Japan, 2022.
Keynote Lecture – Merck Global Chemistry Summit, Skytop, PA, 2022.
Keynote Lecture – UCLA Chancellor’s Society, Lake Arrowhead, CA, 2022.
Goldstein Distinguished Lecture – Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona, CA, 2021.
UCLA Arts 10 Questions – UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2020.
1960’s Scholars Lecture – Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 2020.
Skeptical Chymists Lecture – Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, 2020.
Organic Syntheses Lecture – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2020.
Keynote Lecture – Caltech Project for Effective Teaching, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 2019.
Keynote Lecture – Amgen Young Investigator Award Symposium, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2019.
Reilly Lectures – University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 2019.
Plenary Lecture – EFMC International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry, Athens, Greece, 2019.
Keynote Lecture – Robert Foster Cherry Educational Summit, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 2019.
Honors College Distinguished Lecture – University of Mary Hardin–Baylor, Belton, TX, 2019.
L. Carroll King Memorial Lectures – Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2018.
Burkett Lectures – DePauw University, Greencastle, IN, 2018.
R.C. Fuson Lectures – University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 2018.
RSC Higher Education Award Lecture – Sir Derek Barton Centenary Symposium, Imperial College, London, UK, 2018.
Keynote Lecture – Organic Reactions Catalysis Society Conference, San Diego, CA, 2018.
Distinguished Lecture – Modern Chemistry Series, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 2018.
Emerson Lectures – Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 2018.
Dow Foundation Distinguished Lectures – University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 2017.
Tomlinson Teaching Lectures – McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 2017.
Katritzky Lecture – University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2017.
RSC Merck Award Lecture – 23rd Lakeland Symposium on Heterocyclic Chemistry, Grasmere, Ambleside, UK, 2017.
Aldrich Lecture – University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, 2017.
Genentech Lecture – University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada, 2016.
Michael Geis Distinguished Lecture – Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, 2016.
Organic Syntheses Lecture – Wayne State University, Ann Arbor, MI, 2016.
Keynote Lectures – UC Symposium for the Chemical Sciences, Lake Arrowhead, CA, 2016.
Paul Dowd Lectures – University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 2016.
Caltech Project for Effective Teaching Lecture, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 2015.
Keynote Lecture – Tetrahedron Symposium Asia Edition, Shanghai, China, 2015.
Novartis Chemistry Lecture – Novartis, Basel, Switzerland, 2015.
Keynote Lecture – Agrochemicals: Innovations in Discovery and Process Chemistry Symposium – ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, 2015.
Novartis Chemistry Lecture – Novartis GNF, San Diego, CA, 2015.
Novartis Chemistry Lecture – Novartis, Emeryville, CA, 2015.
Keynote Lecture – Tetrahedron Symposium, Berlin, Germany, 2015.
TEDXUCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2015.
Plenary Lecture – Meeting of the Organic Chemistry Division of the French Chemical Society, Paris, France, 2015.
Fagnou Lecture – University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, 2015.
Novartis Chemistry Lecture – Novartis, Cambridge, MA, 2015.
Aldrich Lecture – The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2014.
Padwa Lecture – Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2014.
Aldrich Lecture – University of Texas, Austin, TX, 2014.
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