Nobel chemistry laureate Omar Yaghi leaves US after nearly five decades to join China's Tsinghua University

Yaghi, who shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), was appointed to lead Tsinghua University's AI for Chemistry and Materials Science Research Center, the university announced on July 3.

Tsinghua said Yaghi, 61, will lead research into using artificial intelligence to transform the design and synthesis of new materials, shortening their development cycle "by orders of magnitude," according to the South China Morning Post.

Speaking at the appointment ceremony, Yaghi said he hoped to develop new materials to address major global challenges, including water scarcity, carbon neutrality and sustainable development. He also said he wanted to help train the next generation of scientists in AI-driven chemistry.

2025 Nobel chemistry laureate Omar Yaghi. Photo courtesy of Atoco

Yaghi previously served as the James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

He shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Australian chemist Richard Robson and Japanese scientist Susumu Kitagawa "for the development of metal-organic frameworks," a new class of porous materials whose customizable structures can capture, store and process specific chemicals for industrial and environmental applications, according to the Nobel Prize.

Yaghi has supervised around 200 researchers, nearly half of them from China, according to Zhou Zihui, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. Speaking to Shenzhen Satellite TV after Yaghi received the Nobel Prize last year, Zhou recalled one lesson from his mentor that left a lasting impression.

"When doing research, he told us not to just think about the science itself or publishing papers, but also how to make our work known to the world and ultimately change people's lives."

Born to a Palestinian family in Amman, Jordan, Yaghi moved to the U.S. at age 15 and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before joining UC Berkeley, he held faculty positions at Arizona State University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yaghi, founder and chief science officer of U.S deep-tech and climate-tech company Atoco, recently launched the Yaghi Science Initiative, a nonprofit global research and education network linking scientists in the U.S., South Korea, the U.K., Italy, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China, according to The European Magazine.

The initiative supports students, postdoctoral researchers and early-career scientists working on discovery science and sustainability. It is built around Yaghi's research philosophy of moving "from molecule to society and back," connecting molecular discoveries with practical solutions for clean water, clean air, clean energy, carbon capture and climate resilience.

Tsinghua said Yaghi has maintained close ties with the university for years. He was appointed an honorary professor on Jan. 14, 2022, and has continued collaborating with the university in academic research and talent development.

Yaghi is also a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has received China's Nano Research Award multiple times and has collaborated extensively with leading Chinese universities, including Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.