Nobel Laureate Transfers from Berkeley to Tsinghua to Utilize AI and Shrink Material R&D Cycle by an Order of Magnitude

According to Dongcha Beating monitoring, 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Omar Yaghi has left the University of California, Berkeley, and joined Tsinghua University full-time. Tsinghua has appointed him as a Chair Professor to lead the establishment of the AI Materials Chemistry Research Center (AIMATRY).

The center will bring together teams in chemistry, chemical engineering, artificial intelligence, computer science, and materials to use AI to transform material design and synthesis. The goal is to integrate the entire chain from theoretical calculation to R&D and production, compressing the new material development cycle by an order of magnitude.

Yaghi, known for his pioneering work on metal-organic framework (MOF) materials, shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two other scientists. MOFs, known as molecular sponges, can be used for carbon capture, water harvesting from air, and hydrogen storage.

In 2022, Yaghi was appointed as an honorary professor at Tsinghua and has now transitioned from a long-term collaboration to a full-time position.

《Nature》 framed this move against the backdrop of shrinking US research funding and China's competition for top talent. However, Yaghi has not publicly attributed his decision to move to China directly to US cuts in research funding.