If you are going to pursue a graduate degree in chemistry within the state of California, then you have come to the right place. On this website, you will find the 15 best chemistry schools in California. Please note that these rankings are based on student reviews, graduation rates, and the academic surveys submitted by peer colleges and universities throughout California.
| Ranking | Graduate Chemistry |
| 1 | California Institute of Technology Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Address: 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626) 395-6110 E-mail: AgnesT@caltech.edu Website: http://chemistry.caltech.edu |
| 2 | University of California–Berkeley College of Chemistry Address: Room 419 Latimer Hall , Berkeley, CA 94720-1460 Phone: (510) 642-5882 E-mail: iyoung@berkeley.edu Website: http://chem.berkeley.edu |
| 3 | Stanford University Department of Chemistry Address: 333 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5080 Phone: (650) 723-1525 E-mail: chem.admissions@stanford.edu Website: http://www.stanford.edu |
| 4 | Scripps Research Institute Kellogg School of Science and Technology Address: 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 90237 Phone: (858) 784-2400 E-mail: gradprgm@scripps.edu Website: http://www.scripps.edu |
| 5 | University of California–Los Angeles Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Address: 607 Charles E. Young Drive E, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569 Phone: (310) 825-4219 E-mail: gradinfo@chem.ucla.edu Website: http://www.chemistry.ucla.edu |
| 6 | University of California–San Diego Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Address: 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0332 Phone: (858) 534-9728 E-mail: ChemGradInfo@ucsd.edu Website: http://www-chem.ucsd.edu |
| 7 | University of California–Irvine Department of Chemistry Address: 1102 Natural Sciences 2, Irvine, CA 92697-2025 Phone: (949) 824-4097 E-mail: chemgrad@chem.ps.uci.edu Website: http://www.chem.uci.edu |
| 8 | University of California–San Francisco Chemistry & Chemical Biology Graduate Program Address: 600 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158-2517 Phone: (415) 476-1914 E-mail: ccb@picasso.ucsf.edu Website: http://ccb.ucsf.edu |
| 9 | University of California–Santa Barbara Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Phone: (805) 893-5675 E-mail: wells@chem.ucsb.edu Website: http://www.chem.ucsb.edu |
| 10 | University of California–Davis Department of Chemistry Address: 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 Phone: (530) 754-9425 E-mail: info@chem.ucdavis.edu Website: http://www.chem.ucdavis.edu |
| 11 | University of Southern California Department of Chemistry Phone: (213) 740-7036 E-mail: chemmail@usc.edu Website: http://chem.usc.edu |
| 12 | University of California–Riverside Department of Chemistry Phone: (951) 827-3523 E-mail: linda.edwards@ucr.edu Website: http://chem.ucr.edu |
| 13 | University of California–Santa Cruz Department of Chemsity and Biochemistry Address: 1156 High Street , Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Phone: (831) 459-4002 E-mail: jajones@chemistry.ucsc.edu Website: http://chemistry.ucsc.edu |
| 14 | San Diego State University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Address: 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-1030 Phone: (619) 594-5595 E-mail: grotjahn@chemistry.sdsu.edu Website: http://www.chemistry.sdsu.edu |
| 15 | University of the Pacific Department of Chemistry Address: 3601 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA 95211-0110 Phone: (209) 946-2271 E-mail: lspreer@pacific.edu Website: http://web.pacific.edu |
Economy of California
California has an extremely developed and diversified economy, if it were an independent state, it would be one of the ten richest countries in the world.
Traditionally, California has developed (although not as much as in the 19th-20th centuries) mining, primarily oil. Agriculture and the processing of its products make it possible not only to feed the population of California, but also to export most of the products. California wines are in high demand. The name “Silicon Valley” has long been synonymous with the place of concentration of high-tech companies, it is here (as in the area of the US capital Washington and the country’s largest metropolis New York) that the most advanced research and development is carried out. Many jobs in the state are created by the US government, including at numerous military bases, as well as thanks to military orders at industrial enterprises. California is called the “America’s Aerospace Capital” and the laboratories and factories of many industry leaders operate here. It is in California that the “world capital of cinema” is located – the famous Hollywood, as well as many media companies in the United States.
One of the most important sectors of the California economy is the mining industry. The “main” mineral of the state is oil, rich deposits of “black gold” have been explored in California (mainly in the Central Valley and along the coast) and on the ocean shelf. The largest of these (and the third largest in the US) is Midway Sunset in the San Joaquin Valley. Interestingly, one of California’s oil fields is located in Beverly Hills, one of the richest and most prestigious cities in California and the United States. Active oil production is carried out here in conditions of dense urban development. Oil refining is also carried out in California, and several petrochemical plants operate in the state.
In the middle of the XIX century, during the famous “gold rush”, a huge number of immigrants came to California in pursuit of gold. Most of the state’s gold mines have been shut down for decades, but a few (such as the Mesquite Mine in Imperial County, Southern California) continue to operate successfully today.
Mountain Pass, the only rare earth deposit in the United States (and one of the largest in the world), is located in southeastern California. Since the 1960s, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and europium have been mined here, but in 2002, mining was stopped due to stricter environmental requirements. After the modernization, the Mountain Pass mine resumed operation, because the proven reserves of raw materials here are still very large.
Near the city of Boron in the Mojave Desert is the largest borax mine in the world. This quarry, the largest in California, provides almost half of the world’s production of boron compounds.
In addition, natural gas, table salt, calcium compounds, gypsum, sand, gravel and other minerals are mined in California.
California is called the “agricultural powerhouse” of the United States, the state’s mild climate and fertile lands are conducive to agriculture. The center of agricultural production in Northern California is the Central Valley, in Southern California – the Imperial and Coachella valleys.
Dairy farming is well developed in the state; also in California, cattle are bred for meat, pigs, sheep, and poultry. In terms of livestock production, California ranks second (after Texas) in the United States.
Farms in California grow wheat, rice, corn, sugar beets, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, strawberries, grapes, apricots, peaches, plums, dates, figs, kiwi, nectarines, olives, walnuts, pistachios, avocados, lemons, melons, flowers.
California produces almost all of the country’s almonds, and is second in the US for oranges (after Florida) and cotton (after Texas). In total, more than two hundred different crops are grown in the state, and some do not grow anywhere else in the United States.
California has a well-developed wine industry, if it were a separate state, it would take fourth place in the world list of the largest wine producers. The state produces 90% of all wine produced in the United States, and California wines have repeatedly won prestigious international competitions.
The state’s strong agriculture relies heavily on irrigation, and away from the coast, the state’s climate is mostly arid. The fertile Imperial and Coachella valleys in Southern California are irrigated by the waters of the Colorado River, which come here through the All-American Canal, built in the thirties of the XX century as part of the same hydraulic engineering project with the famous Hoover Dam. At the same time, to irrigate fields and supply water to cities in the California Valley The “Central Valley Project” was developed, which provided for the creation of a complex of dams, canals, reservoirs, water pipelines and pumping stations. Although the “Central Valley Project” is now criticized for its negative impact on the environment, for decades it has provided water to Central California.
California’s long coastline and abundance of fish in coastal waters encourage commercial fishing. Here they catch tuna, swordfish, halibut, herring, mackerel, sea bass, as well as shellfish, crabs, shrimp and squid. California leads the U.S. state in terms of the amount of fish and seafood caught.
California is famous for its high technology. Southern California is considered the center of the US aerospace industry; divisions of McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman, Rockwell International and other major US companies work here.
Not far from San Francisco, in the area of the fourth largest city in California, San Jose in Santa Clara County, the famous “Silicon Valley” is located. Back in the middle of the 20th century, around one of the leading universities in the United States, Stanford University, located here, research in the field of electronics and the semiconductor industry developed here. Later, here, scientists and engineers worked on the creation of microprocessors and computers, the development of software and network technologies. Apple, IBM, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Facebook, Adobe, Oracle, Symantec and many other giants of the “digital world” are located in Silicon Valley.
There are several large military facilities in California, including the US Marine Corps bases Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton, the largest US Navy base in San Diego on the US West Coast, Vandenberg and Edwards Air Force Bases and others.
A number of plants and factories operate in California. It processes oil and minerals extracted from the bowels of the state; produce food products and preserve agricultural products grown on farms and fields and caught fish; collect electrical equipment, military equipment, communications equipment and much more.
Much attention is paid to environmentally friendly production, for example, an electric car factory operates in the city of Fremont, and electric motorcycles are made in Santa Cruz.
There is also a unique branch of the economy in California – cinema. For a long time, ” US cinema ” and “Hollywood” are synonymous. Several major film studios are concentrated in this area of Los Angeles, famous movie stars live here, the famous Alley of Stars is located here, and the Oscar ceremony, the most prestigious film award in the world, is held here.
The nearby city of Burbank is called the “Media Capital of the World” and the headquarters of several of the largest information, record and film companies (ABC, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company and others) are located here.
The powerful economy of the state and the large population of California require a lot of energy. Although California has one of the lowest per capita electricity consumption rates in the United States due to its mild climate , the state places a great deal of emphasis on energy conservation and the use of renewable energy sources.
Currently, about forty-five percent of electricity produced in California comes from natural gas power plants, fifteen percent each from nuclear (there are two of them in California) and coal, about ten percent from hydroelectric power stations, and almost fifteen percent from solar, geothermal and wind. The state continues to build new environmentally friendly power plants, by 2020 California plans to receive a third of all generated energy from renewable sources.
A 750 MW geothermal power plant is in operation north of San Francisco, a 320 wind turbine complex with a total capacity of 800 MW is under construction in the Mojave Desert, and a 4,600 MW wind farm is planned to be built south of the Central Valley.
The climatic conditions in the California deserts (as well as neighboring Arizona and Nevada) make them an excellent place to build solar power plants. Back in the 1980s, the world’s largest 354 MW solar-powered complex was built in the Mojave Desert, and several new power plants are under construction, the largest of which will have a capacity of 553 (Mojave Solar Park) and 968 (Blythe Solar Power Project). “) megawatt.
Tourism is a very important branch of the state’s economy. The mild climate of California, unique natural and historical attractions, numerous beaches and attractions attract many tourists.
Only the famous Disneyland, which is considered one of the main attractions of the United States, is visited by about fifteen million people every year! Almost the same number of tourists come to San Francisco every year to see Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge.