Martin J. Mulvihill, Ph.D.

Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley; Executive Director, Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry; Coordinator for Systems Approach to Green Energy; Associate Editor, Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews

Marty Mulvihill is committed to meeting the challenges of global sustainability by pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to research and education—and especially the subsequent integration of this newly expanded understanding in social, political and business practices.

Since 2010 Marty has been the Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC) while continuing as a researcher in both Public Health and Environmental Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of California, Berkeley in Chemistry and Nanoscience. Subsequently, Marty completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories doing research in the Materials Science and Earth Science Divisions.

Marty’s current work focuses on developing technologies that help provide access to clean drinking water and the creation of safer chemicals. He has a number of publications and patents related to the detection of arsenic in drinking water and he is currently partnering with students in Environmental Engineering to develop safe and affordable technology to remove excess fluoride from drinking water in India. He also works with professors in toxicology to design and produce safer chemicals including oil dispersants, catalysts, and bio-based platform chemicals.

At Berkeley Marty has developed new green chemistry curricula for introductory chemistry as well as interdisciplinary graduate classes. The undergraduate curriculum incorporates the principles of green chemistry and sustainability by grounding them in the context of broader social challenges like access to energy or clean water. The new curriculum reaches over 2500 students every year and has been highlighted in media coverage including NPR’s Living on Earth. He also coordinates a new NSF fellowship program which uses green chemistry to guide a Systems Approach to Green Energy development.

Marty has been engaged in educational outreach in many diverse settings including a residential school for high school drop-outs, UC Berkeley and San Quentin State Prison. He also just completed a science communication fellowship with Environmental Health News, and enjoys sharing his love for science with the public. In his free time Marty explores the roads and trails of the Bay Area on two wheels.