Rate My Professor Jeffrey Zaleski

Jeffrey Zaleski is a distinguished chemist who served as Provost Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington, joining the faculty in 1996. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the State University of New York College at Geneseo in 1988 and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1993. Zaleski then completed a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University, focusing on physical-biorganic chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Edward I. Solomon. His academic career at Indiana University included progressive leadership roles, such as Associate Vice Provost for the Sciences and Vice Provost for Research. In 2017, he was honored with the designation of Provost Professor, acknowledging his extensive contributions across multiple chemistry subfields. Additional accolades include the Bicentennial Medal, Trustee's Teaching Award, and Teaching Excellence Recognition Awards from the IU Board of Trustees.

Zaleski's research program centers on metals in medicine, bioinorganic chemistry, synthetic chemistry, and materials science, with particular emphasis on inorganic and materials chemistry in contexts of energy, life processes, synthesis, and catalysis. He has authored or co-authored over 120 research works, garnering more than 4,000 citations, reflecting significant impact in the field. Key publications encompass investigations into heterometallic molecular metallacrowns, as in 'Substituent Effect on Formation of Heterometallic Molecular Metallacrowns' (Inorganic Chemistry, 2007), and transition metal-mediated enediyne cyclization processes. Beyond research, Zaleski led the Academic Accelerator program in partnership with the Department of Defense, fostering innovations in national security and defense technologies. He delivered public lectures, such as 'Why Is There More Matter Than Antimatter?', and contributed editorially as Associate Editor for Molecular Sciences in Frontiers in Chemical Biology. In August 2024, Zaleski transitioned to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a Program Manager in the Biological Technologies Office.