Cynthia Friend

Cynthia Friend is a professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. She was the first female full professor of Chemistry at Harvard, attaining the position in 1989. Today she is the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science, as well as a member of the editorial board of ACS Catalysis, Chemical Science, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society. She served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Catalysis Science & Technology journal from 2010 until 2013. Her research focuses on controlling the chemical and physical properties of interfaces, by investigating important catalytic reactions and by making new materials with key chemical functionality. Her lab aims to develop solutions to important problems in energy usage and environmental chemistry.

Friend joined the Chemistry department of Harvard University in 1982 after doing her postdoctoral research at Stanford University and earning her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her previous leadership positions at Harvard include Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (2002–05), Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (2004–07), and Associate Director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2002-2011), and Radcliffe Trustee (1990–93). Dr. Friend also served as Associate Director of the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, at Stanford University (2011-2012) while on a leave from Harvard.

Cynthia Friend was born in the village of Lawrence, Nebraska, where her father was also born.Lawrence was a predominantly German-Catholic village where her grandfather settled as a young adult. Friend has one brother, Randolph.Her parents were both veterans of WWII.Elise was a staff sergeant in the US Marine Corps and Matt, her father, was a bomber pilot in the Army Air Corps.

Matt and his brother ran a plumbing and heating company that serviced the community in vicinity of Lawrence. In 1960, her family moved to nearby Hastings Nebraska because the business could not support two families.Her mother worked as a bookkeeper in Hastings and her father worked for a plumbing and heating supply company.

Friend attended Catholic school in Hastings through the sixth grade and thereafter transferred to the public school system.In high school, she benefited from a flexible educational schedule that allowed her to take independent study courses under the supervision of several dedicated teachers.She was also a lab assistant for the chemistry and biology teachers, which helped her build on her interest in science.

Cynthia learned to play golf early on from her father and played competitively, mainly at the local and state levels.Friend gave up golf after high school in order to attend college.At that time, there were no athletic opportunities for women.She renewed her interest in golf as an adult and competed at local, state, and national levels.

Friend enrolled at University of California, Davis, after having graduated from Hastings High School in 1973.She earned her B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1977.At the University of California, Berkeley, Friend studied Physical Chemistry under the direction of Prof. Earl Muetterties.She completed her Ph.D. in 1981 and subsequently was a postdoctoral researcher for one year at Stanford University in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Madix Group.

Cynthia Friend began her independent research career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University in 1982.She moved through the ranks to become the first female Full Professor of Chemistry in 1989.Friend was appointed as the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry in 1998 and as Professor of Materials Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard in 2002.Prof. Friend has served in many leadership roles at Harvard, including as the first and only Department Chair in Chemistry (2004–07), as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (2002–05), and as Director of the Rowland Institute (2013–19).

• IBM Faculty Development Award, 1983‑1985
• Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1985-1990
• Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Program, 1988‑89
• Distinguished Young Alumni Award, University of California, Davis, 1990
• Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award Recipient, 1991
• American Chemical Society Garvan Medal, 1991
• Elected to Iota Chapter, Phi Beta Kappa, Radcliffe College, 1992
• Langmuir Lecturer, Colloid Division of the American Chemical Society, 1995
• Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Fellowship, 2007
• Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Fellowship, 2008
• Fellow, American Association of Arts and Sciences, 2009
• American Chemical Society, George C. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon Chemistry, 2009
• Fellow, American Chemical Society, 2010
• Bowdoin College Honorary Doctorate in Science, 2011
• American Chemical Society Award in Surface Chemistry, 2017
• Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2018
• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 2019