Alumnus Erick Carreira (BS, '83) has been appointed the next editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the flagship publication of the ACS.

Carreira’s appointment, which begins in 2021, follows an extensive public search that garnered more than 100 nominations from the chemistry community, according to the ACS announcement on Sept. 3, 2020.

Born in Cuba and based in Switzerland, he will be the first JACS editor-in-chief to live outside of the U.S. and the first Latin American to lead the journal, according to the announcement.

Carreira obtained his Bachelor of Science from Illinois Chemistry, where he was an undergraduate researcher in professor Scott Denmark's group. He went on to earn his PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in 1990. He has been a full professor at the Organic Chemistry Laboratory of the ETH Zürich since 1998. There, his research group focuses on the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active, stereochemically complex natural products. He is the recipient of numerous international awards and is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Carreira has been the editor-in-chief of Organic Letters since January 2019. He has 141 publications in the ACS portfolio of journals and has published 54 times in JACS.

Since his first publication in JACS in 1988, Carreira said the journal has played a significant role in his career.

“It’s an honor to lead this publication,” he said in the ACS announcement. “Chemistry has reached an exciting era, as discoveries and theoretical approaches can now be combined with advances in innovative technologies to enable unparalleled expansion of what is possible in the vastness of chemical space. JACS will continue to play a critical role in the chemistry community, identifying new and emerging research areas, promoting the diverse community of researchers, reviewers, and authors, and reflecting the dynamism of the field of chemistry.”

To support the strategic development of the journal, Carreira has identified and appointed six new executive editors. In addition to being eminent scientists, the executive editors represent the diversity of chemistry in research and background.

“I am truly delighted Professor Carreira will join JACS as editor-in-chief and equally proud to welcome the journal’s new executive editors,” said James Milne, president of ACS Publications Division. “We are incredibly grateful to Peter Stang for his leadership over the past 19 years. JACS has remained at the cutting edge of science throughout its history, largely through the journal’s editors focusing on the creative future of the field. I am confident Professor Carreira will continue the established JACS tradition of excellence and look forward to seeing his exciting vision shape the journal over the years ahead.”

Read more about the appointment in the ACS announcement.