Omar M. Yaghi received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. He is a University Professor and the James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. He is the Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute whose mission is to build centers of research worldwide for providing opportunities for young scholars to discover and learn. He is also Co-Founder of the Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet which aims to develop cost-efficient, easily deployable reticular structures – to help limit and address the impacts of climate change.
He is widely known for pioneering several extensive classes of new materials: Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs), Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs), and Molecular Weaving. These materials have the highest surface areas known to date, making them useful for hydrogen and methane storage, carbon capture and conversion, water harvesting from desert air, and catalysis, to mention a few. He termed this field 'Reticular Chemistry' and defines it as 'stitching molecular building blocks into extended structures by strong bonds'.
Yaghi is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Indian Academy of Sciences, Italian National Academy of Sciences Lincean, Islamic World Academy of Sciences, European Academy of Sciences, Argentine National Academy of Sciences, Turkish Academy of Sciences, Academy of Arab Scientists, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also been honored with many awards, including the Sacconi Medal of the Italian Chemical Society (2004), Materials Research Society Medal (2007), American Chemical Society Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2009), Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize (2010), King Faisal International Prize in Science (2015), Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2017), BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences (2017), Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2018), Eni Award for Excellence in Energy (2018), Gregori Aminoff Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2019), August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann-Denkmünze of the German Chemical Society (2020), Royal Society of Chemistry Sustainable Water Award (2020), VinFuture Prize (2021), Wilhelm Exner Medal (2023), Solvay Prize (2024), Tang Prize (2024), Balzan Prize (2024), IUPAC-Soong Prize for Sustainable Chemistry (2025), MRS Von Hippel Award (2025), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2025), Crimson Distinguished Professor at Korea University (2026), RAK Shiekh Saud Award (2026), University at Albany Medal (2026), Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2026), Greatest American Immigrant by Carnegie Foundation (2026), and Forbes list of top Self-Made Americans (2026).