HVCC, UAlbany Alum Omar Yaghi Shares 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
October 8, 2025
University at Albany and Hudson Valley Community College alum Omar M. Yaghi has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing the honor with Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University and Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized the three researchers for their development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) — porous molecular architectures with vast internal surface area and the ability to capture, store and transform gases such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. The breakthrough has opened new frontiers in clean energy, environmental remediation and sustainable water collection.
Born in Amman, Jordan, Yaghi moved to the United States at age 15 and later settled in Troy, N.Y., to pursue his education. He earned his associate in science degree in Liberal Arts & Science-Mathematics & Science from Hudson Valley in 1983, followed by his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UAlbany in 1985, graduating cum laude.
“On behalf of the entire University at Albany community, I congratulate Omar M. Yaghi ’85 on sharing the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry,” said University at Albany President Havidán Rodríguez. “That an interest in chemistry nurtured right here on the UAlbany campus could one day lead to this highest honor for scientific exploration and discovery should surprise no one familiar with the curiosity, drive, and talent of UAlbany students. Here at UAlbany, we take talented, driven students and give them the support and opportunities they need to become engaged global citizens -- and, in this case, Nobel Prize winners. You have made your 200,000 fellow UAlbany alumni enormously proud, Dr. Yaghi, and you have once again reminded the world that it is always a great day to be a Great Dane.”
“Yaghi is also an alumnus of Hudson Valley Community College, where he earned his Associate in Science degree in Liberal Arts & Science-Mathematics & Science in the spring of 1983. “Hudson Valley Community College is thrilled to congratulate alumnus Omar Yaghi on winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry,” said Hudson Valley Community College President Michael Brophy. “The college is honored to have been the place where he began his journey in higher education, and his impressive accomplishments serve as a testament to the enduring difference a community college education can make in the lives of our students.”
After graduating from UAlbany, Yaghi earned his PhD (1990) in chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a National Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral fellowship (1992) at Harvard University. He went on to hold faculty appointments at Arizona State University (1992–98), the University of Michigan (1999–2006) and UCLA (2006–2011) before joining the University of California, Berkeley, where he is now the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry.
At UC Berkeley, Yaghi also serves as Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute.
A Chemistry of Connections
Yaghi is widely credited with founding the field of reticular chemistry, which uses molecular “stitching” techniques to build extended crystalline frameworks with atomic-level precision. His laboratory’s invention of MOFs and their close relatives, covalent organic frameworks (COFs), has transformed materials science and inspired thousands of new compounds designed for targeted applications.
His work has demonstrated that these frameworks can store hydrogen and methane for clean fuel, capture industrial CO₂ emissions, and even pull drinkable water directly from desert air. Yaghi’s highly cited research portfolio includes more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and over 50 U.S. patents, including several for atmospheric water-harvesting devices based on MOF chemistry.
Yaghi shares the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kitagawa and Robson, who along with Yaghi were cited “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” Their collective work, begun independently in the 1990s, revealed how metals and organic linkers could form stable, highly ordered structures with extraordinary internal porosity — a finding that reshaped the landscape of materials research.