Steven Chavez is an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. His research group focuses on developing and implementing heterogeneous thermocatalysts and photocatalysts for sustainable chemical conversion applications. He was previously an Arnold O. Beckman postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. Prior to Stanford, he received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a Ford Foundation Fellow, a Rackham Merit Fellow, and a Rackham Predoctoral Fellow. ​Outside of research, he is a strong advocate for increasing diversity in STEM. He has 10+ years of experience conceiving, planning, and executing programs/events to improve the recruitment and retention of first-generation, low-income students in STEM fields. At UCLA, Steven will work closely with the Chicano Studies Research Center to implement and evaluate programs to help UCLA reach its goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution.