John E. Bercaw (born December 3, 1944) is an American chemist and Centennial Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. [1][2]
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bercaw obtained his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan in 1971 under the direction of Hans-Herbert Brintzinger, followed by postdoctoral research with Jack Halpern at the University of Chicago. [3]
He joined the faculty at the Caltech in 1972. Bercaw was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991.[4]
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and he has received several national awards from the American Chemical Society. [5]
His research interests are in synthetic, structural and mechanistic organotransition metal chemistry, including most recently catalysts for polymerization and trimerization of olefins and investigations of hydrocarbon hydroxylation.