Joseph Francisco

Joseph Salvadore Francisco Jr. (born 26 March 1955) is an American scientist and the former president of the American Chemical Society from 2009 to 2010. He currently serves as the President's Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and held the Elmer H. and Ruby M. Cordes Chair in chemistry at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln until 2018.

Family and education Joseph Francisco was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 26, 1955. He was born to Lucinda and Joe Francisco, Sr., but grew up in Beaumont, Texas with his grandmother Sarah Walker. As he was growing up in Beaumont, Texas, his possibilities were limited because of who he was and what he looked like. His life consisted of day-to-day tasks and was never about future planning. College was a far-fetched dream, so he never paid much attention to it. Despite the uncertainty, his grandmother, Sarah Walker, who was a strong woman and a great role model for him—was supportive and encouraged him to get an education. He attended Forest Park High School.

Dr. Richard B. Price of Lamar University who he had met by chance encouraged him to pursue a college education. In 1973, he entered the University of Texas, Austin and graduated in 1977. Francisco and his colleague Marsha Lester, the University of Pennsylvania's Professor Edmund J. Kahn discovered an unusual molecule that is essential to the atmosphere's ability to break down pollutants, particularly the compounds that cause acid rain. The discovery is compared to a human body metabolizing food, the Earth's atmosphere has the ability to "burn," or oxidize pollutants, especially nitric oxides emitted from sources such as factories and automobiles. Their research further shows that what does not get oxidized in the atmosphere falls back to Earth in the form of acid rain. "The chemical details of how the atmosphere removes nitric acid have not been clear," Francisco notes. "This gives us important insights into this process. Without that knowledge we really can't understand the conditions under which nitric acid is removed from the atmosphere."

Francisco says the discovery will allow scientists to better model how pollutants react in the atmosphere and to predict potential outcomes.A technical paper describing the molecule is published in a special edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Francisco's laboratory focuses on basic studies in spectroscopy, kinetics, and photochemistry of novel transient species in the gas phase. Joe has published more than 400 journal articles, written nine book chapters and co-authored the textbook, Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics.

Awards

Percy L. Julian Award (1995) Fellow of the American Physical Society (1998) Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001) Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2012) Guggenheim Fellow (1993) Alexander von Humboldt U.S.Senior Scientist Award