Former Caltech Postdocs Drs. Jack Zhang and Mary Luo Back New Theoretical Chemistry Center

A $30 million lead gift endows the Rudolph A. Marcus Center for Theoretical Chemistry in honor of a lifelong mentor and friend.

Dr. Jack Yongfeng Zhang and Dr. Mary Zi-ping Luo’s philanthropy advances the Institute’s leadership in chemistry and chemical engineering while honoring the legacy of Nobel Laureate Rudolph (Rudy) A. Marcus, the John G. Kirkwood and Arthur A. Noyes Professor of Chemistry. Zhang and Luo’s gift pays tribute to the decades of friendship and support provided to the couple by Marcus.

“Thirty-six years ago, I had the privilege of being Rudy’s postdoctoral fellow,” says Dr. Zhang, president, CEO, chief scientific officer, and co-founder of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “In scientific exploration, he is my mentor. On the road of life, as both a teacher and a friend, Rudy is more like my father. He is a master of theoretical chemistry. He believes that theorists need to be guided by experiments and connect the scattered dots and blanks between theory and experiment. This thought has deeply influenced us in guiding our current complex drug research and strategies.”

Dr. Luo was also a Caltech postdoctoral scholar and is COO, chief scientist, and co-founder of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “Rudy shares our unfailing confidence and passion for theoretical chemistry,” she says. “We are humbled and honored for this opportunity to assist in establishing the Marcus Center for Theoretical Chemistry at Caltech.”

Zhang and Luo chose to focus their giving on people, empowering the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering to attract and support the most talented and driven faculty, postdocs, and students. This gift will ensure the division’s continued preeminence by enhancing research and teaching through the following:

The Tie-Hua Zhang and Su-Hua Li Zhang Graduate Fellowships, named in honor of Zhang’s parents;
The Liang-Neng Luo and Guo-Hua Lou Luo Postdoctoral Fellowship, named in honor of Luo’s parents;
The Jack Yongfeng Zhang and Mary Zi-ping Luo Discretionary Fund;
The Rudolph A. Marcus Center Instrumentation and Computing Fund; and
The Rudolph A. Marcus Center Faculty Recruitment Fund.
“Jack and Mary’s generous gift speaks powerfully to our highest aspirations,” says Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics. “It highlights the lifelong connections forged among scholars and mentors at the Institute, while opening doors for following generations of students, postdocs, and faculty members at the leading edge of theoretical chemistry research.”

Building on a History of Discovery

Drs. Zhang and Luo’s gift is timely for the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, as developments in quantum science and technology are revealing novel avenues of discovery.

Quantum mechanics provides the fundamental theory of molecular behavior. Since its inception in the early 20th century, theoretical chemists at the Institute have led in understanding its implications for chemistry.

The late Aron Kuppermann, professor of chemical physics, emeritus, completed the world’s first complete three-dimensional quantum-mechanical calculation of a chemical reaction and pioneered the use of supercomputers for predicting the cross sections and rates of chemical reactions.
William A. Goddard, III (PhD ’65), the Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics, invented some of the first computational algorithms for molecules.
Rudy Marcus developed his now-ubiquitous theory of electron transfer.
Now, a second quantum revolution is underway. New means to control the quantum states of atoms and molecules, together with the intellectual merging of quantum mechanics with theoretical information and computer science, has deepened the understanding of quantum mechanics across the physical sciences.

These advances hold the potential to transform chemistry and chemical engineering. They offer the possibility to move beyond a purely qualitative understanding of quantum behavior to precise computational predictions and design of molecular and material properties, new ways to process spectroscopy with unprecedented resolution through quantum sensing, and the control of chemical reactions by quantum computers.

“The Marcus Center will be a vital accelerator of the transformation in chemistry and chemical engineering being brought about by quantum science,” says Dennis A. Dougherty, the George Grant Hoag Professor of Chemistry, who served as chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from 2019–2024 and worked closely with Zhang and Luo on this gift. “Jack and Mary’s philanthropy will allow us to retain and recruit the brightest minds in the field, support their research, and fund novel investigations.”

From Exams to Ever After

Drs. Zhang and Luo met at Caltech in 1988, but it was not the first time they had crossed paths. Years earlier, China resumed the examination system after the Cultural Revolution. Of the more than two hundred candidates who took the quantum-chemistry entrance examination for graduate schools in one of the test zones, only nine were qualified. Two of those nine were Zhang and Luo, and—they later discovered—they both had taken the exam in the same room at the same time.

Luo was the youngest and only woman admitted in that quantum chemistry session. She began attending Princeton University in 1980, where she earned a PhD in chemistry.

Having been recommended and sponsored by Nobel Laureate and renowned theoretical physicist C. N. Yang, Zhang began graduate studies in chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He first met and began to build a close bond with Marcus when the Caltech professor was giving a lecture at nearby Brookhaven National Laboratory. Marcus encouraged Zhang to come to Caltech, and Zhang joined Marcus’s lab in 1988 after earning his PhD.

By then, Luo was already at the Institute, working as a theoretical chemistry postdoc with the late Professor Vince McKoy. During this time, she also completed her memoir, A Generation Lost: China Under the Cultural Revolution, which was published in 1990 by Henry Holt & Company.

It was inevitable that the two would meet, and meet they did: in front of the mailboxes on the first floor of Arthur Amos Noyes Laboratory of Chemical Physics. They were married not long after, and Marcus spoke at the reception in place of Zhang’s parents, who were unable to attend.

“Jack and Mary are exceptional people,” Marcus says. “Their well-earned success is a testament to their curiosity, skillfulness, and perseverance. I have been fortunate to know them for the last 36 years, and am deeply grateful that they have chosen to support Caltech in my honor. Their generosity will facilitate countless generations of students, postdocs, and faculty to solve hard problems and generate novel ideas.”

Marcus, Zhang, and Luo have not only remained lifelong friends, but have also continued to work together. Marcus has served on the scientific advisory board of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals.

The Quantum-Science Future

Drs. Zhang and Luo’s gift bolsters Caltech’s leadership in quantum science and technology. The Institute is home to theorists and experimentalists who are making pathbreaking discoveries in areas ranging from quantum computing and biomedical imaging technologies to innovative detectors for measuring gravitational waves. Scientists at the Institute also are investigating quantum materials with interesting electronic, magnetic, optical, and superconducting properties that cannot be described using classical physics. Caltech recently broke ground on the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement, which will accelerate the exploration of quantum phenomena across all scales and propel the invention of instruments to measure these phenomena with unprecedented sensitivity.

“It is a particularly exciting time in chemistry and chemical engineering as we work to harness the potential of quantum mechanics to expand our fundamental understanding of chemical and physical systems and develop new quantum technologies,” says Caltech Provost David Tirrell, the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and holder of the Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair. “Jack and Mary’s exceptional generosity positions the Institute to continue its pioneering contributions in the field.”