Launch of chemistry program in Imperial Valley comes with new labs, faculty, and career pathways

Growing up in the eastern Coachella Valley, where agriculture shapes much of the community, Jose Uribe was always curious about how the world worked. That curiosity would guide him toward a career in chemistry and eventually becoming one of the first faculty hired to help form the new chemistry undergraduate program at SDSU Imperial Valley.

Uribe, an assistant professor of chemistry, began his undergraduate studies at California State University, San Bernardino’s Palm Desert campus as a criminal justice major. However, everything changed during his second year when he enrolled in a chemistry course. What started as a required class quickly became a new career path.

“That class helped me understand what ‘science’ really was,” said Uribe. “Chemistry challenged me to develop new views about the natural world and strategies; it also gave me a greater sense of purpose. For the first time, I saw an opportunity to understand the world and contribute to solving real problems.”

His interests were heavily influenced by his community’s needs. As he lived in Salton City for several years, Uribe became interested in environmental issues surrounding the Salton Sea, including water quality and airborne dust pollution. He later pursued his graduate studies at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

At UCI, his focus shifted toward instrumentation development in magnetic resonance spectroscopy as an aid to understand human eye cataract disease. As he worked in research laboratories, he learned how scientific instruments operate, their limitations and how they can be improved. He earned a master’s degree in chemistry and later completed a Ph.D. focused on developing advanced scientific instrumentation within the chemistry program.

Uribe intentionally remained in the Coachella and Imperial Valley regions. His research now focuses on water quality studies, lithium concentration analysis, microplastics and environmental monitoring.

With the first cohort of students in chemistry and electrical engineering starting this  week at SDSU Imperial Valley, students will be able to take classes and hands-on research opportunities at the new Sciences and Engineering Laboratories in Brawley. The building holds several teaching classrooms and research laboratories, among other open spaces for studying and group meetings.

The new laboratories are one part of SDSU’s commitment to meeting both current and future geothermal energy sector demands, and the Lithium Valley, and delivering skilled, highly educated professionals ready to dive into the local workforce. 

The chemistry program features the same curriculum and requirements as the chemistry program at SDSU in San Diego, providing students in Imperial Valley access to the university’s broader network of chemistry faculty.

The launch of the new degree program at SDSU Imperial Valley is another step in chemistry’s longstanding history of paving new paths for SDSU. In addition to playing a large role in helping the university reach R1 status — with faculty who have been conducting funded research since the 1940s — chemistry was the first doctoral degree program for both SDSU and the California State University (CSU) system. 

SDSU’s undergraduate chemistry curriculum was the CSU’s first to be accredited by the American Chemical Society and, over a decade ago, it was implemented also at SDSU Georgia in Tbilisi. Many graduates from the Tbilisi campus have gone on to enroll in the joint doctoral program in chemistry in San Diego and the new chemistry program at SDSU Imperial Valley will offer students a direct pipeline to do the same. 

“We will have a lot of growth with upcoming developments in the geothermal industry and we already have demand in the environmental and agricultural industries,” said Uribe. “I hope students see the vast opportunities for pursuing a career in chemistry. They will get to learn around five different areas of chemistry year by year and learn its different career pathways.”

Uribe hopes to inspire students to view chemistry as a way of thinking rather than simply a subject to study. He believes chemistry helps answer fundamental questions while encouraging even greater curiosity.

“I hope our region becomes a hub for scientific and research development,” said Uribe. “I foresee we can apply for grants that would support research symposiums, internships and collaborations with other universities while welcoming local high school students into the scientific community.”