Rate My Professor Caroline Chick Jarrold

Caroline Chick Jarrold is the Class of 1948 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean for Natural and Mathematical Sciences and Research in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994, with Professor Daniel M. Neumark as her research advisor. After completing her doctorate, Jarrold served as a University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, under Professor James R. Heath from 1994 to 1996, conducting studies on nanocrystals and nanoparticles. In 1997, she joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois, Chicago, as an Assistant Professor, advancing to Associate Professor in 2002. That same year, she moved to Indiana University Bloomington as Associate Professor, was promoted to Professor in 2011, and assumed the role of Chair of the Department of Chemistry in July 2018. She also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Physics and serves as Faculty Advisor for the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.

Jarrold's research in experimental physical and computational chemistry employs gas-phase reactivity, mass spectrometry, anion photodetachment spectroscopies, and density functional theory calculations to investigate metal atom, metal cluster, and metal oxide cluster reactivity, as well as charge transfer intermediates and issues relevant to energy and the environment. Key publications include 'Probing Anion–Molecule Complexes of Atmospheric Relevance Using Anion Photoelectron Detachment Spectroscopy' (2022), 'Trend in the Electron Affinities of Fluorophenyl Radicals' (2023), 'Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Fulvenallenyl and Fluorine-Substituted Fulvenallenyl Anions' (2025), and 'Electronic Structures and Spin Frustration in Ln3O (Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd)' (2025). Her contributions have earned her the American Chemical Society Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal in 2020 for outstanding service to chemistry, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2023 for multi-disciplinary research on electron-neutral interactions, the NSF CAREER Award and Army Research Office Young Investigator Program Award in 1999, and the Class of 1948 Herman B Wells Endowed Professorship in 2018, among others including the NSF Graduate Fellowship and University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship.