Meet 2025 CCS Commencement Alumna Speaker Dr. Angela Belcher ’91 (CCS Creative Studies) ’97 (UCSB Ph.D. Chemistry)
On Sunday, June 8, 2025, Belcher returns to campus to inspire the next generation of CCS graduates
“There are no boundaries between disciplines.”
—Dr. Angela Belcher ’91 (CCS Creative Studies) ’97 (UCSB Ph.D. Chemistry)
The College of Creative Studies (CCS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is pleased to announce its June 8, 2025 commencement speaker: Dr. Angela Belcher ’91 (CCS Creative Studies) ’97 (UCSB Ph.D. Chemistry). Dr. Belcher exemplifies the spirit of creativity, curiosity, and innovation that rests at the heart of the College. While many inventors look to the future, Dr. Belcher relishes looking to the past—drawing inspiration from an abalone shell, a product of nature’s billions of years spent mastering materials. The aspiring result is a non-toxic, self-assembling, self-repairing material engineered to adapt and evolve over long periods of time.
Dr. Belcher began her academic journey studying biology at CCS as an undergraduate, then pivoted to inorganic chemistry by completing a Ph.D. at the UCSB Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and then pivoted once again to electrical engineering by conducting postdoctoral research at the UCSB College of Engineering. Her passion for learning and research in various disciplines taught her that “[T]here are no boundaries between disciplines.” While on campus, it sparked a fascination for Dr. Belcher on how natural organisms use simple ingredients to create complex, functional materials—a curiosity that continues to drive her work as a biological and materials engineer today.
Dr. Belcher is the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological and Materials Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with appointments in Biological Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Her breakthroughs in virus-based nanomaterials have advanced cancer detection and energy technology.
She is also a serial entrepreneur, having founded companies like Cambrios Technologies and Gensaic Therapeutics. Her accolades include the 2024 National Medal of Science—bestowed by the U.S. president to honor the nation’s top scientists and engineers—the Lemelson-MIT Prize, and election to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Inventors, and Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Belcher remains a proud CCS alumna, returning in 2017–2018 as a Transdisciplinary Fellow during the College’s 50th Anniversary, sharing her experience with students across campus.
Learn more about Dr. Angela Belcher:
Dr. Angela M. Belcher ‘91 (CCS Creative Studies) ‘97 (UCSB Ph.D. Chemistry) Awarded National Medal of Science, January 29, 2025
Angela M. Belcher '91 (CCS Creative Studies) '97 (UCSB Ph.D. Chemistry) Elected to National Academy of Sciences in 2022, May 18, 2022
CCS Biology Alumna Heads Biological Engineering at MIT, April 15, 2019
The College of Creative Studies is honored to welcome Dr. Belcher back to campus to celebrate its Class of 2025.