Allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against prominent University of California, Berkeley associate chemistry professor Kwabena Bediako by a former graduate student are making waves in the academic chemistry community. This has reportedly triggered a UC Berkeley investigation of Bediako and also demands for change have been made by hundreds of chemistry students and faculty at the university and beyond.
The claims are cited in an open letter signed by nearly 800 current and former science students, graduate researchers and faculty, with the vast majority from UC Berkeley and more than one-third from the university’s chemistry department. Other signatories are affiliated with chemistry departments at prominent US universities like Harvard, Caltech and Cornell.
The letter, signed and circulated earlier this year, cites testimony from a former graduate student of Bediako who alleged he initiated ‘repeated, inappropriate attempts to pursue a romantic relationship’ with her. She ended up filing a grievance and reportedly switched to another lab to finish her PhD, according to sources close to the situation.
‘We believe that this behavior is unacceptable, and that the UC Berkeley department of chemistry must not be a place that tolerates such behavior,’ the letter states.
In the letter, another former graduate student alleged that she had also been sexually harassed and mistreated by Bediako. She claims that this started in 2013 when she was in Daniel Nocera’s group at Harvard University, while Nocera was Bediako’s supervisor. Further, she said that when she reported this harassment by Bediako and other group members to Nocera in 2017 he did not take these complaints seriously.
The letter requested that Nocera’s invitation to present the annual UC Berkeley College of Chemistry’s Seaborg Lectures in Inorganic Chemistry in mid-February 2026 be rescinded. It appears that those lectures were postponed, although no reason was given.
Anti-harassment training urged
In addition, the letter’s signatories ‘demand’ that Bediako be prevented from accepting new employees into his lab without them first being notified about the complaints against him. They also urge chemistry faculty at UC Berkeley to jointly develop and implement ‘peer-led, anti-harassment training’ for professors in the department.
‘While such a training would only provide part of the necessary response to the behaviour exhibited by Profs. Bediako and Nocera, we believe it is a crucial step toward a necessary culture shift in our department and in the chemistry community writ large,’ the letter reads. ‘To maintain our status as a top tier chemistry program, it is imperative that all members of the community are treated with the respect they deserve.’
Six of the 10 currently listed members of Bediako’s group signed the letter. The lab’s website says Bediako is currently accepting new members and it appears that several members of his team have left the lab in recent months. Bediako received an award for promising early-career researchers from UC Berkeley in 2024 and currently serves on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
A labour union that represents 48,000 academic workers across all 10 University of California campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has filed a grievance with UC Berkeley regarding Bediako. ‘Academic workers formed our union in large part because sexual harassment and discrimination are so rampant in academia – second only to the US military,’ states Ruby Kharod, a PhD chemistry student at UC Berkeley and fellow at LBNL who also serves as the recording secretary for academic student employees at the national lab. Kharod was one of the signatories of the open letter.
UC Berkeley says it cannot comment on ongoing sexual misconduct cases for confidentiality reasons. ‘When and if we receive a report of sexual misconduct, we seek to ensure that the case is dealt with fairly and effectively, that individuals get the support they need, and that those responding to a complaint are dealt with fairly,’ a university spokesperson says.
Bediako’s lawyer, Mark Allen, says he is aware of the letter and its claims but says they are simply ‘allegations’. He makes it clear that he and his client will ‘cooperate with any investigation’.
Meanwhile, Nocera unequivocally denies that he would ever be cavalier when allegations of sexual harassment were made. ‘I take seriously my professional and ethical responsibilities and have never – and would never – callously dismiss allegations of sexual assault or harassment,’ he states. ‘These and any other allegations against me are defamatory and provably false, and if necessary, I will prove it in court.’
Nocera’s lawyer, David Sillers, says Nocera is ‘very concerned’ that publicising the letter will ‘spread across the world allegations that are provably false, and that such spread will do a grave disservice to the academic chemistry community’.
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