Nancy Goroff

Goroff was born into a Jewish family in Chicago.[2][3] She eventually studied chemistry at Harvard University. She moved to the West Coast for her graduate studies, where she joined University of California, Los Angeles, and worked under the supervision of Orville L. Chapman and François Diederich.[4]

Goroff was an National Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral fellow at the Michigan State University, where she worked in the laboratory of James (Ned) Jackson.[5][6] At MSU she worked on the synthesis and study of carbenes, as well as on chemical education with Brian Coppola.[4]

In 1997 Goroff joined the faculty of Stony Brook University.[7] The Goroff laboratory design conjugated organic molecules, including polymers, halocarbons and buckybelts. Amongst these, Goroff is interested in organoiodine compounds (including iodoalkynes) and halogenated cumulenes. She has investigated the chemical, material and photophysical properties of poly(diiododiacetylene), a polymer known as PIDA. Goroff has shown that suspending solutions of PIDA in pyrollidine results in the formation of a highly conductive material.[7] Conjugated molecular belts, where the deconjugated π-system is shaped into a cylinder. The belts are not dissimilar to buckminsterfullerene, a spherical carbon allotrope, but has open edges that can be functionalised further. These belts have potential for nanoscale switches.[7]

In 2013 Goroff was appointed the Associate Provost for the Integration of Research at Stony Brook University.[8]

Goroff is a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.[3] Throughout the 2018 election cycle she became concerned about the anti-immigrant rhetoric of three-term Republican incumbent Lee Zeldin.[3] In 2020 Goroff ran for the 2020 United States House of Representatives,[9] going on leave from her faculty position at Stony Brook University.[3] On June 23 she won the Democratic primary, and faced Zeldin in the general election.[10][5] Goroff lost to Zeldin 55 to 45.[11]

• 2000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award[12]
• 2003 Thieme Award[13]
• 2011 Stony Brook University Award for Excellence in Service[14]
• 2013 American Chemical Society Award for Creative Research and Applications of Iodine Chemistry[15]

• Sun, Aiwu; Lauher, Joseph W.; Goroff, Nancy S. (2006-05-19). "Preparation of Poly(diiododiacetylene), an Ordered Conjugated Polymer of Carbon and Iodine". Science. 312 (5776): 1030–1034. doi:10.1126/science.1124621. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 16709780.

• "Phase Transformation of ScSZ by Reduction of NiO-ScSZ Mixture". ECS Meeting Abstracts. 2009. doi:10.1149/ma2009-02/12/1405. ISSN 2151-2043.

• Goroff, Nancy S. (1996-02-13). "Mechanism of Fullerene Formation". Accounts of Chemical Research. 29 (2): 77–83. doi:10.1021/ar950162d. ISSN 0001-4842.

• Faculty website
• Campaign website

• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission