Arnold was named the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at Caltech.
In 2017, Frances Arnold was named the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), one of the highest and most prestigious faculty distinctions the institute bestows.
Named in honor of the legendary two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, this professorship recognized Arnold's decades-long career at Caltech, where she had served on the faculty since 1986, and her transformative contributions to the field of protein engineering through directed evolution.
The appointment reflected Arnold's standing not just as a productive researcher but as an intellectual leader whose interdisciplinary approach—bridging chemistry, biology, and engineering—had reshaped how scientists thought about designing new proteins and enzymes.
As a professor at Caltech, Arnold had already mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who went on to notable careers in academia and industry, and her endowed chair further solidified her role in shaping the next generation of scientists working at the intersection of biology and engineering. The title came just one year before she would win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, marking the culmination of a distinguished academic career.