He was the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,[3] and held the Elmer H. and Ruby M. Cordes Chair in chemistry[4] at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln until 2018.
Despite the uncertainty, his grandmother, Sarah Walker, who was a strong woman and a great role model for him—was supportive and encouraged him to get an education.
[6] Francisco and his colleague Marsha Lester, the University of Pennsylvania's Edmund J. Kahn Distinguished Professor have discovered an unusual molecule that is essential to the atmosphere's ability to break down pollutants, especially the compounds that cause acid rain.
[7] Francisco says the discovery will allow scientists to better model how pollutants react in the atmosphere and to predict potential outcomes.A technical paper describing the molecule is published in a special edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
[8] Francisco's laboratory focuses on basic studies in spectroscopy, kinetics, and photochemistry of novel transient species in the gas phase.
Joe has published more than 400 journal articles, written nine book chapters and co-authored the textbook, Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics.
[6] He was appointed a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy; Professeur Invité at the Université de Paris-Est, France; a visiting professor at Uppsala Universitet,Sweden; and an Honorary International Chair Professor, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan.