Following are the recipients of the 2012 National Awards administered by the American Chemical Society. Vignettes of the award recipients appeared in C&EN in January and February 2012. These National Award recipients, with the exception of the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards recipients, will be honored at the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, March 27, 2012, in conjunction with the 243rd ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA. The Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award recipients will be honored during the fall national meeting in Philadelphia, PA.
| Award Name | Recipient | Citation |
| ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry sponsored by Pearson Education | Loretta L. Jones, University of Northern Colorado Vignette | For pioneering work in multimedia development and design, for seminal research on its instructional effectiveness, and for promoting the field of chemical education research. |
| ACS Award for Affordable Green Chemistry sponsored by The Dow Chemical Company and endowed by Rohm and Haas Company | William J. Kruper, The Dow Chemical Company Vignette | For pioneering innovations leading to an economically advantaged, green manufacturing process for the world-scale conversion of glycerin to epichlorohydrin, an essential intermediate in epoxy production. |
| ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research sponsored by Accelrys, Inc. | Weitao Yang, Duke University Vignette | For contributions to the development of density functional theory, linear scaling calculations of electronic structure, and multiscale modeling of catalysis in enzymes. |
| ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology sponsored by the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry | Vicki H. Grassian, University of Iowa Vignette | For original and creative contributions in understanding mineral dust aerosol properties through laboratory studies and their impact on atmospheric chemistry and climate. |
| ACS Award for Creative Invention sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates | Chad A. Mirkin, Northwestern University Vignette | For inventing the polyvalent nucleic acid nanoparticle conjugate, which established the field of nanoparticle-based biodiagnostics and formed the technological foundation for Nanosphere’s Verigene System. |
| ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry sponsored by Honeywell | David O'Hagan, University of St Andrews, Scotland Vignette | For synthesis and biosynthesis work in organic and bio-organic fluorine chemistry, including the origins of fluorinated natural products and isolation of the fluorinase enzyme. |
| ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry sponsored by the Aldrich Chemical Company, LLC | Gregory C. Fu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Vignette | For fundamental contributions to organic synthesis, particularly in the areas of asymmetric catalysis and cross-coupling methodology. |
| ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry sponsored by Strem Chemicals, Inc. | Arnold L. Rheingold, University of California, San Diego Vignette | For conspicuous and prolific efforts in advancing preparative inorganic chemistry via collaborative X-ray diffraction structural analyses. |
| ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences sponsored by The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. | Todd Pagano, Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute for the Deaf Vignette | For tireless dedication, immeasurable impact, and valued leadership in breaking down barriers and encouraging underrepresented students into careers in the chemical sciences. |
| ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences sponsored by The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. | Yves J. Chabal, University of Texas at Dallas Vignette | For dedicated and effective mentoring of women chemists at critical points in their careers. |
| ACS Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution sponsored by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement | David K. Lewis, Connecticut College Vignette | For a career-long commitment to fostering undergraduate research at the national, institutional, and personal research group level, and especially for encouraging members of underrepresented populations. |
| ACS Award for Team Innovation sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates | Raymond E. Boucher, Jr., Dow AgroSciences LLC Vignette | For working seamlessly across disciplines and playing a critical role in the development and speed to market of spinetoram, an innovative insecticide from Dow AgroSciences. |
| ACS Award for Team Innovation sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates | James E. Dripps, Dow AgroSciences LLC Vignette | For working seamlessly across disciplines and playing a critical role in the development and speed to market of spinetoram, an innovative insecticide from Dow AgroSciences. |
| ACS Award for Team Innovation sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates | Donald E. Kelley, Dow AgroSciences LLC Vignette | For working seamlessly across disciplines and playing a critical role in the development and speed to market of spinetoram, an innovative insecticide from Dow AgroSciences. |
| ACS Award for Team Innovation sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates | Nick D. Simmons, Dow AgroSciences LLC Vignette | For working seamlessly across disciplines and playing a critical role in the development and speed to market of spinetoram, an innovative insecticide from Dow AgroSciences. |
| ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry sponsored by Battelle Memorial Institute | Nicholas Winograd, The Pennsylvania State University Vignette | For combining advanced theoretical principles and innovative experiments that led to ultrahigh sensitivity molecular characterization at surfaces and molecule-specific imaging of biomaterials. |
| ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science sponsored by Eastman Chemical Company | John R. Reynolds, University of Florida Vignette | For the highly creative design, realization, and implementation of electron-rich, redox-active, and electrochromic polymers for new polymeric materials and devices. |
| ACS Award in Chromatography sponsored by Supelco/Sigma-Aldrich | Wolfgang F. Lindner, University of Vienna, Austria Vignette | For outstanding contributions to separation science with an interdisciplinary focus on selectivity principles, stereoselective molecular recognition phenomena, development of chiral selectors, and chromatographic resolution of enantiomers. |
| ACS Award in Colloid and Surface Chemistry sponsored by The Procter & Gamble Company | Robert J. Hamers, University of Wisconsin, Madison Vignette | For seminal mechanistic insights into chemical and photochemical reactivity of material surfaces and the application of these insights to the creation of practical, functionalized surfaces with exceptional selectivity and stability. |
| ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Division of Business Development and Management and the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry | Thomas F. Degnan, Jr., ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company Vignette | For outstanding contributions in discovering, developing, and commercializing novel molecular sieves and developing related catalytic processes that have significantly improved fuels, lubricants, and petrochemicals manufacture. |
| ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry sponsored by the Aldrich Chemical Company, LLC | Clifford P. Kubiak, University of California, San Diego Vignette | For his seminal contributions that have enhanced our understanding of mixed valence systems, the fixation of carbon dioxide, and nanoscience. |
| ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry sponsored by The Dow Chemical Company Foundation | Philip P. Power, University of California, Davis Vignette | For recent achievements in organometallic chemistry: extending our knowledge to new classes of compounds and demonstrating that these unusual compounds have remarkable reactivity with important small molecules. |
| ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry sponsored by ExxonMobil Chemical Company | Edwin L. (Ned) Thomas, Rice University Vignette | For pioneering studies on complex polymer microstructures and technological applications of nanostructured block copolymers. |
| ACS Award in Pure Chemistry sponsored by the Alpha Chi Sigma Fraternity and the Alpha Chi Sigma Educational Foundation | Oleg V. Ozerov, Texas A&M University Vignette | For the discovery of novel bond-making and bond-breaking reactions mediated by transition metal and main group derivatives. |
| ACS Award in Separations Science and Technology sponsored by Waters Corporation | Milton L. Lee, Brigham Young University Vignette | For significant contributions in column technology and instrumentation for analytical micro-separation techniques. |
| ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials sponsored by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | Richard B. Kaner, University of California, Los Angeles Vignette | For the development of simple, high-yield, widely applicable synthetic routes to important materials, including conducting polymer nanofibers, ultra-incompressible superhard ceramics, and carbon nanostructures, including graphene. |
| ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry sponsored by Dell Incorporated | Peter G. Wolynes, Rice University Vignette | For discoveries concerning many-body phenomena in chemistry, biology, and physics, including the role of energy landscapes in determining the dynamics and folding of proteins and the glass transition. |
| Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society sponsored by the American Chemical Society | Ingrid C. Montes, University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras Vignette | For being a champion of chemistry and having unparalleled productivity, selfless dedication, and a far-reaching impact on ACS, its members, its Student chapters, and the wider public. |
| Arthur W. Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry and the ACS Publications journal Langmuir | Steven J. Sibener, University of Chicago Vignette | For definitive contributions toward understanding dynamical processes that underlie surface chemistry, through innovative experimentation and profound analysis. |
| Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry sponsored by the Alfred R. Bader Fund | Brian M. Hoffman, Northwestern University Vignette | For developing ENDOR spectroscopy as central in determining metalloenzyme catalytic mechanisms, with hardly a major problem to which his skills have not been applied. |
| Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management sponsored by The Dow Chemical Company Foundation | Ben A. Christolini, UOP, A Honeywell Company Vignette | For technology breakthroughs in refining and petrochemical technologies: game-changing catalytic process and catalysts, advanced catalyst manufacturing vision, with over 50 new products and technologies commercialized. |
| Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry sponsored by the Ronald Breslow Award Endowment | Alanna Schepartz, Yale University Vignette | For the pioneering use of α- and β-peptides to elucidate fundamental and paradigmatic principles of molecular recognition controlling protein–DNA and protein–protein interactions. |
| Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods sponsored by the Purdue Borane Research Fund and the Herbert C. Brown Award Endowment | Jonathan A. Ellman, Yale University Vignette | For the development of robust and general synthetic methods, particularly the asymmetric synthesis of tert-butanesulfinamide and its application as an extremely versatile chiral amine reagent. |
| Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline | F. Ivy Carroll, Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Research Triangle Institute Vignette | For being an internationally recognized medicinal chemist who has made distinguished contributions to development of selective ligands for monoamine transporters and opioid and nicotinic receptors. |
| James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. | Roxie Allen, St. John’s School, Houston, Texas Vignette | For being an excellent chemistry teacher who knows no bounds. She makes chemical education accessible for all. |
| Arthur C. Cope Award sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Chi-Huey Wong, The Scripps Research Institute and Academia Sinica, Taiwan Vignette | For pioneering work on the development of programmable chemical and enzymatic synthesis methods to solve problems in carbohydrate chemistry and biology. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Squire J. Booker, The Pennsylvania State University Vignette | For providing insight into the mechanisms by which enzymes use S-adenosylmethionine to generate controlled high-energy carbon-centered radicals, which act as key intermediates in a variety of reactions that are kinetically challenged. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Timothy F. Jamison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Vignette | For creative work on nickel-catalyzed coupling and epoxide cyclization reactions. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Anna K. Mapp, University of Michigan Vignette | For contributions at the interface of organic chemistry and chemical biology that have led to advances in the understanding and control of eukaryotic transcription. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Jin-Quan Yu, The Scripps Research Institute Vignette | For his outstanding contributions to the field of C–H activation and their application to chemical synthesis. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | E.W. “Bert” Meijer, Eindhoven University of Technology, Institute for Complex Molecular Systems Vignette | For creative and visionary use of supramolecular interaction to create novel functional self-assembled architectures, which has introduced new materials and the concept of multistep non-covalent synthesis. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Jeffrey Aubé, University of Kansas Vignette | For the development of nucleophilic reactions of alkyl azides, total synthesis of alkaloids, and biomedical applications of organic synthesis. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Michael R. Wasielewski, Northwestern University Vignette | For discovering fundamental insights into the relationship between organic supramolecular structure and the dynamics of energy and electron transfer. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | David I. Schuster, New York University Vignette | For pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding of photochemical and photophysical phenomena. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Scott A. Snyder, Columbia University Vignette | For creative contributions to total synthesis strategy and reaction development. |
| Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund | Yi Tang, University of California, Los Angeles Vignette | For contributions to our understanding of the enzymology, mechanisms, and engineering of natural product biosynthesis. |
| Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator sponsored by the Pfizer Endowment Fund | Jeffrey S. Johnson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Vignette | For the development of powerful new chemical transformations and their application to the highly expeditious synthesis of complex natural products. |
| F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry sponsored by the F. Albert Cotton Endowment Fund | Christopher A. Reed, University of California, Riverside Vignette | For the discovery of the strongest (yet gentlest) acid and for creative inorganic chemistry across the periodic table. |
| Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry sponsored by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | David Chandler, University of California, Berkeley Vignette | For a unified theory of hydrophobicity, and for the development of transition path sampling, leading to an understanding of dynamic pathways in complex chemical systems. |
| Frank H. Field and Joe L. Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry sponsored by Waters Corporation | Scott A. McLuckey, Purdue University Vignette | For distinguished contributions to biological mass spectrometry via gaseous ion chemistry research involving biological molecules and via development of novel instrumentation and methodologies for biological ion. |
| Francis P. Garvan - John M. Olin Medal sponsored by the Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal Endowment | Sue B. Clark, Washington State University Vignette | For seminal contributions to understanding chemistry governing behavior of actinides in the environment, and tireless efforts to bring gender diversity to university chemistry departments. |
| James T. Grady - James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public sponsored by the American Chemical Society | Paul Raeburn, Journalist, Author, and Blogger Vignette | For extraordinary achievement in public communication of science in newspaper and magazine articles, books, radio and television, and online. |
| Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products sponsored by Givaudan | Stephen Hanessian, University of Montreal, Canada and the University of California, Irvine Vignette | For a unique vision and approach to organic synthesis in general, and natural products in particular, in which creativity, diversity, innovation, and practicality are combined. |
| Joel Henry Hildebrand Award in the Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids sponsored by the ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company | William L. Jorgensen, Yale University Vignette | For seminal contributions to facilitate modeling chemistry in solution and for their application to the study of reactions, solvent effects, and protein–ligand binding. |
| Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry sponsored by Merck Research Laboratories | Jeffrey W. Kelly, The Scripps Research Institute Vignette | For an extraordinary blending of chemistry and biology to elucidate the roles of peptides and proteins in normal and pathological physiology. |
| Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry sponsored by Dow Corning Corporation | Mitsuo Kira, Tohoku University, Japan Vignette | For the spectacular synthesis, isolation, and characterization of the first trisilaallene, providing unique insights into the nature of bonding of unsaturated silicon compounds. |
| Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics sponsored by GE Global Research and the ACS Division of Physical Chemistry | James L. Skinner, University of Wisconsin, Madison Vignette | For pioneering development of theoretical models and calculations that incisively describe spectroscopy and dynamics of molecules in condensed phases and guide their experimental study. |
| E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry sponsored by the ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company | Michael F. Doherty, University of California, Santa Barbara Vignette | For creative research, based on physical chemistry and advanced mathematics, toward quantitative descriptions of difficult separation operations, including distillation of reactive and azeotropic mixtures. |
| Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry sponsored by Avantor™ Performance Materials | Xin Zhang, The Scripps Research Institute Vignette | For pioneering mechanistic studies on the fidelity of protein targeting mediated by the signal recognition particle system. |
| Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry sponsored by Avantor™ Performance Materials | Shu-ou Shan, California Institute of Technology Vignette | For pioneering mechanistic studies on the fidelity of protein targeting mediated by the signal recognition particle system. |
| James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Northeastern Section | Hans J. Reich, University of Wisconsin, Madison Vignette | For pioneering contributions to the understanding of the structure of main-group organometallic reagents, their dynamic behavior in solution, and their mechanisms of reaction. |
| George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry sponsored by the George A. Olah Award Endowment | James A. Dumesic, University of Wisconsin, Madison Vignette | For groundbreaking contributions to the literature and practice of catalytic hydrocarbon chemistry, laying the foundations for transforming renewable biomass products to liquid fuels and chemicals. |
| Priestley Medal sponsored by the American Chemical Society | Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Priestley Medal Address | For revolutionary discoveries in the areas of polymeric controlled release systems and tissue engineering and synthesis of new materials that led to new medical treatments. |
| George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education sponsored by Cengage Learning and friends and colleagues of George and Jeanne Pimentel | Diane M. Bunce, Catholic University of America Vignette | For selfless dedication to mentoring chemistry educators and extraordinary dedication to the field of chemical education. |
| Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology | Silvia S. Jurisson, University of Missouri, Columbia Vignette | For distinguished work in radioinorganic and radiopharmaceutical chemistry, which is saving lives and protecting the environment. She is visionary in educating the next generation of radiochemists. |
| Gabor A. Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis sponsored by the Gabor A. and Judith K. Somorjai Endowment Fund | Enrique Iglesia, University of California, Berkeley Vignette | For exceptional work on the elucidation of catalyst structure–function relationships and the development of practical catalysts and for his leadership in the field of catalysis. |
| George and Christine Sosnovsky Award for Cancer Research sponsored by the George and Christine Sosnovsky Endowment Fund | Lawrence J. Marnett, Vanderbilt University Vignette | For superbly combining chemistry and biology to elucidate pathways by which inflammation leads to cancer, and successfully targeting cyclooxygenase-2 for early detection of cancer. |
| E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy sponsored by the ACS Division of Physical Chemistry | Robert W. Field, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Vignette | For spectroscopic insights and experimental methods, such as stimulated emission pumping, which reveal chemically relevant large-amplitude dynamics encoded in the spectra of highly excited molecules. |
| Ahmed Zewail Award in Ultrafast Science and Technology sponsored by the Ahmed Zewail Endowment Fund established by the Newport Corporation (Newport) | Keith A. Nelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Vignette | For his innovations in the development of impulsive and shaped-pulse ultrafast spectroscopy for the study of dynamics in liquids and solids. |
| National Fresenius Award sponsored by Phi Lamda Upsilon, The National Chemistry Honor Society | Raymond E. Schaak, Pennsylvania State University Vignette | For advances in the synthesis of inorganic solids and nanomaterials, including mechanistic insights into reaction pathways and chemical reactions of nanoscale solids. |
Log In