Nsf Bestows Teaching and Research Honors

The National Science Foundation will present eight educators with the Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars at a ceremony on June 2. The recipients, who are being honored for excellence in both teaching and research, will each receive a grant worth about $300,000.

Four of the award winners have ties to chemistry or chemical engineering. Walter C. Oechel, a biology professor who heads the Global Change Research Group at San Diego State University, studies factors that affect productivity and growth of plants and ecosystems, including CO₂ regulation and balance. He will use his grant to design Web-based lessons on climate change.

David F. Ollis, a chemical engineering professor at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, is interested in biotechnology and photocatalysis. Ollis, who is a proponent of hands-on learning, has created a course in which freshmen disassemble items such as photocopiers to learn engineering concepts.

Susan E. Powers, civil and environmental engineering professor at Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y., concentrates on the transport of contaminants in subsurface environments. She directs a program that brings graduate students into elementary and secondary schools to help with instruction.

Julio J. Ramirez, a psychology professor and neuroscientist at Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., investigates the recovery of memory after injury to the central nervous system. His grant will help support a summer research program in neuroscience for undergraduates.