Awards

• Amy Cannon Is Hancock Awardee
• Grant Is Richland Chemist Of The Year
• Stone Award To Clemson's Hwu
• Two Win BIOT's Peterson Award
• Call For Nominations For Edelstein Award
• CCG To Honor Excellence In Philadelphia
• WCC Travel Grant Winners
• MEDI Predoctoral Fellows Selected

Amy Cannon Is Hancock Awardee

Amy S. Cannon, a graduate student of John C. Warner's at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, received the 2004 Kenneth G. Hancock Memo rial Award in Green Chemistry at ceremonies held in Washington, D.C. Cannon was selected for her work on designing an environmentally benign, efficient, and inexpensive titanium dioxide dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The award consists of $1,000 and is named in honor of an early proponent of green chemistry who died unexpectedly in 1994 during his tenure as director of the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation.

Titanium dioxide solar cells are typically constructed at high temperatures (400–500 °C), an energy-intensive process that limits the choice of substrate. Cannon found that the addition of catalytic amounts of trimesic acid to titanium dioxide permits the films to coalesce at ambient temperature, producing films with the same physical characteristics as those prepared by traditional methods. Cannon is also investigating a series of spiropyrans as possible cosensitizers to prevent back-electron transfer in DSSCs, thereby improving efficiency. These research projects aim to advance the development of more sustainable methods of manufacturing DSSCs.

Grant Is Richland Chemist Of The Year

Karen Grant, director of the chemistry department at Columbia Basin College, Pasco, Wash., received the 2003 Chemist of the Year Award of the ACS Richland Section on May 21. Grant was recognized for her success as a chemistry teacher at both the university and community college levels, her ability to stimulate young minds, and her contributions to the advancement of science education.

Under her direction, Columbia Basin College has developed a highly respected chemistry program, with research opportunities normally available only to students at four-year colleges. A symposium held in her honor featured a talk by Oregon State University professor Joseph Karchesy, with whom Grant has established research ties.

Grant received B.S. degrees in chemistry and physics from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, and an M.S. degree in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

Stone Award To Clemson's Hwu

The 2003 Charles H. Stone Award for outstanding contributions to chemistry in the Southeast U.S. was recently awarded to Shiou-Jyh Hwu of Clemson University in South Carolina. This award is given annually by the ACS Carolina Piedmont Section for chemical discoveries and contributions to the advancement of science or for advancement in scientific education.

Hwu has a strong record in solid-state chemistry, including the development of novel synthetic procedures for the preparation of new materials of electronic, magnetic, and catalytic importance. He is currently director of the National Science Foundation Summer Research Program in Solid-State Chemistry and is a codirector of the NSF-REU Student Exchange Program between Clemson and research institutions in Taiwan.

Hwu received his B.S. degree in chemistry in 1978 from Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan, and his Ph.D. in inorganic solid-state chemistry in 1985 from Iowa State University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, Hwu joined the faculty of Rice University in 1988. He moved to Clemson in 1995.

Nominations for the 2004 Charles H. Stone Award are currently being sought; e-mail dmcdonal@cvcc.edu for information.

Two Win BIOT's Peterson Award

The ACS Division of Biochemical Technology each year gives W. H. Peterson Awards to student members who present outstanding research work in sessions sponsored by the division at ACS national meetings. The 2004 winners are the following:

◾ Best Oral Presentation--Brian M. Baynes, Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Stabilization of Proteins against Aggregation."

◾ Best Poster Presentation--Kaushal Rege; Department of Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.; "Parallel Synthesis and High-Throughput Evaluation of Novel Multivalent Polycations and Cationic Polymers for DNA Binding."

Call For Nominations For Edelstein Award

The ACS Division of the History of Chemistry is soliciting nominations for the 2005 Sidney M. Edelstein Award for Outstanding Achievements in the History of Chemistry.

The award winner will receive an engraved plaque and $3,500. Each nomination should consist of a complete curriculum vitae for the nominee, including biographical data, education, publications, presentations, awards, honors, and other services to the profession; a letter of nomination that summarizes the nominee's achievements in the field of history of chemistry and cites his or her contributions that merit a major award; and at least two seconding letters. Copies of no more than three publications may also be included.

All nominations should be sent in triplicate no later than Dec. 31 to Alan Rocke, Chairman, Edelstein Award Committee for 2005, History Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106; e-mail: alan.rocke@case.edu.

CCG To Honor Excellence In Philadelphia

Chemical Computing Group (CCG) and the ACS Division of Computers in Chemistry (COMP) have announced the latest winners of the CCG Excellence Awards for the 228th ACS national meeting in Philadelphia.

The CCG Excellence Awards are designed to encourage graduate student participation and interaction among computational chemists in COMP division activities at national meetings. Winners are selected according to the excellence and relevance of their research, as well as the quality of supporting materials. The winners will receive a one-year software license for the most recent version of MOEtm, the Molecular Operating Environment, in addition to reimbursement for travel expenses to Philadelphia. Following are the winners:

◾Raphaël Geney, State University of New York, Stony Brook

◾Rajarshi Guha, Pennsylvania State University

◾David J. Harriman, University of New Brunswick, Canada

◾Linnan He, Pennsylvania State University

◾Christopher Hixson, University of Oklahoma

◾Devleena Mazumder, University of California, Santa Barbara

◾Scott Oloff, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

◾Somianarayanan Rajamani, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.

◾Michael Shirts, Stanford University

◾Shuxing (King) Zhang, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

WCC Travel Grant Winners

As recipients of Women Chemists Committee Travel Awards, 11 female chemists will attend at least one scientific meeting each between July 1 and Dec. 31.

Stacie A. Calad of the University of California, Irvine, will travel to the fall ACS meeting to discuss her research, "Metal-Catalyzed Silylene Transfer to Carbonyl Compounds." Joy A. Cunningham of the University of Maryland will also attend the ACS meeting to speak on "Single-Molecule Protein Folding: A Study of the Surface-Mediated Conformational Dynamics of a Model Amphipathic Peptide." Rice University's Gia C. Fazio will head to the 2004 Yeast Genetics & Molecular Biology Meeting to present research titled "Genome Mining To Produce Novel Triterpenes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae."

Sarah E. Graham of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, will attend the 28th International Symposium & Exhibit on High Performance Liquid Phase Separation & Related Techniques, in Philadelphia, to speak on "The Pharmacokinetics of Ecstasy: Analyzing Complex Mixtures using Chemometric Methods." Kristy A. Gregg from Wayne State University, Detroit, will attend the fall ACS national meeting to present research titled "Synthesis, Characterization, and Morphological Control of MnP Nanoparticles." Also at the meeting will be the University of Virginia's Debjani P. Hudgens ("Development of Novel Sodium Channel Blockers Based on an Amitriptyline Scaffold toward the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain") and Northwestern University's Anita E. Mattson ("The Thiazolium-Catalyzed Sila-Stetter Reaction: Conjugate Addition of Acylsilanes to Unsaturated Esters and Ketones").

Dana L. Mazzaro of Montclair State University, in New Jersey, will head to the 18th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education to speak on "High School Students' Opinions of Copying in the Classroom Laboratory," while the University of Utah's Valeria L. O'Shea will attend the fall ACS national meeting to present work titled "Probing the Structure and Function of the Adenine Glycosylase MutY." Gwen M. Panian from Northern Michigan University, Marquette, will attend the 9th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease & Related Disorders to present her research, "Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Analyses of Ligand-Binding to ₂-Macroglobulin," and Kristen E. Secor of Pennsylvania State University will attend the fall ACS national meeting to present "Development of a Chemosensor for Dopamine."

MEDI Predoctoral Fellows Selected

The ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry has chosen six graduate students to receive its 2004–2005 Predoctoral Fellowships. Awarded annually to third- or fourth-year doctoral students engaged in medicinal chemistry research, the fellowships (each sponsored by a pharmaceutical company) provide a $20,000 stipend and travel funds to attend the 2005 fall ACS meeting. There, awardees are expected to make an oral presentation on their research results at an award symposium.

Jeremy Baryza, who has been a graduate student at Stanford University since 2000, works under Paul A. Wender. Baryza is studying the design of new molecules for the treatment and understanding of human disease, using natural products as lead structures. He is focusing on designing and testing functional analogs of bryostatin for the treatment of cancer. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry and chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1996.

David A. Colby, a third-year grad student in A. Richard Chamberlin's lab at the University of California, Irvine, received a Pharm.D. from the University of Iowa. Colby is working on structure-based design of selective protein phosphatase inhibitors using simplified analogs of okadaic acid, a complex marine natural product.

Evan S. Krygowski, a Harvard University grad student working with Matthew D. Shair, is researching the total synthesis of lomaiviticin A, a marine antibiotic and antitumor compound. Krygowski received a combined B.S./M.S. degree in chemistry from Yale University.

Kristin L. Meagher has been working under Heather A. Carlson at the University of Michigan since 2000 on developing new methods to incorporate protein flexibility into structure-based design. Kristin received a B.A. degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 1997 and worked briefly for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

University of Kansas third-year grad student Christina S. Stauffer received a B.S. degree in biochemistry from Grove City College, in Pennsylvania, in 2001. She works with Apurba Dutta on the design, synthesis, structural modification, and biological evaluation of complex peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics.

Steven L. Warner, a fourth-year grad student in the lab of Laurence H. Hurley at the University of Arizona, is developing novel ATP-competitive inhibitors of the aurora kinases for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Warner received a B.S. degree in botany from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, in 2001.