Awards

• Kuuranne Garners Donike Award
• Applicants Wanted For Student Award
• BIOT Presents Two Peterson Awards
• Nicholas Turro Is Förster Lecturer
• DuPont Announces Lavoisier Medalists

Kuuranne Garners Donike Award

Agilent technologies' 2005 manfred Donike Award for scientific excellence in doping control has been awarded to Tiia Kuuranne, researcher at the Doping Control Laboratory of United Laboratories Ltd., Helsinki, Finland. Kuuranne was honored for her research involving the synthesis and analysis of steroid metabolites. Her work resulted in the first reference compounds of this type and is an important contribution in the development of analytical methods used in doping control laboratories.

Agilent sponsors this annual award to recognize distinguished scientific contributions in the field of sports medicine. Award winners are scientists who exemplify the spirit and scientific leadership of doping control pioneer Manfred Donike, the late professor of biochemistry and director of the Institute for Biochemistry at the German Sport University in Cologne, whose contributions significantly advanced the cause of fairness in sports competition.

The award consists of a medallion and a cash prize of $3,500. Marie Donike, wife of the late professor, and Stuart Cram of Agilent presented the award on March 3 at the 23rd Annual Manfred Donike Doping-Control Workshop in Cologne, Germany.

"Kuuranne's research represents an important step forward in the method development and defensibility of all doping control laboratories," Cram said. "Her work is further proof that professor Donike's pioneering contributions and visionary leadership in developing antidoping methods and technologies for international sporting competition continue to level the playing field for all athletes."

Applicants Wanted For Student Award

The ACS Division of Petroleum Chemistry has established two annual awards for graduate and undergraduate students presenting papers at symposia organized, co-organized, or sponsored by the division. The first award, the Ellis Fields Memorial Student Award, will be made at the 230th ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C., in August. Students presenting papers at the meeting are invited to apply for this award. Award guidelines and application details are available online at membership.acs.org/p/petr/new/studentawards.htm. The deadline for receipt of applications is July 1.

BIOT Presents Two Peterson Awards

The W. H. Peterson awards are given each year by the ACS Division of Biochemical Technology to student members who present outstanding research work in sessions that the division sponsors at ACS national meetings. BIOT is pleased to have Invitrogen Corp. (Gibco Cell Culture) as a continuing financial sponsor of the award. The 2005 winners are as follows:

◾ Best Oral Presentation--Gargi Seth; department of chemical engineering and materials science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, "Engineering Mammalian Cells for Bioprocessing by Altering Epigenetic Gene Silencing."

◾ Best Poster Presentation--Ryan Woodyer; department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, "Protein Engineering of Phosphate Dehydrogenase for NADP(H) Regeneration."

Nicholas Turro Is Förster Lecturer

Nicholas J. Turro, William P. Schweitzer Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, is the 2005 Theodor Förster Le cturer. The lectureship is awarded by the Photochemistry Section of the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry. It was presented at the 29th meeting of the GDCh Photochemistry Section in Jena, Germany, on March 31.

Turro has more than 800 publications with one general theme: the interaction of light with matter under special conditions. His work encompasses nearly every area of organic photochemistry: the classification of photochemical reactions; the photochemistry of carbonyl compounds, singlet oxygen, and dioxetanes; magnetic field and isotope effects on radical pair reactions; and photochemistry in micelles and zeolites with DNA and with dendrimers. The last aspects highlight his fundamental influence on the rapidly expanding field of supramolecular chemistry and photochemistry.

DuPont Announces Lavoisier Medalists

Each year, dupont designates recipients of the Lavoisier Medal for Technical Achievement. This medal recognizes DuPont scientists and engineers who have made outstanding contributions to the company and to their scientific fields throughout their careers.

The 2005 awardees are Vlodek Gabara, DuPont Fellow in Advanced Fiber Systems; Harry J. Kamack, retired principal design consultant for DuPont Engineering; and Melvin I. Kohan, retired senior research associate for Engineering Polymers.

Gabara, a researcher at DuPont for 36 years, works at the Spruance Plant in Richmond, Va. His exceptional work on DuPont Kevlar high-performance fiber polymerization was essential in the design of the first commercial Kevlar production plant. He is currently leading strategic projects to create opportunities for the future of advanced fibers and to establish DuPont's high-performance fiber position in China.

Kamack joined DuPont in 1942 but soon after was assigned to the Manhattan Project to help design equipment at the University of Chicago; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Hanford Works in Washington state. After World War II, he led the project to design the heavy-water-moderated reactor at Savannah River Works in South Carolina. Later, he developed the engineering for continuous polymerization of polyester fiber. He retired from DuPont in 1978.

Kohan spent his 37-year career working on polymers and continues to consult more than 20 years after retiring. From 1950 until 1982, Kohan worked at the DuPont Experimental Station, in Wilmington, Del. Most of his research focused on the use of nylon as an engineering thermoplastic. His fundamental studies on thermal stability were essential for commercialization of DuPont Delrin polyacetal homopolymer. He served as editor of two editions of the "Nylon Plastics Handbook."

"We are proud to honor these remarkable individuals who so ably built on fundamental science to create sustainable products for the marketplace," DuPont Chief Science & Technology Officer Thomas M. Connelly Jr. commented. Recipients will be honored at the Science Excellence Ceremony on June 16 at the DuPont Theatre in Wilmington.