Julia A. Rutherford

Julia A. Rutherford, 21, a student at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., died on July 3 in a hiking accident in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state.

Rutherford graduated from Eatonville High School in Eatonville, Wash., in 2008 as a National Merit Scholar. At the time of her death, she was studying physics and chemistry at Pacific Lutheran University. She had planned to graduate in May 2012 and then earn a doctorate.

She recently received a National Student Leadership Award from ACS, which she joined in 2009 as an undergraduate student member. She was active in Pacific Lutheran’s student ACS chapter and in promoting the society’s Chemistry Ambassadors program. On Sept. 12, the ACS Puget Sound Section established a scholarship for chemistry undergraduates in her name.

“Julia was a rising star,” says Craig Fryhle, professor and chair of Pacific Lutheran’s chemistry department. “I have no doubt that she would have made remarkable contributions to chemistry and to science in general.”

At Pacific Lutheran, Rutherford was active in the orchestra, chamber choir, and chemistry club. She was accomplished in the sport of fencing.

She is survived by her parents, Kelly and Bertha; brother, Ian; and longtime friend Peter Borschowa.