Chemists win Women in Science award

Two chemists are among the five recipients of the 2017 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in the Physical Sciences, presented by the L’Oréal Foundation and the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Zenan Bao, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University, is being honored for her outstanding contribution to and mastery of the development of novel functional polymers for consumer electronics, energy storage, and biomedical applications.

Niveen Khashab, associate professor of chemical science and engineering at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology in Saudi Arabia, is being recognized for her contributions to innovative smart hybrid materials aimed at drug delivery and for developing new techniques to monitor intracellular antioxidant activity.

The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards program identifies and supports eminent women in science throughout the world, and each year, five award laureates are recognized for their contributions to the advancement of science.

The other laureates are physicist Michelle Simmons of Australia, physicist Nicola Spaldin of Britain, and astronomer Maria Teresa Ruiz of Chile. The winners will be honored in Paris on March 23, 2017, and each will receive €100,000 (approximately $107,400) to further their research.