George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry: Robert H. Grubbs

Sponsor: George A. Olah Award Endowment

Citation: For his fundamental work and revolutionary contributions for converting hydrocarbons to new molecules, polymers, and materials using olefin metathesis catalysis.

Current position: Victor & Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology

Education: B.S., chemistry, University of Florida; M.S., chemistry, University of Florida; Ph.D., chemistry, Columbia University

Grubbs on what he hopes to accomplish in the next decade: “Survive—to solve a few more problems.”

What his colleagues say: “Grubbs has made fundamental advances in the development of new methods and physical organic understanding that have ultimately revolutionized the way in which new materials, polymers, and novel molecular constructs are synthesized in the fields of hydrocarbon and petroleum chemistry.”—John Bercaw, California Institute of Technology