James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public: Bassam Z. Shakhashiri

Sponsor: ACS

Citation: For celebrating the joy of chemistry with kids of all ages and sparking appreciation of science in an extraordinary number of public engagements and media.

Current position: professor of chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Education:A.B., chemistry, Boston University; M.Sc., chemistry, University of Maryland; Ph.D., chemistry, University of Maryland

Shakhashiri on what gets his creative juices flowing:“The grand challenges that face society and scientists—the denial of basic human rights, especially the right to benefit from scientific and technological advances, climate change, limited resources, population growth, malnutrition, spreading disease, deadly violence, and war—motivate me to better connect scientists to society and to advocate for our role as scientist-citizens. All in keeping with the ACS mission of advancing the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people.”

What his colleagues say: “Through an extraordinary number of appearances in person and in the media, Dr. Shakhashiri has shared his love of chemistry with an audience of hundreds of thousands of viewers. Through these outreach activities, he boosts science literacy so the public can make better-informed decisions based on an appreciation of the benefits science brings to their lives.”—Glenn Ruskin, American Chemical Society

Please send announcements of awards to l_wang@acs.org.