Chemistry PIs Receive Awards

Four MSI Principal Investigators from the Department of Chemistry are receiving awards from the American Chemical Society (ACS). Those honored on April 4, 2017 at the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, California include:

• Associate Professor Erin Carlson received a 2017 Rising Star Award. This award recognizes early- to mid-career women chemists. Professor Carlson uses MSI resources for computer modeling of inhibitors of several classes of proteins. These proteins may be useful as drug targets in the development of antibacterial agents, and the models enable the researchers to visualize how the compounds bind to them.
• Professor Theresa Reineke received the 2017 Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry award. This award recognizes accomplishments and innovations in the field of basic or applied polymer science by a person younger than 45. Professor Reineke uses MSI in research that is developing polymeric materials for gene and drug delivery, as well as for the synthesis and characterization of sustainable materials.
• Professor and department chair William Tolman received the 2017 ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry. This award honors his research, teaching and mentoring, and outstanding leadership and service. Professor Tolman uses MSI for studies to gain a fundamental structural, spectroscopic, and mechanistic understanding of metalloprotein active sites of biological and environmental importance and to synthesize and characterize a variety of metal complexes for use as catalysts for the polymerization of cyclic esters and for converting biomass feedstocks to useful monomers.

The following award will be presented ACS’s Fall National Meeting in Washington, D.C. in August:

• Professor Thomas Hoye has been named to receive a 2017 ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, which honors excellence in organic chemistry. Professor Hoye uses MSI in a variety of computational-chemistry studies. These include studies of the hexadehydro-Diels-Alder reaction, research into sustainable polymeric compounds, and structural elucidation.

An article about all the 2017 ACS honorees appears on the College of Science and Engineering website: Five chemistry faculty members will receive major 2017 American Chemical awards.