Linda R. Raber, ACS News Editor

2003 Buck-Whitney Award Goes To Szyperski
Thomas Szyperski, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and director of its High-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility, will receive the 15th Buck-Whitney Award from the ACS Eastern New York Section for his work on the development of new NMR techniques for studying biological macromolecules, the systematic use of NMR techniques for metabolic studies, and the structure determinations of proteins. The award, which consists of a bronze medal, a citation, and an honorarium, will be presented at the 2003 Northeast Regional Meeting, June 15 18, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Buck-Whitney Award honors two of the section's deceased members: Johannes S. Buck, former associate research director of the Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute, and Willis R. Whitney, the first director of the General Electric Research Laboratory.

IUPAC Announces Winners Of Prize For Young Chemists
Five scientists will receive the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry's (IUPAC) Prize for Young Chemists, an award for the best Ph.D. thesis in the chemical sciences as described in a 1,000-word essay. The winners are Roman Boulatov, Stanford University; Gonzalo Cosa, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Martin Trent Lemaire, University of Victoria, British Columbia; Christoph Schaffrath, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; and Kaihsu Tai, the University of California, San Diego.

The five winners will each receive a cash prize of $1,000 and a free trip to the IUPAC Congress on Aug. 10–15 in Ottawa; the awards will be presented during the congress' opening ceremony. The prizewinners will also be invited to present posters at the congress describing their award-winning work.

The winners' theses can be found on the IUPAC website and consist of the following: Boulatov, "Synthesis and Reactivity of Metalloporphyrins in (a) Biomimetic Studies of Terminal Oxidases and (b) the Preparation of Novel Heterodinuclear Multiple Metal-Metal Bonds"; Cosa, "Mechanism of Degradation of Pharmaceutical Products and Analogues and Development of a Novel Fluorescence Technique for DNA-Damage Detection"; Lemaire, "Synthesis and Coordination Chemistry of Chelating Verdazyl Radicals"; Schaffrath, "Biosynthesis and Enzymology of Fluorometabolite Production in Streptomyces cattleya"; and Tai, "Simulations of Molecules and Processes in the Synapse."

The prize selection committee consisted of members of the IUPAC bureau with a wide range of chemistry interests and was chaired by Alan Hayes, an IUPAC past-pr esident. Applications for 2004 prizes are now being solicited; more information can be found on the IUPAC website, http://www.iupac.org.

Bielawski Gets Unilever Award

	Christoper Bielawski

The recipient of the 2003 Unilever Award for Outstanding Graduate Research is Christopher W. Bielawski, who received his doctorate in October 2002 from the California Institute of Technology under the direction of Robert H. Grubbs. The Unilever Award, which will be presented at the fall ACS national meeting in New York City, consists of a $2,000 prize, a plaque, and travel expenses. The award, administered by the Polymer Education Committee of the Polymer Chemistry & Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering Divisions, was established in 1991 and is sponsored by Unilever, a global manufacturer of consumer products, foods, and specialty chemicals. The award recognizes and encourages outstanding graduate research in the design, synthesis, and physical chemistry of polymers.

Bielawski's research efforts were directed toward establishing new concepts and strategies in macromolecular synthesis through the development of designer Ru catalysts. For example, the efficient synthesis of copolymers with segments that require two or more different polymerization techniques remains challenging, as multiple steps are usually necessary. To circumvent this drawback, Bielawski developed a series of catalysts that are capable of simultaneously mediating two mechanistically distinct polymerizations (that is, ring-opening metathesis polymerization and atom-transfer radical polymerization). This has enabled the preparation of a variety of complex block copolymers in a single pot.

A second aspect of Bielawski's research has focused on the synthesis of cyclic polymers. Traditionally, such polymers are made through the intramolecular coupling of linear precursors. However, such cyclizations are rarely quantitative, and the extremely dilute conditions that are required place limits on the ability to prepare substantial amounts of pure cyclic polymer. By adding monomer to a "cyclic" catalyst, Bielawski demonstrated that both ends of the growing polymer chain remain attached to the catalyst so the polymer topology remains cyclic throughout the entire reaction.

Northeast Georgia Section Gives Two Awards
The ACS Northeast Georgia Section has awarded its 2003 DuPont Award for Outstanding High School Instruction to Sukla Bhattacharyya and its 2003 Chemist of the Year for Research Award to James H. Prestegard.

Bhattacharyya, of Clarke Central High School, was selected from among 40 high school chemistry teachers in northeast Georgia. She received a plaque and $500, which is provided each year by DuPont. Battacharyya has been selected by the staff at Clarke Central as teacher of the year, she has been selected twice as the star teacher of the Clarke County School District, and she is listed in "Who's Who Among American High School Teachers."

Prestegard is a professor and eminent scholar at the University of Georgia's (UGA) Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and the school's departments of chemistry and biochemistry and molecular biology. Among his recent accomplishments, he helped create a Center of Excellence in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies at UGA that culminated in the award of a $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and the Georgia Research Alliance for the purchase and use of a 900-MHz NMR spectrometer. Prestegard has supervised 33 Ph.D. students, produced more than 200 publications, and received several awards, including the 2002 Günther Laukien Prize for his pioneering studies in NMR spectroscopy.

Rabitz Receives Lamb Medal
Herschel A. Rabitz, a professor of chemistry at Princeton University, received the Willis E. Lamb Medal for Laser Science & Quantum Optics at the 33rd Winter Conference on the Physics of Quantum Electronics at Snowbird, in Utah, in January.

Rabitz' accomplishments include developing a general formulation for using experimental observations to yield fundamental insights into molecules, which led to elucidation of how microscopic molecular interactions manifest themselves macroscopically. He has also done foundational work in coherent optimal control over chemical phenomena.

Rabitz obtained a B.S. in chemistry in 1966 at the University of California, Berkeley, before receiving a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University in 1970. After a year of postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he joined the faculty of Princeton. He has authored more than 585 scientific publications.

Call For Nominations For Thomas Midgley Award
The ACS Detroit Section has issued a call for nominations for the 2003 Thomas Midgley Award. Established in 1965, this endowed award recognizes outstanding research contributions in the field of chemistry related to the automotive industry. The award is presented annually in the fall at an awards address and reception in the recipient's honor. Nominations, including a nomination letter, a résumé or curriculum vitae, and two letters of support, are due by Aug. 1. For further information or to submit a nomination, contact Bill Schneider, Chairman, Thomas Midgley Award Committee, Ford Motor Co., MD 3083 SRL, Dearborn, MI 48121-2053; phone (313) 323-2064; e-mail: wschnei2@ford.com.

Nominations Sought For ORCS Awards
The Organic Reactions Catalysis Society (ORCS) requests nominations for the Paul Rylander and Murray Raney Awards. The awards will be presented at the biennial ORCS conference, March 21 25, 2004, in Hilton Head, S.C. The awards are named for two scientists who have made seminal contributions to organic catalysis.

The Rylander Award is sponsored by ORCS and will be given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the use of catalysis in organic reactions. Depending on the number of qualified candidates, it is made annually and consists of $1,000, a plaque, and travel expenses. The awardee is expected to present an awards address at the 20th ORCS Conference and to publish the address. Previous Rylander Award winners include 2001 Nobel Laureates William S. Knowles and Barry K. Sharpless.

The Raney Award is sponsored by W.R. Grace and administered by ORCS. It is given to an individual who has made significant technical contributions to chemistry and the chemical industry via catalyst technology based on that originally developed by Raney. This award is presented every other year and consists of $1,000, a plaque, and travel expenses. The awardee is expected to present an award address at the 20th ORCS Conference and to publish the address.

For both awards, nominations should include a detailed description and critical evaluation of the candidate's achievements in the relevant areas of catalysis, a current bibliography or curriculum vitae, and supporting letters of nomination. The deadline for nominations is Sept. 1. Please send all nominations to John R. Sowa Jr., Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, 400 South Orange Ave., South Orange, NJ 07079; or e-mail sowajohn@shu.edu. For additional information and a list of previous award winners, see http://www.orcs.org.

Special Recognition ...
The Ciba Specialty Chemicals Foundation honored five educators with Exemplary Science Teacher or Exemplary Science Principal Awards. The teacher awards, given for teaching performance, innovative curricula, and development of schoolwide science programs at the K 12 levels, went to Laverne Hamlin, 10th- and 11th-grade teacher at Armstrong High School, Richmond, Va.; Linda S. Harrelson, first-grade teacher at Codington Elementary School, Wilmington, N.C.; and Jennifer Linrud, fifth-grade teacher at Wichita Collegiate Middle School, Wichita, Kan. Robert E. Burke, principal of Chattahoochee High School, Alpharetta, Ga., and Janis W. Stewart, principal of Meadowview Elementary School, Selma, Ala., received the principal awards.

National Aeronautics & Space Administration engineer Michelle Manzo has received the first Women in Engineering Achievement Award for her work on the performance and use of batteries in aerospace exploration. The award, given out by Permanent Technologies, was presented on March 4.