What his colleagues say: “Salvatore Torquato has played the role of a theorist’s theorist—bringing clarity and rigor to major conceptual features of the theory of liquids, the consequences of which have been refinement and expansion of our understanding of the structure and properties of liquids.”—Stuart A. Rice, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching & Learning of Chemistry: Marcy H. Towns Sponsor: ACS Exams Institute Citation: For research that has increased our understanding of undergraduate laboratory, physical chemistry, and group learning, which has positively impacted teaching and learning in chemistry. Current position: professor of chemistry, Purdue University Education: B.A., chemistry and mathematics, Linfield College; M.S., chemical education, Purdue University; Ph.D., physical chemistry, Purdue University
CREDIT: COURTESY OF MARCY TOWNS; TUFTS UNIVERSITY (WALT); COURTESY OF DOUGLAS WORSNOP
Towns on her scientific role model and why: “My dad modeled what it is like to be curious and ask questions about the world. When I was young, dad would look at constellations with me, or we’d talk about snow crystal formation and morphology. He’s been an enormous influence in my life and he still is.” What her colleagues say: “Marcy’s work to elaborate what laboratory instructors know and translate that into guidelines that help them adopt new and more successful pedagogies represents the best in advancing the learning of chemistry because of research.”—Thomas Holme, Iowa State University
Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success: David R. Walt Sponsor: Kathryn C. Hach Award Fund Citation: For inventing and commercializing microwell arrays that benefit research, medicine, and agriculture with tremendous impact on the economy through job and value creation. Current position: university professor,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Tufts University Education: B. S., chemistry, University of Michigan; Ph.D., chemical biology, SUNY at Stony Brook
Walt on his scientific role model and why: “I’d have to say George Whitesides. He was my postdoctoral mentor and has been a stalwart supporter and friend for over three decades now. From George, I learned how to look outside of my narrow field for interesting and important problems. He views science as his playground and there is nothing that deters him; in fact, disproving dogma often attracts him. He enjoys being the only naysayer and then sets out to prove he’s right. And many times, he is. George is also a strong supporter of the people who have worked in his lab—another characteristic I admire and try to emulate.” What his colleagues say: “Walt is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in chemistry and perhaps all of science. He has a long record of translating technologies to the commercial sector and has founded multiple successful companies with an aggregate value over $20 billion and that employ thousands of people. His technologies have had a profound impact in the fields of medicine, agriculture, the environment, and pharmaceutical and chemical process control.”—Joseph M. DeSimone, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; North Carolina State University; and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science & Technology: Douglas R. Worsnop Sponsor: ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Science & Technology, and Environmental Science & Technology Letters Citation: For pioneering research on gas-aqueous atmospheric chemistry and the development of the aerosol mass spectrometer, which has revolutionized atmospheric aerosol measurements. Current position: vice president, Aerodyne Research; professor of physics, University of Helsinki Education: B.A., chemistry, Hope College; Ph.D., chemistry, Harvard University Worsnop on what gets his creative juic-
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es flowing: “My motivation is simple–
interacting with young people (students and postdocs), seeing new data, figuring out what makes sense and what doesn’t, then designing the next experiment. Sometimes even presenting results and interpretations, either orally or in manuscripts. I have been ‘doing’ physical chemistry experiments for over 40 years and am still driven as much as ever to invent, improve, and make the next ones work better. These days I do little ‘real’ work myself. Rather it is students and postdocs who do the work. It is those interactions that keep me going, with as much excitement and drive as I had as a student, now dedicated to atmospheric aerosol chemistry and physics.”
What his colleagues say: “Doug, his group, and his collaborators worldwide have created a new paradigm for applying mass spectrometry in atmospheric science, from laboratory chambers and flow reactors to ambient sampling on ground, mobile, and airborne platforms. The Aerodyne mass spectrometry group has delivered 250 mass spectrometry systems that are in active application, across the globe. Doug’s leadership has been crucial in training atmospheric scientists in instrument operation, data analysis, and science publication of chemical composition and processing of gases and condensed species underlying suspended aerosol in the atmosphere.”—John H. Seinfeld, California Institute of Technology
Frank H. Field & Joe L. Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry: Vicki H. Wysocki Sponsor: Waters Corp. Citation: For her outstanding accomplishments in the development of surface-induced dissociation for native mass spectrometry structural characterization of noncovalent complexes. Current position: professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Ohio Eminent Scholar, Ohio State University Education: B.S., chemistry, Western Kentucky University; Ph.D., chemistry, Purdue University
Wysocki on her scientific role model and why: “Nobel Prize winner John Fenn moved to my department when I was an assistant JANUARY 2, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and showed that you can set up a lab and do strong science without a huge group or a huge budget; he remained humble and attended our joint analytical chemistry group meetings and insisted he was just one of the students. Carol Robinson of Oxford is also a great role model. She worked in industry first and took eight years off to have children and has become one of the top scientists in the world today. Some people may see this as a single outlier datapoint, but I think it is simply an illustration that our ideas of what ‘works’ in a career are often false.”
What her colleagues say: “Her more recent research in the area of mass spectrometry of large protein complexes, which builds upon her fundamental studies of surface-induced dissociation, has provided structural biology research groups around the world with new approaches for macromolecule characterization. Fundamental studies of surface-induced dissociation (SID), which has been a focus of her research for the past
20-plus years, has led to the development of novel approaches for interrogation of macromolecule complexes, including the conformations of the protein complexes and subunits as well as stoichiometry of the subunits.”—Facundo Fernandez, Georgia Institute of Technology
Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry: Hisashi Yamamoto Sponsor: Organic Reactions Inc. and Organic Syntheses Inc. Citation: For pioneering and highly creative contributions to the development of methods for the catalytic asymmetric synthesis for carbon–carbon, carbon–oxygen, and carbon–nitrogen bond formations. Current position: professor and director of the Molecular Catalyst Research Center, Chubu University, Japan; professor emeritus, University of Chicago;
professor emeritus, Nagoya University; president, Chemical Society of Japan Education: B. S., organic chemistry, Kyoto University; Ph. D., organic chemistry, Harvard University
Yamamoto on his scientific role models: “My mentor is Professor E. J. Corey, since 1967 even until now! In addition, numerous chemists gave me important influences: Professors R. B. Woodward, H. Nozaki, R. Noyori, B. Sharpless, E. E. van Temelen, and H. Hironaka.” What his colleagues say: “Yamamoto’s most influential work has been in the ingenious design and development of Lewis and Brønsted acid catalysts for asymmetric synthesis. He is a pioneer in this field and continues to lead it. Yamamoto used extensive structural, spectroscopic, and computational studies to develop a fundamental understanding of the factors that govern the coordination of Lewis acids with organic substrates. His introduction of binaphthol in early 1980s as a key ligand for chiral catalysts was a forerunner of the extensive work on C2-symmetry-based chiral Lewis acid catalysts. His insights on and success with the rational design of Lewis and Brønsted acids helped establish accepted paradigms of modern molecular catalysis.”—Viresh Rawal, University of Chicago ◾
SHARE My ACS helps me share my passion for chemistry with all my students. I encouraged all of them to attend recent ACS on Campus events because it’s a great experience, especially for career training and learning how to communicate your science. I show my students the career options they have as chemistry majors, and even those that aren’t, I advise them on how they can use chemistry in their everyday lives. ACS gives me the resources to share advice on getting a recommendation letter from a professor and landing an internship.
LaKeisha McClary Member, 8 years
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CREDIT: COURTESY OF VICKI WYSOCKI; COURTESY OF HISASHI YAMAMOTO
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