ACS NEWS
Proposed nominees for president-elect The electoral process for choosing the American Chemical Society's president for 1992 has begun with selection of four proposed nomi nees by the Committee on Nomina tions & Elections. Two of these pro posed nominees will be chosen as candidates by the ACS Council at its April meeting in Boston, and the two candidates will vie for 1991 president-elect in this fall's nation al election, held by mail ballot among members of ACS. Other can didates may be nominated by peti tion before the July 15 deadline. The proposed nominees are Er nest L. Eliel, Norman Hackerman, Eli M. Pearce, and Peter E. Yankwich. Eliel, who is W. R. Kenan Profes sor of Chemistry at the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is currently serving his sixth straight year as director-at-large on the ACS Board of Directors. He was chair man of the board from 1987 to 1989, the maximum allowed under board regulations. He has served in a va riety of other governance activities during the past two decades. Hackerman is chairman of the Welsh Foundation's Science Advi sory Board, former president of Rice University, and professor emeritus of chemistry at both Rice and the University of Texas, Austin. He has had limited service in ACS gover nance, having most recently served on the Committee on Chemistry & Public Affairs from 1980 to 1988, which he chaired from 1982 to 1984.
Pearce is dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Polytechnic Uni versity, Brooklyn, and also director of the school's Polymer Research Institute and professor of polymer chemistry and of chemical engineer ing there. He is currently a member of the Council Policy Committee and last year completed six years of service on the council's Committee on Nominations & Elections, which he chaired in 1989. Yankwich, executive officer of the National Science Foundation's sci ence and engineering education di rectorate and former professor of chemistry at the University of Illi nois, is currently serving his fifth straight year as director-at-large on the ACS Board, a post he also held from 1982 to 1984. He has served on a variety of ACS committees. Ernest Carpenter
AWARDS world economy by opening a door on renewable resources—specifically, resource conservation for the pro duction of agricultural crops and ultimately the world's food chain. Among his many awards are the National Medal of Science from the President, the Wolf Award in Agri culture, and the National Academy of Sciences Carty Award. D
Robert Bums receives 1989 Spencer award The ACS Kansas City Section pre sented its 1989 Kenneth A. Spencer Award to Robert H. Burris, Univer sity of Wisconsin, Madison, at a din ner in his honor on Feb. 22 in Kan sas City, Mo. The award, which con sists of $5000, a medal of honor, and an expense-paid trip to Kansas City to receive the award, is con ferred annually. It honors a scien tist or researcher who has made sig nificant contributions to agricultur al and food chemistry. Burris, professor emeritus, UW de partment of biochemistry, is the pi oneer scientist who discovered how nitrogen fixation by free-living microorganisms and plants works. His research began as early as 1936, the same year he received a B.S. degree in chemistry at South Dako ta State College. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in bacteriology in 1938 and 1940, respectively, from the University of Wisconsin. He has since held every academic position in the department of biochemistry at UW Madison, including depart ment chairman from 1958 to 1970.
Special recognition t o . . .
Burris and his research teams were the first to isolate key proteins in the nitrogenase system—the socalled iron protein and molybde num-iron protein. He proved that adenosine triphosphate played an essential role as the energy source for converting nitrogen to ammo nia, a renewable fertilizer source. His research showed that adenosine triphosphate binds specifically to the iron protein to form a complex that associates with the molybdenumiron protein to generate the catalytically active system. These discov eries have had an impact on the
The ACS Division of Organic Chemis try has selected nine students to re ceive graduate fellowships for 1989-90. Each fellowship consists of a $12,000 award. The winners and their sponsors are: Benjamin R. Anderson, University of Chicago (Rohm & Haas); Jeffrey B. Arterburn, University of Arizona (Smith Kline & French Laboratories); Edmund L. Ellsworth, University of California, Santa Barbara (Procter & Gamble); Wil liam S. Jenks, Columbia University (Monsanto); George L. Maynard, Ohio State University (Eli Lilly & Co.); Pat rick E. O'Bannon, University of Penn sylvania (Dow Chemical); Daniel J. O'Leary, University of California, Los Angeles (Eastman Kodak); John A. Porco Jr., Harvard University (Pfizer); and Michelle A. Sparks, Boston Uni versity (Merck Sharp & Dohme). Π March 12, 1990 C&EN
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