Departmental News

Ted Eyring Receives 2011 Governor’s Science Medals

Ted Eyring won the 2011 Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology medal in the academia category. The winners were announced on January 10 by Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert, State Science Advisor Tami Goetz, and the State Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

Crystal Clear Ice Formation

Valeria Molinero and graduate student Emily Moore used computer simulations and theory to solve the puzzle of what determines the lowest temperature to which water can be cooled before freezing to ice. Their work was published in Nature.

New Way to Design Catalysts

Matt Sigman and Kaid Harper reported on their new discoveries in catalyst design in Science magazine. Click here to read the article.

Peter Stang Receives National Medal of Science

President Obama named seven eminent researchers as recipients of the 2011 National Medal of Science. Among the receipients of this highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers is Peter Stang. Click here for the White House press release.

FACSS 2011 Innovation Award

Congratulations to Justin Cooper, a graduate students in Joel Harris group, for winning a prestigious award from Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies. Of the 700 papers considered, 4 were selected.

Chemistry Students Win at nanoUtah 2011

Congratulations to graduate students who won poster competition awards at the nanoUtah conference. The winners are Nicole Rosecrans (Burrows group), Amir Khabibullin, Patricia Ignacio-de Leon, Matthew Streeter (Zharov group), Paulo Perez (Anderson group) and Cara Barnes (Shumaker-Parry group). Congratulations to Jacqueline Siy (Bartl group) who won the Innovation Idol competition.

Ron and Eileen Ragsdale Scholarship

Ron Ragsdale, a professor of chemistry for 47 years, and his wife, Eileen, recently established the Ragsdale Scholarship Endowment Fund, a scholarship program for undergraduate chemistry majors. This program is a tremendous opportunity to support some of the top students at the university as they begin their careers in science and medicine. To download the Ron and Eileen Ragsdale Scholarship Endowment pledge form, please, click here

The Thatcher Building

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), recognizing the excellence of Utah Chemistry’s faculty and the importance of its advanced research to our nation’s health and economic prosperity, has awarded $8 million toward the cost of constructing a $20 million biological and biophysical chemistry research facility. The building will be constructed alongside the Henry Eyring Building. For more information on the Thatcher Tower, the building campaign, and the ways you can become involved, please, click here. To download the Thatcher Building pledge form, please, click here

2011 Faculty Awards

• Ted Eyring, Utah Governor’s Medal of Science
• Henry White, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Matt Sigman, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peter Stang, National Medal of Science
• Jen Heemstra, Army Research Office Young Investigator Award
• Gary Keck, Utah ACS Award
• Peter Armentrout, U of U Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence
• Jon Rainier, ASUU Student Choice Teaching Award
• Henry White, Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
• Valeria Molinero, College of Science Myriad Faculty Award for Research Excellence
• Ilya Zharov, IUPAC Young Observer Award
• Scott Anderson, U of U Distinguished Professor
• Matt Sigman, U of U Distinguished Scholarly & Creative Research Award
• Scott Anderson, Fellow in The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Cindy Burrows, University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award
• Dale Poulter, ACS Nakanishi Prize