Honors, Awards and Achievements: September

Faculty, students and staff distinguished through professional and academic accomplishments

• Three faculty members in the department of chemistry have received 2012 American Chemical Society (ACS) awards. Brian M. Hoffman, professor of chemistry, earned the 2012 Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry. He developed ENDOR spectroscopy as central in determining metalloenzyme catalytic mechanisms, with hardly a major problem to which his skills have not been applied. Chad A. Mirkin, the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, earned the ACS Award for Creative Invention for inventing the polyvalent nucleic acid nanoparticle conjugate, which established the field of nanoparticle-based biodiagnostics and formed the technological foundation for Nanosphere’s Verigene System. Michael R. Wasielewski, the Clare Hamilton Hall Professor of Chemistry, earned an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award for discovering fundamental insights into the relationship between organic supramolecular structure and the dynamics of energy and electron transfer. September 28, 2011

• Rob Warden, executive director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, will receive the Chicago Ideas Week Heroes Award on October 13. Warden will be recognized for his lifelong dedication to freeing the innocent and his distinguished career in journalism that has focused on miscarriages of justice. September 28, 2011

• Scott Barnett, professor of materials science and engineering, is the receipient of a Stanford University Global Climate and Energy Award. Barnett and fellow researchers will receive $920,323 over three years to continue their work with solid oxide flow batteries. The goal of their research is to develop a unique type of flow battery that stores energy in methane and other gases, and then uses the stored fuel to generate electricity like a fuel cell. September 28, 2011

• Michael Roloff, professor of communication studies, is the 2011 recipient of both the Mark L. Knapp Award in Interpersonal Communication and the Donald H. Ecroyd Award for Outstanding Teaching in Higher Education. Harvey Young, associate professor of theatre, is the 2011 recipient of the Lilla A. Heston Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Interpretation and Performance Studies. They will be presented with their awards during National Communication Association’s Annual Convention in November. September 28, 2011

• Ross S. Forgan, a postdoctoral fellow in the research group of Sir Fraser Stoddart, has been selected as one of the inaugural members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Young Academy of Scotland, an initiative launched by the RSE to bring together the most able and innovative young academics, entrepreneurs, artists and professionals in Scotland. Forgan is one of the youngest individuals to be awarded this honor. Stoddart is Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. September 15, 2011

• James Ibers, a Morrison Professor of Chemistry; Frederick Lewis, professor of chemistry; Thomas Meade, the Eileen Foell Professor of Cancer Research and a professor in chemistry, molecular biosciences and neurobiology and physiology; and Richard Silverman, a John Evans Professor of Chemistry, all in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, were among the 213 distinguished scientists inducted into the American Chemical Society (ACS) as fellows. Selection is based on outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and important contributions to ACS, the world’s largest scientific society. September 15, 2011