Three Yale Faculty Win National Accolades From American Chemical Society

In a recognition of the excellence of scientific inquiry in Yale’s chemistry department, three Yale professors have been named recipients of national 2012 awards from the American Chemical Society.

“These awards from the American Chemical Society inspire all of us, but they also remind us of the talent and commitment of the faculty in Yale’s Department of Chemistry, one of the jewels of Science Hill,” said Peter Salovey, Yale provost.

Fifty-six individual awards for excellence in chemistry were announced the week of Sept. 5. Recipients will receive their awards March 27 at the 243rd ACS meeting in San Diego.

The Yale winners illustrated the excellence of the department in diverse areas of chemistry, noted Salovey. The winners and their awards are:

William L. Jorgensen: Joel Henry Hildebrand Award in Theoretical & Experimental Chemistry of Liquids. Jorgensen, the Sterling Professor of Chemistry at Yale, has made seminal contributions to facilitate computer modeling of chemistry in solution, and he has applied them for in-depth study of reaction mechanisms, effects of solvents, and design of enzyme inhibitors.

Alanna Schepartz: Ron Breslow Award for Biomimetic Chemistry. Schepartz, the Milton Harris ‘29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry, is a recognized leader in using chemical principles to understand and control biological recognition and function, the essence of biomimetic chemistry. She was recently named director of the Chemical Biology Institute at the West Campus.

Jonathan A. Ellman: Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Research. Ellman, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry, has pioneered innovative approaches to chemical synthesis that culminate in new methods to create chemical bonds useful in a wide array of applications, especially for studying biological phenomena and creating new drugs.  

“We are particularly excited about the broad swath of science that is embodied by these awards, which recognize advances made in computational and physical chemistry, synthetic chemistry, and in understanding the interface of chemistry and biology,” said Scott J. Miller, the Irénée duPont Professor of Chemistry and chair of the chemistry department.