Dr. Sotomayor wins Mentor Award and named 2015 Sloan Research Fellow
The Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor and Outstanding Research Mentor Awards, selected by a student committee, recognize exceptional faculty, postdoctoral, or graduate student mentorship of undergraduate researchers who present at the Denman Forum. Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Marcos Sotomayor was one of just five people named a 2015 Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor. Additionally, Dr. Sotomayor was named a recipient of a Sloan Research fellowship in the field of neuroscience. Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers from the United States and Canada who have significant accomplishments in their fields thus far, and show potential to be “among the next generation of scientific leaders”. The two-year fellowship is one “of the most sought after fellowships available to early-career scholars”, and comes with a $50,000 grant to further research.
Dr. Caroline Breitenberger named PULSE Fellow
Caroline Breitenberger, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and director of the Center for Life Sciences Education, has been selected a Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) Fellow. PULSE Fellows are an elect group working to promote biology education reform on all levels, from individual faculty to systemic initiatives.
Dr. James Cowan wins Cleveland ACS Award
Chemistry professor Dr. James Cowan has been awarded the 2015 Edward W. Morley Award, presented on behalf of the Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes significant contributions to chemistry through achievements in research, teaching, engineering, research administration and public service, outstanding service to humanity, or to industrial progress, and anyone within 250 miles of Cleveland is eligible to be nominated. The award comes with the Morley Medal and an honorarium of $2,000. Dr. Cowan is invited to present the Morley Lecture at a banquet and conference in May at John Carroll University.
Dr. Turro Succeeds in Gaining GAANN Funding
Vice Chair for Graduate Studies in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Claudia Turro, took the initiative to submit a proposal to the GAANN Department of Education that sought to tackle the issue of underrepresentation of minority graduate students in the graduate program. She was recently notified by The U.S. Department of Education that her grant application was selected for funding. These funds will help attract a greater number of outstanding diverse students, increase the overall number of underrepresented minority students in the program, and will enhance their opportunity to succeed both in their doctoral work at Ohio State and in their future careers.
Dr. Turro received her PhD from Michigan State University and was awarded a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue postdoctoral work at Columbia University. She has been on the faculty at Ohio State since 1996 and was recently named a 2010 Fellow of the American Chemical Society, a 2012 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received the 2014 Inter-American Photochemical Society Award in Photochemistry (2014) and the Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award (2014). She was also elected President of the Inter-American Photochemical Society (2012-2014) and Chair of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (2016).