The Virginia Tech Department of Chemistry has a rich history, a strong international reputation and a bright future. Our curricula provide the educational foundation for all Virginia Tech science and engineering students. Our undergraduate and graduate degree programs prepare society's future chemists and scientists. Our alumni are gainfully employed in the industrial, government, and academic sectors.
Turner Funded for Polymer Research
(June 30, 2009) Prof. Richard Turner has received a $370,000 grant from NSF to investigate rigid polyelectrolytes and double-hydrophilic rod-coil block copolymers. The project evolved from Prof. Turner's earlier work demonstrating precise alternation and functional group control in stilbene-maleic anhydride copolymers. Long-range applications are envisioned in areas such as bioactive coatings. (more on Turner ...)
Morris Accepts Viers Award
(May 15, 2009) Prof. John R. Morris has received the 2009 Viers Teaching Award. Alumnus E. Gary Cook established the award in honor of Prof. Jimmy W. Viers to recognize outstanding teaching by a departmental faculty member. In recent years, Prof. Morris has transformed our undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Laboratory course from traditional, procedure-based experiments to an inquiry-based experience that places more emphasis on developing student's research, problem-solving, and reasoning skills. The award includes a plaque and $1000.
Riffle Receives Schug Award
(May 15, 2009) Prof. Judy S. Riffle has received the 2009 Schug Research Award. Alumnus E. Gary Cook established the award in honor of Prof. John Schug to recognize a departmental faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional creativity and productivity in research. Professor Riffle's research focuses on homo- and block copolymer synthesis, principally for drug delivery vehicles and advanced diagnostics. The award includes a plaque and $1000.
Valeev Wins NSF CAREER Award
(May 21, 2009) Prof. Edward Valeev has been awarded the National Science Foundation's 2009 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to develop predictive computational chemistry methods using electronic wavefunctions with explicit inclusion of correlations between electrons. The $600,000 grant will support his group's efforts through 2014. (more on Valeev ...)
Lu Named Fulbright Scholar
(May 08, 2009) Jessica Lu, a graduate student who studies with Prof. John Morris, has received a Fulbright Scholarship to spend a full academic year at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. The scholarship provides a stipend and living expenses, enabling Ms. Lu to concentrate all of her efforts in Israel on her research, which focuses on the scattering dynamics and reactions of gas molecules at solid and liquid surfaces.
Carlier Funded for Malaria Research
(April 12, 2009) Prof. Paul Carlier and his co-investigators Jeffrey Bloomquist (Entomology), Jianyong Li (Biochemistry), and Max Totrov (Molsoft LLC) have received a five-year research grant from the National Institutes of Health in the amount $3.6 million to develop resistance-breaking insecticides specific to the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. (more...)
