Congratulations to Our 2009 Award Winners!
All awards include a certificate and $100 in addition to specific prizes noted below.
Academic Excellence Awards
This award recognizes undergraduate chemistry majors who have demonstrated excellence and exhibited professionalism in their studies.
2009 Academic Excellence Awardees. First Row: Jennifer Harvey, Lilit Stepanyan, Madeline Nestor, Sarah Miller, Kayla Bulmer, and Prof. Joe Merola (Chair). Second Row: Leah Heist, Kelly Daly, Heejun Choi, Paige Gardner, and Prof. Brian Hanson (Associate Chair). Third Row: David Tatum and Wesley Morris.
Howe Awards: Wesley Morris and David Tatum.
The Virginia Blue Ridge Section of the American Chemical Society provides awards for the top chemistry majors at each school within the Section borders. The award is named in honor of James Lewis Howe. Because of the large size of Virginia Tech relative to the other schools in the Section, nominees are accepted from Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Chemical Engineering. This year CHEM claims two awardees because Wesley Morris, the Chemistry Department's nominee, and David Tatum, the Biochemistry Department's nominee, both are CHEM majors (Mr. Tatum also majors in Biochemistry). The award is formally presented at the April Section Meeting.
2009 Howe Awardees. David Tatum (BIOC), Prof. Joe Merola, Wes Morris (CHEM), and Prof. Brian Hanson.
Stars of Excellence Awards
The Stars of Excellence Award was founded by Kay Castagnoli, a former instructor who made significant contributions to the curriculum development in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory courses. The awards recognize students in the top 1% of CHEM 2545, CHEM 2546, and CHEM 2565.
2009 Stars of Excellence. First Row: Kayla Otto, Jung-ah Kim, Kelly Barberian, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Alyson Snyder. Second Row: Prof. Brian Hanson, Michael Laguarda, and Prof. Joe Merola. Not Pictured: Morgan Hankin, Patricia Irvine, and Kia Sedghi
Undergraduate Research Awards
Awardees are those who have made outstanding contributions to research in the department. Students are nominated by their research mentors and must approved by the department's Undergraduate Education Committee.
Undergraduate Research Awardees for 2009: (Prof. Brian Hanson), Aaron Prussin, Sandra Hobson, (Prof. Joe Merola), and David Tatum
Viers Achievement Awards
A Virginia Tech alumnus, Dr. Don Lee, donated funds in honor of Prof. Jimmy W. Viers to provide an award ($100) to students who "demonstrate superior understanding in the field of general chemistry ... with strong emphasis given to the effort required by the students."
2009 Viers Awardees. Prof. Brian Hanson, Maureen Ferrell, Sarah Logsdon, Rachele Piemonte, Jeremie Ferey, and Karina Platt.
Graduate Research Awards
Senior graduate students (generally those within one year of earning the doctorate) who have demonstrated truly outstanding performance are selected by the Graduate Education Committee based on nominations by their Research Directors.
2009 Graduate Research Awardees. Will Alexander (Troya Group), Harry Lee (McGrath Group), Prof. Brian Hanson, and Yanpeng Hou (Kingston Group). Not pictured: Avi Jain (Brewer Group).
PLU Award
Phi Lambda Upsilon, the national chemistry honorary society, recognizes an outstanding senior in our department each year.
Madeline Nestor
McGrath Award
This award, established by Prof. James E. McGrath, recognizes undergraduate seniors who have excelled in polymer chemistry.
Heejun Choi and Jeneffer Bey
Analytical Award
The ACS Analytical Chemistry Division provides an award recognizing students who excel in Analytical Chemistry. The award includes a one-year subscription to Analytical Chemistry.
Adam Roberts
Hypercube Award
Hypercube, the manufacturers of Hyperchem molecular modeling software, provide a copy of their software to be presented as an award to a graduating senior who will make effective use of it in his or her future academic endeavors.
Andrew Sweeney
CRC Freshman Award
The Chemical Rubber Company provides awards recognizing the scholastic achievements of students in first-year chemistry courses nationwide. The award includes a copy of the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, a well-known reference volume.
Martha Blakely
Graduate Teaching Awards
The Graduate Education Committee selects the recipients of the GTA award on the basis of nominations from the faculty.
Erin Davis and Lesley Owens.
Not pictured: Charles Carfagna
Morris Receives Clifford Award
The Alan F. Clifford Faculty Service Award is presented to a chemistry faculty member whose contributions exemplify the standards of selfless service set by Prof. Clifford during his career. Prof. John Morris's contributions as Graduate Admissions Director were especially noted. The award includes a plaque and $1000.
Wertalik Receives McNair Award
The Harold McNair Staff Service Award was established to recognize the spirit of cooperation, dedication, and outstanding service of support staff. Tom Wertalik has exemplified this ideal through his efforts in the Glass Shop. The award includes a plaque and $1000.