Chemistry Chair Receives Major Award from American Chemical Society
“For outstanding contributions to physical and biophysical chemistry, especially work on protein and RNA folding, protein aggregation, and effects of molecular crowding in cells.”
The Department of Chemistry’s new chair, Professor Dave Thirumalai, has been selected to receive the 2016 Award in Theoretical Chemistry by a division of the largest scientific society in the world.
Thirumalai was chosen “for outstanding contributions to physical and biophysical chemistry, especially work on protein and RNA folding, protein aggregation, and effects of molecular crowding in cells” by the Physical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The mission of the ACS is to advance science, provide support for current and future chemists, promote diversity in the chemical sciences and educate the public about the wonders of chemistry.
The Physical Chemistry Division gives awards each year for outstanding scientific achievements in theoretical and experimental chemistry. The 2016 award recipients, announced this week, will be honored at an awards symposium in Philadelphia in conjunction with a national ACS meeting in August.
This month also brought news of another chemist with UT Austin ties being named president of the ACS for 2016. Dr. Donna J. Nelson, who was a science advisor for the television show “Breaking Bad” and who received her Ph.D. in chemistry from UT Austin in 1979, will serve a one-year term as president over the society’s 158,000 members.
