Former Member Dr. James H. Wang (Sinopec Corporate) won 2020 Industrial Polymer Scientist Award by ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry. James was also inducted as a Fellow American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in March 2019. After finished his Ph. D. with Virgil in Case Western in 1991, James worked for Chevron (1991-1993), Kimberly-Clark(1993-2014), and is now as Sinopec Corporate Fellow & Chief Scientist in Shanghai, China. Congratulations, James!
Professor Daniela A. Wilson (Radboud University), who was a postdoc in Perce Laboratory, has been designated as a Must-See Presenter by C&EN for ACS Fall 2019 National Meeting in San Diego (August 25–29, 2019).
Group Member Mitchell Young (affiliated with Temple University) was awarded The Barry Goldwater Scholarship.
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering in America.
By providing scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering, the Goldwater Foundation is helping ensure that the U.S. is producing the number of highly-qualified professionals the Nation needs in these critical fields.
Mitchell is one of 496 U.S. college students selected for the scholarship this year from a pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors nominated by 443 academic institutions.
Attached is a picture of the award and a picture of Mitchell (middle) with Professor Michael Klein (right), Dean of College of Science and Technology, Temple University, and Professor Jim Napolitano (left), Chair of Department of Physics, Temple University.
Congratulations, Mitchell!
Group Member William (Billy) Hasley won the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Delaware Valley Section Award for best academic record and demonstrating high promise in Chemical Engineering. Attached is a picture of the award and a picture of Billy with the Dean of Penn Engineering.
Congratulation, Billy!
A paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America was published recently by the Percec group and highlighted by E. K. Brockmeier “Cells use sugars to communicate at the molecular level” in Penn Today.
The paper reports by using atomic force microscopy images that were fast fourier-transformed, we found that sugars on the surface of synthetic cells organize themselves automatically into thin lamellar layered and hexagonal patterns. The shapes that the sugar molecules form allows the synthetic cells to be recognized by other cells and also enhances their reactivity with proteins.
Professor Virgil Percec Commented on C&EN News on 2019 ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry for Professor Timothy M. Swager, John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chemical & Engieering News, 2019, 97 (3), 50-51.
“Tim is one of the most creative scientists working in the field of polymer chemistry and is a leader of our field. He is one of the very few members of our community who has taken polymer chemistry from fundamental development to commercial products that impact our daily life and create a safer society.”—Virgil Percec, University of Pennsylvania.
Previous awardees of ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry
Professor Virgil Percec was listed in 2018 Highly Cited Researchers List from Clarivate Analytics. This list recognizes world-class researchers for their exceptional research performance based on multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science. Congratulations to Virgil.
Former Member Professor Andrea M. Kasko, Bioengineering, UCLA, was elected to Vice-Chair of American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry. Andrea obtained her M.S.E. in Professor Virgil Percec’ group while in Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Macromolecular Science Engineering Cleveland, OH during 1997–1999.
Congratulations to Professor Andrea M. Kasko!
Former Member Professor Ulrica Edlund, Fiber and Polymer Technology, School of Engineering Sciences of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, was elected to The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). Professor Edlund‘s research interests focus on polymeric biomaterials, including their synthesis, surface modification and characterization, with potential applications as drug delivery matrices and more broadly in the field of tissue engineering.
Professor Ulrica Edlund was a postdoctoral research fellow in Percec’s group from 2000 to 2001. Among other projects, she contributed to the dipeptide project published in Nature (Nature 2004, 430, 764–768).
The pictures show Professor Ulrica Edlund (on the right, in a blue dress) in the group of people being elected as new members.
Congratulations to Shitao Wang for being named an Associate Professor at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology! Below is a Q&A with Associate Professor Wang.
