Dreyfus Foundation awards grants to Arnold and Streitwieser

May 01, 2008

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has awarded two grants to the College of Chemistry faculty to support undergraduate education and research.

John Arnold has been selected to receive a 2008 Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences. The $50,000 award will support Dr. Arnold's project entitled “Materials Chemistry in the Undergraduate Laboratory: Synthesis, Characterization and Properties.”

The grant awarded to Arnold will allow him to develop new undergraduate experiments in the area of materials chemistry involving metal/organic frameworks, quantum dots and other topics. This effort is part of a larger undergraduate program that currently offers a B.S. in Chemistry with a Concentration in Materials Chemistry and in the next few years will offer a B.S. in Materials Chemistry.

“If all goes well,” says Arnold, “we would like to submit our experiments to the ‘Journal of Chemical Education’ so that others can make use our work.”

Emeritus Professor Andrew Streitwieser has been selected as a 2008 Senior Scientist Mentor. The $20,000 award will support Dr. Streitwieser's research with undergraduates, entitled “Molecular Orbital Modeling of Aggregation and Reactions of Carbanion Ion Pairs.” Streitwieser also won a mentor grant from the foundation in 2001.

Many emeritus faculty members no longer teach courses nor take on graduate students. Their wealth of experience and knowledge, however, makes them a unique and valuable educational resource for undergraduates.

“The Senior Scientist Mentor program provides for the development of a relationship between these senior scientists and the students as they engage in perhaps their first research experience to generate new knowledge,” says Mark Cardillo, Executive Director of the foundation.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is a leading non-profit organization devoted to the advancement of the chemical sciences. It was established in 1946 by chemist, inventor, and businessman Camille Dreyfus. He directed that the Foundation's purpose be "to advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering and related sciences as a means of improving human relations and circumstances."

More Information

For more information about the program and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, see http://www.dreyfus.org/