American Chemical Society Names 21 Women Fellows

The American Chemical Society has named its 2012 class of ACS Fellows, a prestigious honor bestowed upon 96 distinguished scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and made important contributions to ACS, the world’s largest scientific society. Twenty-one of the new ACS Fellows are women and many have ties to the academic world.

Top row (L to R): Stacey Lowery Bretz, Alison Butler, Emily Carter, Martha Casey, Donna Friedman, and Janan Hayes. Bottom row: Vijaya Korlipara, Sarah C. Larsen, Vera Mainz, Leah O’Brien, Marcy H. Towns, and Sally Chapman.

• Stacey Lowery Bretz is a professor of chemistry at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University.
• Alison Butler is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has taught at UCSB since 1986. Dr. Butler earned her Ph.D. at the University of California at San Diego.
• Emily Carter is the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering  and applied and computational mathematics at Princeton University. Dr. Carter is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.
• Martha Casey is assistant vice chancellor emerita for academic planning and analysis at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Casey is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Donna Friedman is a professor of chemistry at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. She has been actively involved with the American Chemical Society for more than 30 years.
• Janan Hayes is a former professor of chemistry, dean, and vice president for instruction at Merced College in Sacramento, California. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. from Brigham Young University.
• Vijaya Korlipara is a professor in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at St. Johns University in New York. She is a graduate of Banaras Hindu University and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
• Sarah C. Larsen is a professor of chemistry at the University of Iowa. She is a graduate of Bowdoin College and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
• Vera Mainz led the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory in the School of Chemical Sciences at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for a quarter of a century before her retirement in 2010.
• Leah O’Brien is a professor of chemistry at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. She has been on the faculty at SIUE since 1990. Dr. O’Brien is a graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.
• Marcy H. Towns is a professor of chemical education at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She is a graduate of Linfield College and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Purdue University

Also honored as an ACS fellow was the late Sally Chapman who served on the chemistry department faculty at Barnard College in New York City for 37 years. She was a founding member of the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists.