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ACS Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering

The ACS Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering recognizes the latest knowledge of polymer research of students and their mentors, one from United States and one from anywhere in the world.

2023 Award Winners

The purpose of the ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student and Mentor Award is to disseminate globally the latest knowledge of polymer research and to recognize at the ACS National Meeting not just two winning students, one from the USA and one from anywhere in the world, but also their mentors. Sponsored by Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME), the awards, which are co-organized by CME and the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society, recognize graduate students within one year of graduation or a recent graduate who has completed an outstanding thesis in polymer research accepted by a university during the three-year period prior to January 1 of the award year.  PMSE and CME are proud to announce this year’s winners: Dr. Alexandra Easley, advised by Prof. Jodie Lutkenhaus of Texas A&M University, and Dr. Timur Ashirov, advised by Prof. Ali Coskun of the University of Fribourg.

ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student
Dr. Alexandra Easley
Texas A&M Universit
y, now Cornell University

Alexandra Easley received her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Texas A&M University, where she worked with Jodie Lutkenhaus as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (NSF GRFP). Her PhD research focused on the fundamental properties and applications of non-conjugated polymers for energy storage. Prior to graduate school, she obtained her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University. She is currently a Klarman postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University advised by Brett Fors.

ACS Global Outstanding Mentor
Professor Jodie Lutkenhaus
Texas A&M University

Jodie L. Lutkenhaus is holder of the Axalta Chair in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Lutkenhaus received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2002 from The University of Texas at Austin and her Ph.D in Chemical Engineering in 2007 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Current research areas include polyelectrolytes, redox-active polymers, energy storage, and composites. She has received recognitions including World Economic Forum Young Scientist, Kavli Fellow, NSF CAREER, AFOSR Young Investigator, and the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award. She is the past-Chair of the AICHE Materials Engineering & Sciences Division. Lutkenhaus is the Deputy Editor of ACS Applied Polymer Materials and a member of the U.S. National Academies Board of Chemical Sciences & Technology.


ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student
Dr.
Timur Ashirov
University of Fribourg

Dr. Timur Ashirov was born in Tajikistan and obtained his B.Sc. from the Department of Chemistry at Middle East Technical University, Turkey. He obtained his M.Sc. degree from the Materials Science Department of Bilkent University. Later, he joined the group of Prof. Ali Coskun at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland for his Ph.D. studies (2018). He developed adsorptive gas separation membranes and porous polymers during his Ph.D. to tackle environmental challenges such as global warming and air pollution. Moreover, he also showed light-switchable gas separation using polymeric carbon nitride for the first time. Timur has also received the prestigious 2022 Swiss Nanotechnology Ph.D. Award for his thesis. Recently, Dr. Ashirov received a Bride Proof-of-Concept grant to scale up adsorptive membranes for CO2 capture from air and flue gas, helium purification, and hydrogen recovery and is currently, working to establish his own startup.

ACS Global Outstanding Mentor
Professor Ali Coskun
University of Fribourg

Professor Ali Coskun was born in Isparta, Turkey, in 1979. He received his PhD degree in Chemistry at the Middle East Technical University. Afterwards, he did his postdoctoral research at Northwestern University with Prof. Fraser Stoddart. In 2012, he started his independent career at the Graduate School of EEWS and the Department of Chemistry at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). In 2017, he moved to University Fribourg, Switzerland as a Professor. He is currently developing porous organic polymers for CO2 capture, separation and conversion, and Li-ion batteries and also polymeric binders for silicon anodes. His research efforts have been recently recognized by Swiss Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2023 award.

Sponsored By

Award Details

Each of the two student award winners will receive a $7,500 cash prize and a commemorative plaque to be presented at the CME Symposium, and when possible in the PMSE Division Awards Reception, in the selected ACS National Meeting of the Award year.

History

The award was originally established in 2019 and is funded by Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME).

Nominations

Nominees should have contributed significant advances to polymer science and engineering research. Nomination packages should follow package submission guidelines.

Past Recipients

Nominations and Award Process

Purpose

The ACS Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering recognizes the latest knowledge of polymer research of students and their mentors, one from United States and one from anywhere in the world.

Rules of Eligibility

Nominees should be recent graduates who have completed an outstanding thesis in polymer research accepted by a university during the three-year period prior to January 1 of the award year.

Present members of the Board of Directors of CME and PMSE, or the award selection committee members, and their respective staff and contractors, are ineligible for this award.

Nominations Package

The deadline is February 15 for nomination packages. The students and mentors to be recognized must have made significant contributions to polymer science and engineering. There are no fees to make a nomination.

Nominations must be made by the university thesis supervisor or by others familiar with the nominee’s work. Nominating documents must be in English and include the nominee’s biography (full CV), a synopsis of the work, a letter of recommendation from the thesis advisor, up to two supporting documents (e.g. additional letters of recommendation from collaborators or thesis-relevant publications), and a passport valid for two years and eligibility for USA entry visa. Nominees will be judged by a selection committee for the quality and the impact of the research.  A PDF file of the nomination package should be sent via Prof. LaShanda Korley and Prof. Mike Hore (acsglobalaward@pmsedivision.org) with the title “GOSM Award Nomination package for (Nominee Name)”. For more information, please contact Prof. LaShanda Korley (full contact info) or Prof. Mike Hore (full contact info).

Award Selection Process

The selected winners will be selected by a committee as appointed by the nomination chair. The committee is managed by PMSE for each award year and consists of members in good standing withe PMSE Division.

Award Announcement and Nature

Awardees will be notified before the deadline for submission of the abstracts for the fall ACS meeting.

Each of the two student award winners will receive a $7,500 cash prize and a commemorative plaque to be presented at the CME Symposium. Presentations, when possible, will occur in the PMSE Division Awards Reception in the selected ACS National Meeting of the Award year. The mentor of the student will receive a plaque and be recognized in the promotional materials. The Award does not cover any expenses for the student or mentor who attend the meeting. An eligible mentor is the thesis advisor, the department chair, the university president, or an officer of the country’s chemical society.

About CME

Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME) was established in 1954 by an industry steering committee to address the challenges of humanity.

We at CME are a forward-looking nonprofit dedicated to accelerating diverse STEM talent and leadership for sustainable innovation in energy, materials and life sciences. The group focus over time has expanded from technology and business to investments and policy in order to develop a holistic approach to advancing the transformational power of chemistry, the central science, together with other fields of knowledge in the sciences and the arts for the benefit of humanity.

Full List of Award Winners

2020 – Present

2022

Dr. Vivian Feig
Professor Zhenan Bao
Stanford University

Dr. Spyridon Varlas
Professor Rachel O’Reilly
University of Birmingham, U.K.

Post Summary

2021
Austin Evans
Professor William Ditchel (Advisor)
Northwestern University

Qi Zhang
Professor He Tian (Advisor, Graduate)
East China University of Science and Technology
Professor Ben Feringa (Advisor, Post Graduate)
University of Groningen

Post Summary

2019

2019
Dr. Seunghyun Sim
Prof. Takuzo Aida (Advisor)
University of Tokyo

Bas van Genabeek
Prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer (Advisor)
Eindhoven University of Technology

Post Summary