Solve A Big Riddle, Win A Big Prize

Back in 1985, chemist Peter Schultz drew considerable attention when, at the young age of 29 and after only two years on the job as assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, he was promoted to associate professor with tenure, one of the quickest such promotions in the institution’s history. Today, the young Schultz’s fast-rising career has soared once again. At the age of 31, he has been named this year’s winner of the National Science Foundation’s prestigious Alan T. Waterman Award. The award, named in honor of the first director of the NSF, includes a medal and an NSF grant of $500,000 over three years to fund research and advanced studies. It is given annually to an outstanding young researcher who has shown high quality, innovation, and potential for discovery in his or her field of science, mathematics, or engineering. A recipient must not be over 35 years of age or not more than five years beyond receipt of a Ph.D. In announcing the award, Dr. Roland W Schmitt, Chairman of the National Science Board, cited Schultz as “the best young researcher in his age group in his area of expertise." Among Schultz’s achievements to date is the solving of a riddle that has perplexed scientists for decades. His Berkeley group showed that certain types of chemical reactions can be speeded up using antibodies. This accomplishment presents the possibility that antibodies may one day be custom-made to boost production of many kinds of chemicals for use in medicine and industry. Schultz plans to continue work- ing not only on catalytic antibodies, or "abzymes," but also on enzymes that will cut DNA at specific sites along a molecule. Karen W. Morse has been named dean of the College of Science at Utah State University. She replaces Thomas Isenhour, who resigned to take a position as dean at Kansas State University. Morse has been at USU since 1968 and has headed the USU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since 1981. Richard E. Emmert, has been named executive director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Emmert, a retired vice president of Du Pont, has experience and expertise in strategic planning and emerging technologies, like electronic chemicals and other advanced materials. Leaders at two of the country’s government-designated comprehensive cancer centers have recently accepted posts at major medical schools. John B. Durant, former president of Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center, this month assumed responsibilities as senior vice president for health affairs and director of the medical center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He had been at Fox Chase since 1982. Samuel Heliman, physician-in-chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, has been appointed dean of the division of the biological sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and vice president for the medical center at the University of Chicago. Hellman who had been at Memorial Sloan-Kettering since 1983, will take over his new post in September. Lois Cohen has been chosen as the 1988 Percy T. Phillips Visiting Professor at Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery. Cohen is assistant director for international health and chief of planning, evaluation and communications at the National Institute of Dental Research. Peter Harte and Himan Sternlicht, both of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have each received national grants from the American Cancer Society. Harte, assistant professor of developmental genetics and anatomy, received $180,000 for his investigation of a set of genes that determine the identity assumed by cells in the early embryo. Sternlicht, associate professor of pharmacology, received $90,000. His research focuses on the structure and function of tubulin, a protein that forms larger structures called microtubules. Many drugs used in cancer chemo-therapy kill microtubules. Kenneth B. Bischoff has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering—the highest professional distinction that can be conferred on an engineer. Bischoff is Unidel professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1976. "He was cited for his work in the areas of biomedical engineering, reaction engineering, and transport phenomena, employing elegant mathematical models to describe precisely an array of practical problems." The European Space Agency recently presented the 1987 award for the Science Personality of the Year to director of science Roger Bonnet. Since joining ESA in 1983, Bonnet has been engaged in setting up a large-scale science program, "Horizon 2000," which now provides the frame of reference for all of Europe’s space science missions currently under development.

Solve A Big Riddle, Win A Big Prize

The Scientist Staff

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