IUPAC Announces the Winners of the 2018 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists

The five winners are:

1. Eduardo Bolea-Fernandez, Ph.D., Ghent University, Belgium

2. Dane W. deQuilettes, Ph.D., University of Washington, USA

3. Palas Roy, Ph.D., Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India

4. Monika Stolar, Ph.D, University of Calgary, Canada

5. Chi Zhang, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

The winners will each receive a cash prize of USD 1000 and travel expenses to the 47th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress, 5-12 July 2019, in Paris, France. Each winner will also be invited to present a poster at the IUPAC Congress describing their award-winning work and to submit a short critical review on aspects of their research topic, to be published in Pure and Applied Chemistry. The awards will be presented to 2018 and 2019 winners during the Opening Ceremony of the Congress.

The titles of the winners’ theses are:

1. Dr. Bolea-Fernandez: “Method development for ultra-trace elemental and isotopic analysis using tandem ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS)”

2. Dr. deQuilettes: “Probing Local Heterogeneity in the Optoelectronic Properties of Organic-Inorganic Perovskites Using Fluorescence Microscopy”

3. Dr. Roy: “Probing the Fate of Excitons in Organic Semiconductors”

4. Dr. Stolar: “Development of Phosphoryl-Bridged Viologens Toward Functional Materials”

5. Dr. Zhang: “Cysteine Arylation”

There were 45 applications from Ph.D. candidates representing institutions in 15 countries. The award selection committee, chaired by Professor Natalia Tarasova, IUPAC Past President, comprised members of the IUPAC Bureau and a senior science advisor from Solvay, all of whom have a wide range of experience in chemistry.

In view of the many high-quality applications, the Committee also decided to award three Honorable Mentions to:

1. Steven M Banik, Ph.D., Harvard University, USA

2. Yun Liu, Ph.D., Indiana University Bloomington, USA

3. Jessica Pandohee, Ph.D., Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia

The call for applications for the 2019 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists is now opened. Eligible candidates must have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in any of the countries that have National Adhering Organizations or Associate National Adhering Organizations in IUPAC during the year 2018.