Dr. Anthony Bryk Named President of Carnegie Foundation
Dr. Anthony S. Bryk has been named president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and will assume his new post in August 2008. Dr. Bryk received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Boston College in 1970 and his doctorate in measurements and statistics from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has had a distinguished career in higher education and has held the Spencer Chair in Organizational Studies in the School of Education and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University since 2004. Dr. Bryk was formerly Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education in the sociology department at the University of Chicago, where he led significant efforts in urban school reform. His current research interests focus on organizational redesign of schools and school systems and the integration of technology into schools to enhance teaching and learning.
The Carnegie Foundation announcement quoted David S. Tatel, the chairman of the Carnegie Board, and a United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, stating that Dr. Bryk "has a tremendous ability to think and act across disciplines and to bring together theory and practice. I have no doubt that he will maintain Carnegie's rigorous intellectual standards, while further advancing its national presence."
The Chemistry Department at Boston College is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists and leaders. Our mission is to develop the spirit of scientific inquiry and to lead with it. The undergraduate program in Chemistry encourages students to develop the analytical thinking and problem-solving skills that provide the key tools for strong and effective leadership. Our alumni excel in industry and academe and contribute to society.
Established in 1905 by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is dedicated to fostering positive change and enhanced learning in the nation's schools and postsecondary institutions.
For further information on Dr. Bryk and the mission of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, please see the announcement at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/news/sub.asp?key=51&subkey=2510.
(January 14, 2008)
Dr. John Kozarich (BC Chemistry ’71) visited Boston College recently as one of the recipients of the 2007 Alumni Award of Excellence. On hand for the September 27 ceremony, Dr. Kozarich spent the following day in the Chemistry Department visiting faculty, presenting a seminar, "Mechanistic Adventures in Nucleotide Binding Space," and attending the department’s Undergraduate Poster Session. Picture below, Dr. Kozarich chats with Bill Wrobel about his poster during the session.
For more information on Dr. Kozarich, please see the following site.
Dr. Peter B. Dervan, the Bren Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, has been named one of eight recipients of the 2006 National Medal of Science. The award was announced Monday, July 16, by the White House.
The National Medal of Science honors individuals for pioneering scientific research in a range of fields--including physical, biological, mathematical, social, behavioral, and engineering sciences--that enhances our understanding of the world and leads to innovations and technologies that give the United States its global economic edge. The National Science Foundation administers the award, which was established by Congress in 1959.
Dervan, a former chair of CalTech's division of chemistry and chemical engineering, has influenced the course of research in organic chemistry through his studies at the interface of chemistry and biology.
A native of Boston, Dervan earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Boston College in 1967, and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1972. He was a postdoctoral fellow for a year at Stanford before arriving at CalTech as an assistant professor in 1973.
Dervan has pioneered a field of bioorganic chemistry with studies directed toward understanding the chemical principles for the sequence-specific recognition of the genetic material, DNA. He and his coworkers have combined the art of synthesis, physical chemistry, and biology to create synthetic molecules with affinities and sequence specificities comparable to nature's proteins. This chemical approach to DNA recognition underpins the design of programmable cell-permeable small molecules for the regulation of gene expression.
Dervan is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences and the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina. His awards include the Harrison Howe Award (1988), Arthur C. Cope Award (1993), Willard Gibbs Medal (1993), Nichols Medal (1994), Maison de la Chimie Foundation Prize (1996), Remsen Award (1998), Kirkwood Medal (1998), Alfred Bader Award (1999), Max Tishler Prize (1999), Linus Pauling Medal (1999), Richard C. Tolman Medal (1999), Tetrahedron Prize (2000), Harvey Prize (Israel) (2002), Ronald Breslow Award (2005), and the Wilbur Cross Medal (2005). In 1990, Dervan was selected as the prestigious University Lecturer at his alma mater, the Chemistry Department at Boston College. Dervan also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from BC in 1997.
He has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Gilead Sciences since 1987, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation since 1988, and has served as a director of Beckman Coulter since 1998.
The National Medal of Science is presented annually by the President. Dervan and the other seven recipients will receive their awards at the White House on 27 July.
Dr. Bridget McCarthy was recently named Vice President of Chemistry at Surface Logix. Dr. McCarthy was an NIH postdoctoral fellow with Professor Amir Hoveyda in the mid-1990s and also collaborated with Professor Marc Snapper. She was also with Pfizer for ten years.
BC chemistry major Gregory W. O'Neil, class of 2002, has been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship to pursue postdoctoral research in Germany. Greg was an undergraduate research student at BC with Professor L. T. Scott and completed his Ph.D. degree in 2006 at the University of Colorado under the direction of Professor A. J. Phillips. As a von Humboldt Fellow, he will be working in the lab of Prof. Alois Fürstner at the Max Planck Institute in Mülheim.
Robert F. O’Malley had an enormous influence on the development of the Chemistry Department at Boston College. To honor his leadership and vision, the Chemistry Department has established the Robert F. O’Malley Visiting Scholars Program. This Fall, two distinguished young scholars, Professors Nicola Pohl of Iowa State University and Timothy Lian of Emory University, visited the department to present lectures and to interact with the Chemistry community.
A BC Triple Eagle, Bob achieved his three degrees from the University in absolutely unique fashion. Born in Framingham, Mass., Bob arrived at the Heights in 1935 as an undergraduate student. After receiving a B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1940, Bob worked for a short while for a local paint manufacturer before becoming an officer in the U.S. Army’s Chemical Warfare Service in India during World War II. After the war, Bob enrolled in the graduate chemistry program at Boston College, which at the time offered only an M.S. degree. A year before he completed his Master’s in 1948, graduate student O’Malley was hired to teach chemistry at Boston College to help handle the overflow of veterans returning to school on the G.I. Bill. In the 1950’s as a young faculty member, O’Malley was the principal driving force behind the creation of the doctoral program in BC’s Chemistry Department. During this same period of time, O’Malley enrolled in MIT’s doctoral program and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1961, three years after the first class of chemistry Ph.D. candidates was enrolled at Boston College. Bob returned to join the faculty at BC and to pursue teaching and research on electrolytic fluorination of organic molecules. Bob served as chair of the Chemistry Department a number of different times and was most proud of “being instrumental in acquiring the faculty members we have.” The biochemistry major was created during one of his terms as chair in the early 1970s. Bob was beloved by generations of General Chemistry students as a teacher and by his Alma Mater as a leader who made things happen. Boston College bestowed its highest distinction, an honorary Doctor of Science Degree, at commencement in 1988, the year of Dr. O’Malley’s official retirement. As Professor Emeritus, Bob taught at the university until 1992 and continued supervising laboratory courses until 1996, ending a 61-year association with Boston College.
