Kristin Bowman-James to Receive American Chemical Society Midwest Award

Summary

The 2003 Midwest Regional Award of the American Chemical Society will be presented to Dr. Kristin Bowman-James, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Kansas. Dr. Bowman-James is being honored for noteworthy contributions to the design of large molecules that selectively bind metals or negatively-charged ions, and is considered a leading expert in this field known as supramolecular chemistry. Her research is funded by the Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The EMSP support was recently renewed, with a focus on finding supramolecular agents capable of selectively extracting sulfate ions from radioactive waste mixtures. Removal of sulfate ions from these mixtures would reduce the volume of high-level wastes that must be stored for long periods of time. The research is being carried out in collaboration with scientists at the University of Texas, Austin, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.