Chemistry Professor Vicki Grassian wins 2014 ACS Midwest Award

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Vicki GrassianUniversity of Iowa Professor Vicki Grassian has been named the 70th recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Midwest Award. The award, sponsored by the St. Louis Section of the ACS, recognizes outstanding achievements in chemistry in the Midwest. The 2014 Midwest Award will be presented to Grassian at the Midwest Regional ACS Meeting in Columbia from Nov. 12-15.

Grassian is an F. Wendell Miller Professor in the Department of Chemistry, part of the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She also holds appointments in the Colleges of Engineering and Public Health, and is co-director of the UI’s Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute. Her research seeks to understand the chemistry and impact of mineral dust aerosols caused by windblown soils on both the global atmosphere and human health.

According to the ACS St. Louis Section announcement, Grassian received the award “for her exemplary contributions to chemistry, that span the areas of heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry and health and environmental implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology, for her outstanding teaching accomplishments and innovations, and for her exemplary mentoring, particularly of women.”

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.