Daniel Crawford, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the Virginia Tech College of Science, has received the Cottrell STAR (Science Teaching and Research) Award for 2023 from the nonprofit Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA).
Cottrell Scholar Awards are named in honor of Frederick Cottrell, a scientist and inventor who founded the RCSA with a distinct devotion to philanthropy in science in 1912. Through Cottrell's numerous patents, among those contributed by other scientists, RCSA has been able to make grants of more than $150 million to support projects independently proposed by academic scientists.
"Cottrell Scholars are a remarkable community of academic leaders whose contributions to science and society go far beyond their own campuses," said Daniel Linzer, RCSA president and CEO. "As they have advanced in their careers, these awardees have leveraged their skills and influence toward the greater good."
Cottrell was declared a "Samaritan of science" by his biographer and was the embodiment of philanthropy to the scientific community. Crawford unquestionably meets that standard through his dedication to discovery in research and his emphasis on education, the RCSA said.
"This is a tremendous honor for me, both personally and professionally, because I have long held so many of the previous recipients in such high regard," Crawford said.
STAR award recipients must demonstrate outstanding research and educational endeavors that distinguish them as exceptional teacher-scholars who enormously impact their disciplinary field and student learning. STAR Award honorees receive recognition in professional journals and are invited to give a plenary talk at the Cottrell Scholar Conference, which took place in July in Tucson, Arizona.
Crawford received the Cottrell Scholar Award, a prerequisite for receiving the STAR Award, in 2003 for work in computational quantum chemistry. His work involves modeling molecules by computer, a process that helps determine the "handedness" of certain types of compounds, including many isolated from plants and animals. This can benefit pharmaceutical development, for example, such that when a new drug is synthesized, it can be made to have the same handedness as the original compound, often with beneficial health effects.
"I was extremely fortunate to be selected for the Cottrell Scholar Award as it places me in excellent company with other Virginia Tech faculty, including Professors Brian Tissue, Paul Deck, and Diego Troya of the Department of Chemistry and Professor Randy Heflin of the Department of Physics who is now the senior associate vice president for research and innovation."
Crawford has received numerous honorifics and achievements for his research and educator efforts. Among those are being named a fellow of the American Chemical Society, winning the Dirac Medal of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists, and receiving a National Science Foundation CAREER Award.
In addition to receiving the STAR Award, Crawford was elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (IAQMS) earlier this year. IAQMS is one of the two most prestigious groups in the field.
Crawford commented, "Current and past members of the IAQMS include more than a dozen Nobel laureates and so many other amazing names in quantum mechanics. I count several of their members among my personal role models in the field."
The Academy sponsors a triennial conference (the International Congress of Quantum Chemistry) to highlight the most significant developments in the molecular quantum mechanics community. The IAQMS Congress was held earlier this year in Bratislava, Slovakia, where Crawford spoke as a new member of the Academy.
Crawford was also elected to the governing board of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC), the largest international organization of computational chemists.
Crawford remarked, "WATOC is the same organization that generously awarded me the 2010 Paul A. M. Dirac Medal for the 'Outstanding Computational and Theoretical Chemist in the World Under the Age of 40'."
The WATOC governing board is charged with various initiatives to promote computational chemistry worldwide, including sponsorship of the international triennial conference, selection of the winners of its Dirac and Schrödinger medals, and more.
Crawford was elected at the most recent WATOC meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in early July. The next WATOC meeting will be in Oslo, Norway, in 2025.
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