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Professor Phoebe Dea Wins American Chemical Society Research Award
Phoebe Dea, Fletcher Jones Professor of Chemistry at Occidental College, today was named the recipient of the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution.
The $5,000 award, which will be presented at the ACS national meeting in March, recognizes Dea’s “extraordinary contributions to the lives of students as their research mentor and to the advancement of undergraduate research nationwide,” according to a statement from ACS. Dea was chosen from among 16 nominees for the annual award.
At Occidental, Dea has supervised 116 research students, who have made more than 100 presentations of their work at local, national and international professional meetings as part of Occidental’s award-winning undergraduate research program. Dea often publishes her own research findings with undergraduate co-authors and she has appeared in such premier journals as Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2000, the Occidental College Board of Trustees presented Dea the Graham L. Sterling Award for her dedication to teaching and undergraduate research.
A UCLA graduate who earned her doctorate at Caltech, Dea has taught instrumental chemistry at Occidental since 1993. Her research interests include the physical and analytical methods for determining molecular structures using methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance, fluorescence spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry.
“Dr. Dea represents a role model par excellence,” said chemistry Professor Tetsuo Otsuki, who nominated his colleague for the award. “Her students praise her as not only their research mentor, but also a person who cares about their academic progress as well as their personal and social development. She is amazing in all that she does.”
“Professor Dea is the quintessential educator,” added Donald Deardorff, Carl F. Braun Professor of Chemistry. “She understands that undergraduate education in chemistry is a complex interplay between classroom and laboratory work and has fashioned her own research program accordingly. Her professional achievement is exemplary, her teaching nationally recognized, and her commitment to undergraduate research unsurpassed.”
An announcement of Dea’s award was published in the Aug. 23 issue of Chemical and Engineering News. Washington, D.C.-based ACS is the largest professional society in the United States, with a membership of more than 160,000 chemists and chemical engineers. ACS will hold its 229th national meeting March 15, 2005, in San Diego.
The 20th annual Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution is funded by the Research Corporation, the second foundation established in the United States – it was founded in 1912 – and the only one devoted to the advancement of science.