Chemistry Professor One of Three in Nation to Receive Fulbright to City of Light

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Kevin Redding, associate professor of chemistry at The University of Alabama, has been chosen as one of three scholars in the nation to receive a Fulbright Fellowship to Paris, France for the 2007-08 academic year.

The Council for International Exchange of Scholars announced recently that Redding has been awarded a yearlong Fulbright Fellowship to continue his groundbreaking research on the chemistry of photosynthesis. The Fulbright provides recipients with funding to cover 10 months.

Redding, a faculty member in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, has chosen to work at the Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology in Paris. He conducted research at the institute previously while a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland. The Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology is affiliated with the University of Paris, as well as with a network of related institutes in the city.

“The IBPC is a pioneer in using new techniques to study living organisms. They have built a pump-probe laser-flash spectrometer that can observe electron transfer within a specific protein on a nanosecond timescale in living algae. No one else in the world can do that,” said Redding.

Redding will explore aspects of various bacteria and also expand his study of Heliobacteria, known as the most primitive photosynthetic organism in existence, according to Redding.

“Heliobacteria are the least complex photosynthetic bacteria ever found. They are like ‘living fossils’ of the bacterial world — they look a lot like what we might imagine a very early photosynthetic bacterium would have looked like over 2 billion years ago,” said Redding.

In addition to research, Redding will present guest lectures at the IBPC and affiliated University of Paris campuses.

“I’m really looking forward to using the Fulbright to strengthen the existing ties between UA and the IBPC and to expand the frontiers of what we know about photosynthesis, nature’s first version of solar power. We know that Heliobacteria can make hydrogen, and they might serve as an ideal platform for producing hydrogen using sunlight, if we can engineer them. But before we can do that, we need to understand how they tick,” said Redding.

In addition to the Fulbright fellowship, Redding has received a National Science Foundation Early Career Award, an award worth $670,000 over a five-year period. Redding will use funds from both awards to aid his research in Paris. He has also received a Robin Hill Award, an award given by the International Society of Photosynthetic Research which honors Dr. Robin Hill, a British researcher who used chemistry and physics to investigate photosynthesis.

Redding received his Bachelor of Arts in biochemistry from Rice University in 1983. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from Stanford University. Redding has been a member of the UA faculty for nine years.

For over 50 years the Fulbright Scholar Program has offered grants for college and university scholars, as well as for professionals and independent scholars. It has provided more than 273,000 participants-chosen for their leadership potential-with the opportunity to observe each others’ political, economic, educational and cultural institutions, to exchange ideas and to embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world.

The department of chemistry is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Teams.