Scientific Society Selects UA Chemistry Professor as ACS Fellow

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The American Chemical Society will induct Dr. David Dixon, a University of Alabama chemistry professor, into its 2013 class of ACS Fellows, the society announced.

ACS, the world’s largest scientific society, will induct Dixon, a computational chemist who holds the Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry at UA, during a Sept. 9 ceremony held in Indianapolis, Ind., in conjunction with the society’s national meeting.

“This is an honor bestowed on members for their outstanding accomplishments in scientific research, education and public service,” said Bassam  Z. Shakhashiri, immediate past-president of ACS, in announcing the class.  “Their individual contributions to ACS, to science, and to society are hallmarks of distinction in keeping with the ACS mission of advancing the chemical enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people.

“Selection as an ACS Fellow greatly honors each individual and also honors ACS,” Shakhashiri said. “It is also a charge to each fellow to maintain his or her excellence in advancing chemistry and serving society.”

The event will honor 96 members for their contributions to science and the profession.

Dixon was nominated for his scientific contributions in chemistry and for his service to the ACS. A noted scholar, Dixon’s research at UA is presently supported by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. The UA chemist has more than 600 publications on a wide range of topics and is considered a world leader in the application of numerical simulation to chemical problems.

He uses computers to solve complex chemical problems in the areas of energy, the environment and biochemistry, as well as developing new computational approaches. Goals of his research are to improve the use of energy and sources of energy while at the same time protecting the environment.

Dixon has served as chairman of the ACS Division of Fluorine Chemistry, ACS councilor, chair of the 20^th Winter Fluorine Conference and as a member of the executive committee of the division. He is also on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, the premier ACS journal in this area of research.

He was awarded the 2003 ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

Dixon earned his Bachelor of Science from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and his doctorate from Harvard. After a Junior Fellowship at Harvard, he was an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota for six years before joining du Pont’s Central Research staff in 1983.

He later served as research leader in computational chemistry with du Pont before joining the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 1995 as an associate director of the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. He joined UA in January 2004 where he has been active in research, teaching and service. He received UA’s Burnum Award in 2011 and was the first recipient of UA’s SEC Faculty Achievement Award in 2012.

Additional information about the Fellows program is available at www.acs.org/fellows

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington D.C. and Columbus, Ohio.

The department of chemistry is part of UA’s 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 Team.