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NEWS RELEASE

01-29-01

Contacts:
Mark Gordon, Chemistry, (515) 294-0452
Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, Chemistry, (515) 294-6105
Dave Gieseke, LAS Public Relations, (515) 294-7742
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917

TWO ISU PROFESSORS HONORED BY AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

AMES, Iowa – Two Iowa State University chemistry professors have been honored by the American Physical Society (APS).

Mark Gordon, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and director of Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences at Ames Laboratory, has been named a Fellow of the APS. Gordon was cited for "development of methods that extend the size of chemical systems that can be treated using ab initio electronic structure theory and methods that interface quantum chemistry with dynamics." The methods developed by Gordon and his students are used to understand how solvents like water affect chemical reactions, and to design new high-energy fuels and new materials that are resistant to extreme environments.

Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, associate professor of chemistry, is the recipient of the APS 2001 John H. Dillon Medal. The medal recognizes outstanding research accomplishments by young polymer physicists early in their careers.

Schmidt-Rohr's research focuses on characterizing the dynamics and structure of semicrystalline and glassy polymers by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the development of new solid-state NMR techniques for this purpose and for understanding and explaining structure-property relationships in solid polymers. NMR is a non-invasive technique for seeing inside of solids, and is used in medical diagnostics fields.

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