Professor Neil Garg, an organic chemist, has been named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for 2018.
The program recognizes outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession, and the ACS.
Garg joins other UCLA faculty members Kendall Houk, Richard Kaner, Charles Knobler, Arlene Russell, Joan Valentine, Paul Weiss, and Herbert Kaesz in becoming a Fellow of the ACS.
Garg is a world leader in the synthesis of complex molecules. His laboratory also invents new chemical reactions, several of which are now employed by the pharmaceutical industry to synthesize new drug candidates.
Garg is also considered an innovator in chemical education. His teaching initiatives include a set of interactive online tutorials that combine real-life examples of organic chemistry, human health and popular culture – making organic chemistry relevant and important to students. Garg calls it BACON – Biology And Chemistry Online Notes – and he has made it available to professors and educators worldwide. Garg and his two daughters, Elaina, 11, and Kaylie, 6, published the Organic Coloring Book in 2017 to help children learn the wonders of organic chemistry. He has also worked with students to develop a free organic chemistry smartphone app and a new resource called QR Chem.
Garg recently received the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education and earlier this year he received one of the nation’s most prestigious teaching awards, the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. In 2015, he was named the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching California Professor of the Year. For his research success, Garg’s recent honors include being selected as a finalist for the 2018 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists and receiving the 2017 Elias J Corey Award from the ACS.
The news was featured on the UCLA Newsroom website on July 17, 2018.
For more about Garg’s research, teaching, and outreach activities, visit his group’s website.
