Professor Stephen Buchwald, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was honored at the Hawthorne Lecture on January 31, 2018.
In his lecture titled “Palladium-Based Methodology in Imaging and Bioconjugation”, Buchwald presented the recent work conducted in his laboratory focused on the development of new metal-mediated methods for bioconjugation. Photos from the events can be viewed on the on-line photo gallery.
In his welcoming remarks, inorganic chemistry professor Dr. Alexander Spokoyny thanked donors Raymond and Dorothy Wilson whose generous endowment made the event possible. He also spoke about the career of Prof. M. Frederick Hawthorne for whom the lecture is named. (Spokoyny conducted research in Hawthorne’s laboratory when he was a UCLA chemistry undergraduate student.) He then introduced Buchwald and spoke about his time in Buchwald’s laboratory at MIT where he conducted research as an NIH postdoctoral fellow before joining the UCLA faculty. After the lecture, Spokoyny presented Buchwald, who is known for wearing unique socks, with a plaque and two pairs of UCLA socks.
The lecture at the UCLA California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) auditorium was followed by a reception and a dinner with faculty and their family, alumni, and graduate students at the UCLA Faculty Center. At the dinner, with encouragement from Spokoyny, Buchwald led the guests in the UCLA Eight Clap, and the MIT and Brown cheers.
In his introductory remarks, Prof. Alex Spokoyny thanked Raymond and Dorothy Wilson (pictured on screen) whose generous endowment made the event possible. Prof. Stephen Buchwald during his lecture. 
Over 250 people attended Buchwald’s lecture in the CNSI auditorium. 
During the question and answer period – former Buchwald postdoctoral fellow Prof. Catherine Larsen (UC Riverside) poses a question. Next to her are Prof. Travis Williams (USC) and Prof. Eric Block (University of Albany, SUNY). 
After the lecture Spokoyny presented Buchwald with UCLA socks and a plaque. 
At the reception following the lecture in the CNSI lobby – (left) UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry graduate students – Natcha Wattanatorn, Sheba Plamthottam, Brian Zhao, Zeeshan Parvez, and Samantha Mensah, (right) former Buchwald graduate student Dr. Katia Vinogradova,currently a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps, MIT alum Dr.
Julia Stauber
, and Spokoyny.
At the dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center – (Left) Professor Michael Jung, Helo Zink, Professor Jeffrey Zink, Buchwald. (Right) Carol and Dr. Mark Thompson (former postdoc in Prof. Hawthorne’s group) with Professor Sarah Tolbert who was their son Robert’s Ph.D. co-advisor when he was a student at UCLA. 
At Spokoyny’s request, Buchwald led the group in the UCLA Eight Clap cheer and Brown and MIT cheers. (Right) Profs. Michael Jung, Craig Merlic, and Ken Houk. 
UCLA inorganic chemistry faculty with the honored speaker at the dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center. From left: Jeffrey Zink, his spouse Helo Zink, Richard Kaner, Stephen Buchwald (MIT), Alexander Spokoyny, Paula Diaconescu , Chong Liu, and Xiangfeng Duan.
About Professor Stephen L. Buchwald
Stephen L. Buchwald was born (1955) in Bloomington, Indiana. He received his Sc.B. degree from Brown University in 1977 where he worked with Kathlyn A. Parker and David E. Cane at Brown University as well as Professor Gilbert Stork at Columbia University. He entered Harvard University as a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in 1977 and received his Ph.D. in 1982. His thesis work, with Jeremy R. Knowles, concerned the mechanism of phosphoryl transfer reactions in chemistry and biochemistry. He then was a Myron A. Bantrell postdoctoral fellow at Caltech with Professor Robert H. Grubbs where he studied titanocene methylenes as reagents in organic synthesis and the mechanism of Ziegler-Natta polymerization. In 1984 he began as an assistant professor of chemistry MIT. He was promoted to the associate professor (1989) and to Professor (1993) and was named the Camille Dreyfus Professor in 1997. In July 2015, he became Associate Head of the Chemistry Department at MIT. During his time at MIT he has received numerous honors including the Harold Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award of MIT, an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, the 2000 Award in Organometallic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society and a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. He has also been the recipient of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Distinguished Achievement Award and the CAS Science Spotlight Award, both received in 2005 and the American Chemical Society’s Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry as well as the Siegfried Medal Award in Chemical Methods which Impact Process Chemistry, both received in 2006. In 2010 he received the Gustavus J. Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest. He received the 2013 Arthur C. Cope Award from the American Chemical Society. In 2014 he was the recipient of the Linus Pauling Medal Award and the Ulysses Medal (University College Dublin). In 2015 he received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of South Florida, and also received the BBVA Frontiers in Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences (2014 Award). He was recently selected to receive the 2016 William H. Nichols Medal. In 2000, he was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2008 he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Science. He is the coauthor of over 435 published or accepted papers and 47 issued patents. He serves as a consultant to a number of companies and is an associate editor of Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis. 
About the M. Frederick Hawthorne Lecture
The annual M. Frederick Hawthorne Lecture was established in 2011 with Professor Hawthorne delivering the inaugural lecture. M. Frederick Hawthorne majored in chemistry at Pomona College and went on to receive his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from UCLA in 1953. He’s considered a pioneer in boron chemistry, having created, alongside colleagues, a collection of boranes, carboranes and metallacarboranes, which have been used in a variety of applications, including medical imaging, drug delivery and nanomachines. In 2006 Hawthorne retired from UCLA and founded the International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine at the University of Missouri, where he is Institute Director and Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Radiology. He spent 32 years at the helm of the journal Inorganic Chemistry. He has authored or co-authored more than 500 research papers and 10 patents, and has received international recognition and numerous awards. Previous Hawthorne lecturers have been Prof. Daniel Nocera (Harvard) in 2017, Prof. Marcetta Darensbourg (Texas A&M University) in 2016, Prof. Omar K. Farha (Northwestern) in 2015, Prof. William Evans (UC Irvine) in 2014, Prof. Philip Power (UC Davis) in 2013 and Prof. Chad Mirkin (Northwestern) in 2012. 
About the Raymond and Dorothy Wilson Endowment
The 2017 M. Frederick Hawthorne Lecture was made possible by the Raymond and Dorothy Wilson Endowment which was established in 2001. Raymond A. Wilson (class of ’43) credits his UCLA education for giving him an excellent start to an immensely satisfying 40-year career with Shell Oil Company. Although he graduated nearly seventy years ago, he has enduring memories of several UCLA chemistry professors who profoundly affected his life – Professor Charles D. Coryell and James D. McCullough. Through their generosity, the Wilsons have built a solid legacy in the department which is also a lasting tribute to the chemistry professors who had such a profound impact on a bright young chemistry student. Event photos by Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
