Professor Jeffrey Zink was awarded the American Chemical Society Southern California Section’s highest honor, the Tolman Medal, on May 1, 2018.
A photo gallery from the event can be viewed here and select photos can be viewed below.
Over 65 faculty, students, alumni and staff attended the Richard C. Tolman Award dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center. In his Tolman address, “Multifunctional Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Controlled by Nanomachines for Biomedical Targeting, Imaging and Drug Delivery”, Zink discussed five types of his nanomachines and how they were used to treat infectious diseases and cancer. He highlighted his most highly cited “greatest hits” and shared the excitement of their discovery and applications.
In his letter nominating Zink for the award, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart wrote “Jeff is a creative and versatile Inorganic Chemist with wide-ranging interests. His continual success in inventing and developing new fields of research is spectacular.” In his opening remarks, Professor Miguel Garcia-Garibay, Dean of Physical Sciences, spoke of Zink’s many contributions to UCLA.
Dr. Robert de Groot, Chair of the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society, presented the Tolman Award to Zink. In her closing remarks, Department Chair Professor Catherine Clarke echoed the praise for Zink’s research and contributions to UCLA.
(Left) Professor Jeffrey Zink with wife Helo and sister Meredith Ghattas. (Right) In his remarks Professor Miguel Garcia-Garibay, Dean of Physical Sciences, spoke of Zink’s many contributions to UCLA.
Zink presented his Tolman address at the event which took place at the UCLA Faculty Center.
Dr. Robert de Groot, Chair of the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society, presented the Tolman Award to Zink.
(Left) Professor and Chair Catherine Clarke gave the closing remarks. (Right) After his lecture, Zink was congratulated by former students Professor Min Xue, M.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’13 (UC Riverside), and Dr. Bryana Henderson, M.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’11 (Scientist, Planetary Ices Group, JPL).
Zink with collaborators Professors Carlotta Glackin (City of Hope), Marcus Horwitz (UCLA School of Medicine and MIMG), and Holden Wu (UCLA Radiology).
(Left) Professor David Eisenberg, Professor Chong Liu, postdoc Dr. Dandan Zhang (Kaner group), and Professor Ohyun Kwon. (Right) Dr. Mary Howe-Grant and Zink’s colleague Professor Peter Ford (UC Santa Barbara).
Zink with members of his research group.
Since 1960, the award has been given annually to Southern California researchers for outstanding contributions to chemistry. The honor is named for distinguished California Institute of Technology scientist Tolman (1881–1948), who in 1917 famously showed that the electron was the charge-carrying particle in metals. A byproduct of this experiment was the measured value of the mass of the electron. Tolman Medal recipients include seven Nobel Prize winners.
Zink is the 16th UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty member to be awarded the medal. Previous winners are William G. Young (1960), Francis E. Blacet (1968), Robert L. Pecsok (1970), Howard Reiss (1973), Herbert Kaesz (1980), Nobel Laureate Paul D. Boyer (1981), Nobel Laureate Donald C. Cram (1984), M. Frederick Hawthorne (1986), Mostafa El-Sayed (1989), Christopher S. Foote (1995), Kendall N. Houk (1998), Fred Wudl (2005), Joan S. Valentine (2008), Richard B. Kaner (2009), Michael Jung (2016), and Paul S. Weiss (2017).
To learn more about Zink’s research, visit his group’s website.
Photos by Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.
