NEWS

Seminar focuses on public health genetics as emerging field of study

Dr. Melissa Austin, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington, will speak on "Training and Research in the Emerging Field of Public Health Genetics" Wednesday (March 20) at noon in Rosenau Auditorium of Rosenau Hall.

Her talk is part of the school’s ongoing seminar series on genomics.

Public health genetics includes integrating human genetics and molecular technology into effective and ethical public health action to promote health and prevent disease and disability. Austin’s current research program focuses on the genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

She also is working on two projects funded by the National Institutes of Health that deal with hyperlipidemia and genetics of risk factors for coronary heart disease and diabetes in the Japanese-American community.

Austin is director of the Institute for Public Health Genetics at the University of Washington and serves on the Advisory Council for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

For more information on this or other upcoming lectures in the series, contact Dr. Bob Millikan, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health, at bob_millikan@unc.edu.

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DeSimone wins 2002 Carothers Award for contributions to field of chemistry

Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. distinguished professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at UNC and N.C. State University, has been named the recipient of the 2002 Carothers Award from the Delaware Section of the American Chemical Society.

DeSimone was selected for his contributions to the development of the use of supercritical carbon dioxide as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional organic solvents. He will receive the award, which honors innovators who have made outstanding advances in industrial applications of chemistry, April 24 in Wilmington, Del., at a banquet in his honor.

DeSimone has received numerous awards for his work on applications of supercritical carbon dioxide, including the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 1997 and the Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award in 1999. He is the recipient of more than 50 U.S. patents and has authored more than 120 technical papers related to supercritical carbon dioxide technology.

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Murray wins Pittsburgh award for contributions to analytical chemistry

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Royce W. Murray, Kenan Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the recipient of the 2002 Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field.

The award, given annually by the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP) since 1978, will be presented Tuesday (March 19) in New Orleans at PITTCON 2002, the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy. The conference is expected to draw 30,000 attendees from 120 countries.

Murray has used electroanalytical methods to invent measurement tools and strategies and to design new molecular assemblies providing access to previously inaccessible chemical phenomena.

Murray, who has been on the UNC faculty since 1960, has worked with more than 120 graduate and post-graduate students, with whom he has published about 350 papers.

His contributions have been recognized with Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships and top awards from major organizations in the field including the Electrochemical Society, the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society.

He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been editor-in-chief of the journal Analytical Chemistry since 1991.

He has a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Northwestern University.

Photo url: To download a photo of Murray go to: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/murray_royace.jpg

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415