St Louis Section–ACS
The Midwest Award
The St Louis Section established the ACS Midwest Award in 1944 to publicly recognize outstanding achievements in chemistry in the Midwest region. The award is conferred annually on a scientist who has made meritorious contributions to the advancement of pure or applied chemistry, chemical education, and the profession of chemistry. The award ceremony takes place during a banquet at the Midwest Regional ACS meeting in October. The awardee or the nominator usually organizes an Award Symposium with speakers in the awardee’s field of study.
Xiao Cheng Zeng, Ameritas Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is internationally known for his computational studies of new phases of ice, gold, and silicon clusters, and nanostructured materials. Zeng is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the American Physical Society. He has also held a John Simon Guggenheim fellowship and a fellowship of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He has received numerous awards and honors, including University of Nebraska Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award, Sigma Xi Outstanding Young Scientist Award, and an inaugural Willa Cather professorship at UNL.
Zeng has published 271 scientific papers in refereed journals including two in Nature, nine in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and twenty-four in Journal of the American Chemical Society. The most significant scientific discoveries from the Zeng group include the two-dimensional hexagonal bilayer ice ("Nebraska ice"), two-dimensional ice clathrate, multi-walled helical ice, one-dimensional ferroelectric ice, and hollow cages of gold. These findings were featured in the New York Times, Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal-Star, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Scientist magazine, New Scientist magazine, and National Public Radio.
A faculty member since 1993 at UNL, Zeng has supervised 20 graduate students (16 PhD and 4 MS) and 19 postdoctoral fellows. Eight former PhD graduate students in the Zeng group received University of Nebraska, College of Arts & Science, and/or Department of Chemistry Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant awards. Zeng received his bachelor’s degree from Peking University in 1984 and his PhD from the Ohio State University in 1989. He pursued postdoctoral research at University of Chicago and UCLA from 1989 to 1993.
To be eligible, a nominee’s cited work must have been performed while he or she was residing within the Midwest Region of the ACS, which includes Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Southern Illinois, and South Dakota. However, the nominee does not have to be an ACS member. Neither the nominee nor the nominator has to currently reside in any of these locations. Nominees can be from industry, academia, government or private practice.
Nominations must include a nominating letter, two or more seconding letters, a curriculum vitae, a brief biography, and documented, objective information regarding the outstanding achievements of the nominee. If the nominee is an academician, a list of persons who have received advanced degrees under his or her direction should be included. Please submit nine copies of all nomination material to the Midwest Award coordinator. Nominations received on or before the deadline of March 31 are considered for that calendar year.
The 2012 Midwest Award will be presented at the 47th Midwest Regional ACS Meeting to be held in Omaha, Nebraska, October 24-27, 2012. The ceremonies held on Thursday, October 25, will feature a Midwest Award Symposium and the Midwest Award Lecture. The award, consisting of a medallion and a cash honorarium, will be presented at the Award Banquet. A condition of the Midwest Award is that the recipient gives the Midwest Award Lecture and attends the Award Banquet.
| Year | Ordinal | Recipient | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 |
1st | Lucas P Kyrides | Monsanto Company |
| 1945 | 2nd | Carl F and Gerty T Cori | Washington University |
| 1946 | 3rd | Anderson W Ralston | Armour & Co (Chicago) |
| 1947 | — | no winner | |
| 1948 | 4th | Paul L Day | University of Arkansas–Little Rock |
| 1949 | 5th | Robert D Coghill | U S Dept of Agriculture (Peoria) |
| 1950 | 6th | William S Haldeman | Monmouth College |
| 1951 | 7th | Henry Gilman | Iowa State University |
| 1952 | 8th | Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr | Mallinckrodt Chemicals |
| 1953 | 9th | Roger Adams | University of Illinois |
| 1954 | 10th | Ralph M Hixon | Iowa State College |
| 1955 | 11th | Cliff S Hamilton | University of Nebraska |
| 1956 | 12th | Carroll A Hochwalt | Monsanto Company |
| 1957 | 13th | Ray Q Brewster | University of Kansas |
| 1958 | 14th | Charles D Hurd | Northwestern University |
| 1959 | 15th | Melvin DeGroote | Petrolite Corporation |
| 1960 | 16th | Charles D Harrington | Mallinckrodt Chemical Works |
| 1961 | 17th | Samuel I Weissman | Washington University |
| 1962 | 18th | Oliver H Lowry | Washington University |
| 1963 | 19th | Herman Pines | Northwestern University |
| 1964 | 20th | Harold H Strain | Argonne National Laboratory |
| 1965 | 21st | Richard H Wiley | University of Louisville |
| 1966 | 22nd | Ralph G Pearson | Northwestern University |
| 1967 | 23rd | Frank H Spedding | Iowa State University |
| 1968 | 24th | Byron Riegel | G D Searle and Co |
| 1969 | 25th | Joseph J Katz | Argonne National Laboratory |
| 1970 | 26th | Irving M Klotz | Northwestern University |
| 1971 | 27th | John C Bailar, Jr | University of Illinois |
| 1972 | 28th | Myron L Bender | Northwestern University |
| 1973 | 29th | Herbert S Gutowsky | University of Illinois |
| 1974 | 30th | Glen A Russell | Iowa State University |
| 1975 | 31st | Takeru Higuchi | University of Kansas |
| 1976 | 32nd | Stanley Wawzonek | University of Iowa |
| 1977 | 33rd | Paul Kuroda | University of Arkansas |
| 1978 | 34th | Orville Chapman | Iowa State University/UCLA |
| 1979 | 35th | Ralph Adams | University of Kansas |
| 1980 | 36th | Robert Hansen | Iowa State University |
| 1981 | 37th | Donald W Setser | Kansas State University |
| 1982 | 38th | Klaus Ruedenberg | Iowa State University |
| 1983 | 39th | Jakob Kleinberg | University of Kansas |
| 1984 | 40th | Norman Cromwell | University of Nebraska |
| 1985 | 41st | John Corbett | Iowa State University |
| 1986 | 42nd | Charles W Gehrke | University of Missouri–Columbia |
| 1987 | 43rd | Jacob Schaefer | Monsanto Company |
| 1988 | 44th | C David Gutsche | Washington University |
| 1989 | 45th | Robert W Murray | University of Missouri–St Louis |
| 1990 | 46th | Donald J Burton | University of Iowa |
| 1991 | 47th | Michael J Welch | Washington University |
| 1992 | 48th | Richard L Schowen | University of Kansas |
| 1993 | 49th | Daniel W Armstrong | University of Missouri–Rolla |
| 1994 | 50th | Theodore Kuwana | University of Kansas |
| 1995 | 51st | Thomas J Barton | Iowa State University |
| 1996 | 52nd | Garland R Marshall | Washington University Medical School |
| 1997 | 53rd | Reuben Rieke | University of Nebraska–Lincoln |
| 1998 | 54th | Kenneth J Klabunde | Kansas State University |
| 1999 | 55th | Dewey E Holten | Washington University |
| 2000 | 56th | Joyce Y Corey | University of Missouri–St Louis |
| 2001 | 57th | Vasu Nair | University of Iowa |
| 2002 | 58th | Michael Gross | Washington University |
| 2003 | 59th | Kristin Bowman-James | University of Kansas |
| 2004 | 60th | Mark S Gordon | Iowa State University |
| 2005 | 61st | Jerry Atwood | University of Missouri–Columbia |
| 2006 | 62nd | Jay Switzer | University of Missouri–Rolla |
| 2007 | 63rd | George Gokel | University of Missouri–St Louis |
| 2008 | 64th | Daryle H Busch | University of Kansas |
| 2009 | 65th | Richard C Larock | Iowa State University |
| 2010 | 66th | John Verkade | Iowa State University |
| 2011 | 67th | Xiao Cheng Zeng | University of Nebraska–Lincoln |
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