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.
Richard C Larock is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University. He received his BS degree summa cum laude in 1967 from the University of California at Davis and his PhD from Purdue University in 1972, under the direction of Professor Herbert C Brown, the 1979 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. In 1971, he was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University under Professor E J Corey, the 1990 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. In 1972, he joined the Chemistry Department of Iowa State University, where he rose through the ranks, to University Professor in 1999 and Distinguished Professor in 2007.
Professor Larock is a pioneer in the use of palladium catalysts in organic synthesis, particularly in the synthesis of carbocycles and heterocycles. Dr Larock has also discovered a remarkable range of novel rubber, adhesive, coating, elastomeric and plastic materials and biocomposites made from natural oils. Professor Larock has given over 420 research presentations and published about 350 articles, 32 patents, and 4 books. The books include two on applications of organomercury compounds in organic synthesis and two editions of the best selling classic Comprehensive Organic Transformations.
Dr Larock’s contributions have earned several major awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, a DuPont Young Faculty Scholar Award, two Merck Academic Development Awards, the Iowa Regent’s Award for Faculty Excellence, the Edward Leete Award of the American Chemical Society, the Paul Rylander Award of the Organic Reactions Catalysis Society, and an American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award.
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 2010 midwest Award will be presented at the 45th Midwest Regional Meeting to be held October 27-30 at the Marriott Hotel in Wichita, KS. The Midwest Award banquet on Friday, October 29, will feature the Midwest Award Lecture and the presentation of the award, consisting of a medallion and a cash honorarium. A condition of the Midwest Award is that the recipient gives the Midwest Award Lecture and attends the Award Banquet.
| Year | Recipient | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| 1944 |
Lucas P Kyrides | Monsanto Company |
| 1945 | Carl F and Gerty T Cori | Washington University |
| 1946 | Anderson W Ralston | Armour & Co (Chicago) |
| 1947 | no winner | |
| 1948 | Paul L Day | University of Arkansas–Little Rock |
| 1949 | Robert D Coghill | U S Dept of Agriculture (Peoria) |
| 1950 | William S Haldeman | Monmouth College |
| 1951 | Henry Gilman | Iowa State University |
| 1952 | Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr | Mallinckrodt Chemicals |
| 1953 | Roger Adams | University of Illinois |
| 1954 | Ralph M Hixon | Iowa State College |
| 1955 | Cliff S Hamilton | University of Nebraska |
| 1956 | Carroll A Hochwalt | Monsanto Company |
| 1957 | Ray Q Brewster | University of Kansas |
| 1958 | Charles D Hurd | Northwestern University |
| 1959 | Melvin DeGroote | Petrolite Corporation |
| 1960 | Charles D Harrington | Mallinckrodt Chemical Works |
| 1961 | Samuel I Weissman | Washington University |
| 1962 | Oliver H Lowry | Washington University |
| 1963 | Herman Pines | Northwestern University |
| 1964 | Harold H Strain | Argonne National Laboratory |
| 1965 | Richard H Wiley | University of Louisville |
| 1966 | Ralph G Pearson | Northwestern University |
| 1967 | Frank H Spedding | Iowa State University |
| 1968 | Byron Riegel | G D Searle and Co |
| 1969 | Joseph J Katz | Argonne National Laboratory |
| 1970 | Irving M Klotz | Northwestern University |
| 1971 | John C Bailar, Jr | University of Illinois |
| 1972 | Myron L Bender | Northwestern University |
| 1973 | Herbert S Gutowsky | University of Illinois |
| 1974 | Glen A Russell | Iowa State University |
| 1975 | Takeru Higuchi | University of Kansas |
| 1976 | Stanley Wawzonek | University of Iowa |
| 1977 | Paul Kuroda | University of Arkansas |
| 1978 | Orville Chapman | Iowa State University/UCLA |
| 1979 | Ralph Adams | University of Kansas |
| 1980 | Robert Hansen | Iowa State University |
| 1981 | Donald W Setser | Kansas State University |
| 1982 | Klaus Ruedenberg | Iowa State University |
| 1983 | Jakob Kleinberg | University of Kansas |
| 1984 | Norman Cromwell | University of Nebraska |
| 1985 | John Corbett | Iowa State University |
| 1986 | Charles W Gehrke | University of Missouri–Columbia |
| 1987 | Jacob Schaefer | Monsanto Company |
| 1988 | C David Gutsche | Washington University |
| 1989 | Robert W Murray | University of Missouri–St Louis |
| 1990 | Donald J Burton | University of Iowa |
| 1991 | Michael J Welch | Washington University |
| 1992 | Richard L Schowen | University of Kansas |
| 1993 | Daniel W Armstrong | University of Missouri–Rolla |
| 1994 | Theodore Kuwana | University of Kansas |
| 1995 | Thomas J Barton | Iowa State University |
| 1996 | Garland R Marshall | Washington University Medical School |
| 1997 | Reuben Rieke | University of Nebraska–Lincoln |
| 1998 | Kenneth J Klabunde | Kansas State University |
| 1999 | Dewey E Holten | Washington University |
| 2000 | Joyce Y Corey | University of Missouri–St Louis |
| 2001 | Vasu Nair | University of Iowa |
| 2002 | Michael Gross | Washington University |
| 2003 | Kristin Bowman-James | University of Kansas |
| 2004 | Mark S Gordon | Iowa State University |
| 2005 | Jerry Atwood | University of Missouri–Columbia |
| 2006 | Jay Switzer | University of Missouri–Rolla |
| 2007 | George Gokel | University of Missouri–St Louis |
| 2008 | Daryle H Busch | University of Kansas |
| 2009 | Richard C Larock | Iowa State University |
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