Are among 78 chemists to be honored in Denver, Colorado.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: Four Indian Americans are among 78 chemists from North America selected to receive the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) prestigious National Awards for 2015, in recognition of their excellence and achievements in the field of chemistry.
The ACS Award for Team Innovation, sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates, was shared by Abhijit A. Namjoshi, Ryan Gaston, James R. Keenihan, Stephen Pisklak, and Jason A. Reese, all from Dow Chemical.
The ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry, sponsored by the ACS Division of Business Development & Management and the ACS Division of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry went to Thomas J. Colacot, of Johnson Matthey.
The Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund – was shared by Neil K. Garg, of the University of California Los Angeles; Michelle Chang, University of California, Berkeley; Debbie C. Crans, Colorado State University, Fort Collins; Antonio M. Echavarren, Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia and Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain; Ben L. Feringa, University of Groningen, in the Netherlands; Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay, UC Los Angeles; Chuan He, University of Chicago; Kenichiro Itami, Nagoya University, in Japan; Kenny M. Nicholas, University of Oklahoma; Richmond Sarpong, UC Berkeley.
The George & Christine Sosnovsky Award for Cancer Research sponsored by the George & Christine Sosnovsky Endowment Fund was shared by Joseph Reddy, Endocyte Inc.; Christopher Leamon, Endocyte Inc.; Philip Low, Purdue University; and Iontcho R. Vlahov, Endocyte Inc.
Each will receive $5,000 and a certificate as part of an awards ceremony next spring in conjunction with the 249th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, set for March 22-26 in Denver, Colorado.
Colacot is a Development Manager in the Catalysis and Chiral Technologies Division at Johnson Matthey, where he has global R & D responsibilities with some business development for India.
Technically he is involved in the development of new organometallic compounds for catalysis and electronic applications, process development, supported homogeneous catalysts (FibreCat) and high throughput screening of the catalysts for organic reactions, such as C-C couplings and C-heteroatom couplings. He has worked in the area of highly air and moisture sensitive organophosphines, arsines and stibines.
Colacot was the Chair for the ACS South Jersey chapter, and is a visiting faculty member of Rutgers University in the Graduate School of Chemistry, where he teaches an Applied Organometallic Chemistry course relevant to Fine Chemicals & Pharmaceutical industries.
Colacot obtained his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1989 in the area of ligands and P, S, N heterocyclic chemistry. Prior to that, he studied at St. Berchman’s College, Changanacherry, Kerala. From 1990 to 1993 he taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Florida A & M University. He holds an MBA from Penn State University specialized in Strategies and New Ventures.