The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) today announced that Allen Bard, the Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, will receive its 2009 Distinguished Scientist Award.
AUSTIN, Texas—The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) today announced that Allen Bard, the Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, will receive its 2009 Distinguished Scientist Award.
The award honors a research scientist whose extraordinary work fulfills the SURA mission of “fostering excellence in scientific research.” The award and its $20,000 honorarium will be presented to Bard on April 7 at the SURA Board of Trustees meeting in Washington, D.C.
“Not only is The University of Texas at Austin fortunate to have a researcher the caliber of Dr. Bard on its campus, but the entire region and country benefit from his service as well,” said Charles Steger, president of Virginia Tech and chair of the SURA Council of Presidents. “Both inside and outside the laboratory, Dr. Bard brings distinction to himself, his university and his field of study. It is an honor for SURA to be able to recognize his years of outstanding research and mentorship.”
Before coming to The University of Texas at Austin in 1958 as an instructor, Bard earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in chemistry from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from City College of New York. He served as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Paris in 1973 and a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo in 1975.
His research involves the application of electrochemical methods to the study of chemical problems and includes investigations in electroanalytical chemistry.
“To me, this award represents recognition of the many coworkers at The University of Texas at Austin who participated in our research, including the development and application of scanning electrochemical microscopy and electrogenerated chemiluminescence, and to my colleagues all over the world who have contributed to the development of modern electrochemistry,” says Bard.
In addition to the SURA award, Bard has been named recipient of 40 distinct honors and awards, including the Wolf Foundation Prize (2008), the Welch Foundation Award in Chemistry (2004), the Priestly Medal of the American Chemical Society (2002) and the Olin-Palladium Medal of the Electrochemical Society (1987).
Bard was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1982.
“At age seventy-five, and after fifty years at The University of Texas at Austin, he still maintains a group of fifteen to twenty students and postdocs, publishes ten to twenty research papers every year, and teaches his signature graduate-level electrochemistry course,” wrote University of Texas at Austin President William Powers Jr. in his nomination of Bard for the award.
Noting his mentorship of 83 doctoral students, 16 master’s students and 162 postdoctoral associates, Powers added, “This is Professor Bard’s most significant legacy, and one that will continue to produce important scientific breakthroughs for many years to come.”
Bard has authored or co-authored more than 800 peer-reviewed publications, four books and twenty patents, and served as editor of several influential book series. His professional activities have spanned association with the Air Force, Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Research Foundation, National Science Foundation, Solar Energy Research Institute, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO). Further, his consultancy relationships include work with Monsanto, Exxon, Phillips Petroleum, Rockwell International, Texas Instruments, Bell Northern and the Electric Power Research Institute.
The award and honorarium will be presented to Bard at a private reception in his honor at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza in Washington, D.C.
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