Professional Society Selects Chemistry Professor as Elite ‘Fellow’

Dr. Jeffrey D. Evanseck, professor and Fr. Joseph Lauritis Chair of Teaching and Technology, has been named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in recognition of his “outstanding achievements in and contributions to Science, the Profession and Society.”

A computational chemist, he became one of only 96 scientists from around the world named ACS Fellows in 2012, the fourth year of the program. Less than 0.5 percent of ACS members worldwide are current Fellows, but this elite recognition now includes three Duquesne faculty members: Evanseck, Department Chair Dr. Ralph Wheeler and Dr. Jeffry Madura.

Evanseck teaches theoretical biophysical and physical organic chemistry, focusing his research on biomolecular energy and motion, including pathological damage to people from oxygen as a free radical and to products, particularly petroleum distillates. He also researches areas of nanotechnology and organic reactions.

Published in nearly 50 peer-reviewed papers that have garnered more than 5,700 citations, Evanseck has conducted work in computational chemistry that has helped to predict the products of fundamental reactions in organic chemistry, as well as in biochemical reactions. This work could be applied in the development of new antibiotics.

Evanseck’s service includes more than a decade of work in various elected positions within the ACS and, more recently, as a volunteer on a working group of the ACS Presidential Commission on Advancing Graduate Education. He was elected chair of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Leadership Group, which serves as the liaison between the foundation and all of its undergraduate research sites around the country. He also was recognized by Duquesne with the Presidential Excellence Award in Service to the Mission.

Involved in Duquesne’s successful NSF-supported initiative to provide research opportunities to undergraduates and faculty members from institutions that would otherwise not have access, Evanseck has forged partnerships with faculty from historically black colleges and other institutions. Through this program, he has helped to involve minority students in cutting-edge research at Duquesne, encouraging graduate studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.

Evanseck has earned teaching awards wherever he has gone, including the 2011 Omicron Delta Kappa Teacher of the Year Award.

Evanseck and the other Fellows will be honored at the ACS national meeting in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Aug. 21.