FULL Steam Ahead!

Congratulations to Dr. David Patrick and Dr. James Vyvyan for their promotion to Full Professor!

Full Professors: Dr. James Vyvyan (left) and Dr. David Patrick (right)

The official promotion takes effect in September of 2005 but the official news has already made it to the Chemistry Department. The department would like to congratulate them on their promotion and wish them continued success in their teaching and research. We encourage everyone to congratulate them when you next see them.

Dr. David Patrick

Dave is an Analytical Chemist who works in the areas of materials science and surface chemistry, with particular interests in nanoscience. With the aid of undergraduate and graduate researchers, the Patrick Group's research has been published in journals such as Angewandte Chemie and the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Furthermore, Dr. Patrick received the presitgeous U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2000 based on his research efforts. He was also awarded the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 2001 and has continued to mentor undergraduates and graduates of Western as well as high school students from around the county. Most recently, Karl Plank, a high school student from Squalicum, worked in Dr. Patrick's lab and the results of his work led him to Washington, D.C. to present his research to a panel of Nobel Laureates for the nation-wide Intel Science Talent competition.

Dr. James Vyvyan

Jim is an Organic Chemist who works in the broad area of organic synthesis with particular interest in the Heliannuols; a family of natural products isolated from the sunflower that exhibit selective herbicidal activity against other plant species. The Vyvyan Group's research has been reported in prominate research publications such as the Journal of Organic Chemistry and Tetrahedron Letters. He has worked with many undergraduate and Master's students here at Western and his strong teaching and research efforts led to the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation in 2001 and the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 2003.