PNNL

Over 140 researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) participated in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2022 meeting. PNNL staff presented their research, contributed to research presented by others, organized conference sessions, and received awards. The conference, which took place from March 20 – 24, 2022 in San Diego, CA, featured a mix of live and on-demand presentations, industry thought-leader sessions, and posters.

One of this year’s award winners was Morris Bullock, a PNNL Laboratory fellow. Bullock was the first national laboratory employee to receive the ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry. As part of the meeting, PNNL Chemist Aaron Appel and former PNNL Postdoctoral Fellow Demyan Prokopchuk, who is now at Rutgers University, organized a symposium in Bullock’s honor.

“It was an honor to receive this award,” said Bullock. “The symposium was terrific! It featured 16 outstanding talks, including several from PNNL coworkers and collaborators through the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis.”

The Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis is an Energy Frontier Research Center that seeks to transform the design of electrocatalysts that convert electrical energy into the chemical bonds of fuels, or the reverse—convert chemical energy into electrical energy.

PNNL staff organized numerous other symposia at ACS Spring 2022 on topics ranging from energy storage to the surfaces of materials. Four PNNL scientists, Computational Scientist Vanda Glezakou, Chemist David Heldebrant, Chemist Grant Johnson, and Chemical Engineer Venky Prabhakaran played a key role in organizing a multi-day symposium on separations.

“I was delighted by the success of our symposium,” said Glezakou. “We had great engagement and discussions from researchers across the separations science community. Making this happen took a massive team effort from all the organizers.”