Andy Barron recognized for research with inaugural Hackerman award

Andy
Barron recognized for research with inaugural Hackerman
award
…………………………………………………………………

BY MARGOT DIMOND
Rice News Staff

“I’m
probably the first faculty member to get roses from Rick
Smalley,” said Andy Barron, referring to the time six
years ago that he was considering coming to Rice University
from Harvard, where he was an associate professor of chemistry.
The dozen red roses arrived at his home one night with a
card from Smalley and the Center for Nanoscale Science and
Technology, stating, “Wish you were here.”

It wasn’t
the only reason Barron decided to come to Rice, but it certainly
got his attention.

Barron, the Charles
W. Duncan Jr.–Welch Chair of Chemistry and professor
of materials science, has just been named the first recipient
of the Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research, presented
by the Welch Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest
and largest sources of private funding for basic research
in chemistry.

The award, which
comes with a monetary prize, is designed to encourage and
recognize young chemical scientists in Texas for their past
research endeavors.

“We are
delighted that the Welch Foundation has recognized Dr. Barron’s
outstanding work in inorganic chemistry in such a significant
manner,” said Kathleen Matthews, dean of the Wiess
School of Natural Sciences. “That this award honors
Norman Hackerman, an emeritus faculty member in the Department
of Chemistry and president emeritus of the university, is
a double benefit.”

Originally from
a suburb just outside of London, Barron received his undergraduate
and graduate degrees from the Imperial College of Science
and Technology of the University of London. Before joining
the faculty at Harvard, he conducted postdoctoral research
at The University of Texas at Austin — one of the reasons
he was happy to consider moving to Houston.

“When you
move to a new country, you tend to feel more at home in
the place you first moved to,” he said. “Having
been a postdoc in Austin, I feel more at home here than
I did in Massachusetts. And I cannot stand snow.”

Barron’s
research focuses on the applications of inorganic chemistry
to the materials science of aluminum, gallium and indium
and the fabrication of micro- and nano-electronic devices
based on molecular design. His research group studies the
relationships between the structure and bonding within a
compound or material with its physical and/or chemical properties.
He specializes in the chemistry and materials science of
the compounds of aluminum and its related elements.

In addition,
he has developed a new environmentally benign way to make
aluminum-oxide ceramics and has developed nano-particle-enhanced
composite material. In collaboration with Mark Wiesner,
professor of civil and environmental engineering and chemical
engineering, he also created a nano filter system that could
be used in hazardous waste treatment, biomedical separations
and even controlling the spread of viruses.

One of his major
discoveries began when he was studying polymers with a grant
from the polymer division of the Navy.

“We found
out that what were thought to be aluminum-oxygen-containing
polymers were actually nanoparticles. In fact, it turned
out that a whole class of materials that were thought to
be polymers weren’t polymers,” he said.

“In order
to keep our funding we expanded this work to a class of
aluminum-oxygen-containing catalysts (alumoxanes) that are
used for polymer synthesis. Our investigations in this area
showed that the structure assumed was incorrect. Consequently,
their interpretation of how these chemicals reacted had
to change,” Barron said.

Barron had no
idea that he had been nominated for the Hackerman award
— the nomination was a secret — and found out
when he got a phone call from the Welch Foundation telling
him about the award committee. Since he holds a Welch chair,
he assumed he was being asked to serve on “yet another
committee.” Finally, he was told that he was the first
recipient of the award.

The news was
“doubly welcome,” he said. “First, to win
it, and second, not to have to sit on the committee.”

He has won numerous
other awards, including the Hümboldt Senior Scientist
Research Award and the Corday Morgan Medal and Prize of
the Royal Society of Chemistry, but said he is especially
pleased to win an award named after Norman Hackerman, the
former president of Rice who currently is a Distinguished
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry.

“Andy Barron
is an energetic paragon of creativity and resourcefulness
in both research and teaching,” said Rice President
Malcolm Gillis.

“Throughout
Norman Hackerman’s long and productive career, one
of his prime interests has been in supporting and recognizing
young scientists,” Gillis continued. “The first
winner of the Hackerman Award, Andy Barron, well exemplifies
what Norman has had in mind all these years.”

The award will
be formally presented Feb. 8 at a luncheon on the Rice campus.