Chemistry’s Zubarev named Sloan Research Fellow

Chemistry’s Zubarev named Sloan Research Fellow
Nanotech researcher  chosen by Sloan Foundation

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News Staff

Eugene Zubarev, the Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator and assistant professor of chemistry, has been awarded a prestigious 2008 Sloan Research Fellowship. Zubarev, who specializes in the study of self-organizing molecular structures, joins a distinguished group of faculty members who have won Sloan Research Fellowships while at Rice, including Nobel laureates Robert Curl and Richard Smalley.

EUGENE ZUBAREV

Awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan Research Fellowships are intended to enhance the careers of exceptionally promising young faculty members. This year’s 118 fellows, who were chosen from more than 600 nominees, represent the disciplines of chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience and physics.

Sloan Research Fellows receive a two-year, $50,000 grant that may be used in a largely unrestricted manner. Sloan Fellowships are among the most highly sought, due both to the lack of restrictions on the funds and the prestige of the awards, which were established in 1955.

“Brilliant faculty researchers need to have a source of money that allows them to pursue risky new ideas, yet that kind of money is hard to come by,” said Vice Provost for Research Jim Coleman. “By filling that void, Sloan Research Fellowships can help seed the examination of ideas that ultimately have the potential to lead to some of the world’s most significant scientific discoveries.”

Zubarev’s research group focuses on the synthesis and characterization of functional organic-inorganic nanostructures. He is interested mainly in the self-assembly of these hybrid structures, which can result in the emergence of previously unseen physical and chemical properties.

Since joining Rice in 2005, Zubarev has: