Heather Maynard, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and associate director of the California NanoSystems Institute, has been named a 2018 recipient of the American Chemical Society’s Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, which honors excellence in organic chemistry. She will be presented with the award in August 2018 at the society’s fall national meeting in Boston, where she will present a research lecture.
Her laboratory’s research lies at the frontiers of chemistry, biomaterials, biotechnology and nanotechnology. The research involves an innovative combination of organic and polymer synthesis, with biomedical applications in areas including diabetes, cancer and chronic wounds. Her laboratory also conducts research on polymers for agricultural applications to meet the critical need to feed the growing global population.
Maynard joined UCLA’s faculty as an assistant professor in 2002, and is now a full professor and director of the chemistry biology interface training program. Since arriving at UCLA, she has given more than 200 invited lectures and has won many awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Career Award and a Fulbright Specialist Award.
Other UCLA chemistry and biochemistry faculty who have been selected for the Arthur C. Cope Scholar award are Miguel García-Garibay and Neil Garg in 2015, Yi Tang in 2012, Nobel Laureate J. Fraser Stoddart in 1999, Michael Jung in 1995, Christopher Foote in 1994, Fred Wudl in 1993 and Kendall Houk in 1988.
For more about Maynard’s research, see her website.
