MCS Alumnus Wins Prestigious Green Chemistry Award

By: Kate Hough

For his innovative research that promises to transform industrial processes and create a healthier environment, Anindya Ghosh has won the Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Student Award in Green Chemistry. Ghosh, a 2004 alumnus of the Mellon College of Science's (MCS) doctoral program in chemistry, was recognized for this achievement at the tenth annual Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Ceremony on June 20 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

Before an audience of scientists, industrialists, regulators and policy leaders, American Chemical Society (ACS) Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Madeleine Jacobs presented Ghosh with his Hancock Award. She expressed her admiration for his groundbreaking work, and for the work being done at Carnegie Mellon at the forefront of modern green chemistry.

“I am very proud of Anindya. He is a powerful chemist and a wonderful person," said Terry Collins, Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry, director of the Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry and Ghosh's advisor.

The Hancock Award is generally conferred upon only one person per year. Each winner receives a monetary sum and is recognized for his or her outstanding student contributions to furthering the goals of green chemistry through research or education. The Division of Environmental Chemistry of the ACS administers the Hancock Award program.

Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. It is based on 12 principles, including reduction of pollution, prevention of waste, design of safer chemicals and products, and minimization of potential for accidents.

Ghosh was selected as this year’s Hancock Award winner because of his central role in work with Fe-tetraamido macrocyclic ligand (Fe-TAML®) activators. The award recognizes Ghosh’s research to elucidate details of how Fe-TAML® activators work and to design and test Fe-TAML®s that can operate in a broad range of environments.

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