The Department of Chemistry announced the inaugural recipients of the Roche Bioscience Organic Chemistry Awards. Roche Bioscience is the Palo Alto based division of the international pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. They granted $25,000 to the CSU, Chico Department of Chemistry to encourage our students' interest in organic chemistry.
The department chose five students to be awarded $2,500 each in this initial set of awards. Each student will be participating in a research program during the summer of 1999, working on the synthesis of novel organic molecules of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
Senior chemistry majors Lindsay Jacks and Dana Ray will be working with CSU, Chico professor Donald Alger on the synthesis of a series of molecules (substituted benzoic and naphthanoic acids), which may have potential use as fungistats to inhibit the growth of molds in breads and cereals.
Lisa Hegewisch, Lori La Riviera, and Marty Wallace will accompany CSU, Chico professor David Ball to the University of California, Santa Barbara this summer to participate in a variety of ongoing projects in the UCSB chemistry laboratories. CSU, Chico's consistent pattern of sending students to graduate schools, especially to UCSB and then on to work in the laboratories of prominent researchers or pharmaceutical companies, is credited by Roche for providing part of the motivation for the scholarships.
Deborah Reuter from Roche Bioscience, who arranged the donation, was on campus Friday, April 30 where she met with the awardees. A luncheon in honor of Reuter and the awardees was held that day and included the Chemistry Department's Advisory Council as well as friends, students, and faculty.
KB