Graduate Student Award

Awards and Fellowships

Every year the Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division of the American Chemical Society, in collaboration with the Eastman Chemical Company, recognizes graduate student achievement in cellulose and renewable materials research. The first place winner will receive a check for $1,500, up to $500 for travel expenses, and a plaque honoring the recipient’s accomplishment. The award for the second place winner will consist of a check for $750, up to $500 for travel expenses and a certificate honoring the recipient’s accomplishment. The recipients will be invited to attend the following Spring ACS National Meeting and deliver an oral presentation on their awarding winning work. All graduate students currently enrolled in a graduate program (at the application deadline) and pursuing research on the chemical nature of cellulose, paper, textiles and other renewable materials are eligible.

Eligibility

All graduate students who are members of the division, enrolled in school during the spring semester prior to the application deadline (at the application deadline July 1st), and pursuing research on the chemical nature of cellulose, paper, textiles and other renewable materials are eligible.

How to Apply

The application package for the Graduate Student Award consists of:

A cover letter stating the full name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the nominee, and in addition the title of the nominee’s research study, the graduate school attended, and name of research advisor.
A summary (up to three pages in length) that documents the nominee’s research contributions and shows how the works fits into the current state of the art.
A letter signed by the applicant’s research supervisor and verifying that the student meets the requirements of the Graduate Student Award.
A copy of one published paper that represents the applicant’s most significant research accomplishments.
A completed application form.

Submit your completed application package by email to the Division’s Awards Chair.

Please combine all five of the above items into one single PDF file, and write “CELL Graduate Student Award” as the email subject line.

The application deadline is July 1.

Selection Process

All applications must be complete and received by July 1, and Recipients will be notified before November 1.
Selection of an awardee will be based upon the information included in the application package.
All applications will be reviewed by a panel composed of three representatives from academic or federal research institutions and two representatives elected by Eastman Chemical Company. The academic or federal research institute panel members will be selected by the ACS CELL Division Awards Chair.

Past Winners

Year	Awardee	Institution
2023	1st: Thomas Parton	University of Cambridge
	2nd: Zheyuan Ding	Tianjin University
2022	1st: Paul Jusner	BOKU Vienna
	2nd: Kudzanai Nyamayaro	University of British Columbia
2021	Kazuho Daicho & Werner Schlemmer	University of Tokyo & Graz University of Technology
2020	1st: Liyang Liu	University of British Columbia
	2nd: Valerie Garcia-Negron	University of Tennessee
2019	1st: Nele Zwirchmayr	BOKU Vienna
	2nd: Prodyut Dhar	Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
2018	1st: Katrin Niegelhell	TU Graz
	2nd: Zhiyu Xia	University of Massachusetts Lowell
2017	1st: Yifan Dong	Virginia Tech
	2nd: Thi Hoang Ha Nguyen	University of Florida
2016	1st: Xiangtao Meng	Virginia Tech
	2nd: Stephen Spinella	New York University & University de Mons
2015	Mohd. Mahdi Hasani-Sadrabadi	Georgia Institute of Technology
2014	Christopher M. Lee	Penn State University
2013	Haoyu Liu	Virginia Tech
2012	Daiqiang Xu	Virginia Tech
2011	James M. Dugan	University of Manchester
2010	Justin O. Zoppe	NC State University
2009	Anand P. Mangalam	Oregon State University
2008	Chunhui Xiang	Cornell University
2007	Jacob D. Goodrich	SUNY
2006	Lambrini Adamopoulos	NC State University
2005	Maria Grondahl	Chalmers University of Technology
2004	William Tze	University of Maine
2003	Richard P. Chandra	Institute of Paper Science and Technology
2002	Catherine D. Edgar	McGill University
2001	Fadi S. Chakar	Institute of Paper Science and Technology
2000	Aldwin Anterola	Washington State University
1999	Brian Brogdon	Institute of Paper Science and Technology
1998	David R. Gang	Washington State University

Recent Winners

2023 ACS CELL Division Graduate Student Award

We have an amazing pool of candidates for the 2023 CELL Division Graduate Student Award this year and the selection was tough. Our panel of …

Funding

Funding for the award is provided through a significant contribution from Eastman Chemical Company with additional support from the Division and the following individual contributors: Dr. Helena L. Chum, Dr. Wolfgang G. Glasser, Dr. Stephen S. Kelly, and other anonymous supporters.