For release: April 25 , 2007

Contacts: 
Steve Karsjen, Public Affairs, 515-294-5643

AMES LABORATORY SCIENTISTS NAMED IOWA STATE
UNIVERSITY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS

AMES, Iowa – Interim director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory Alan Goldman and Ames Laboratory associate Richard Larock have been named Distinguished Professors at Iowa State University.  Both also hold faculty positions at ISU in the Physics and Astronomy and Chemistry departments, respectively.

The title of Distinguished Professor, first awarded in 1956, is the highest academic honor bestowed by Iowa State.  It recognizes faculty members for exemplary performance in at least two of the following areas:  teaching and advising; research, scholarship, or artistic creativity; and extension, university service or professional practice.

Goldman and Larock will be honored along with two other ISU faculty being awarded the Distinguished Professor distinction at the university convocation and awards ceremony Sept. 10, 2007.

Richard C. Larock, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Larock is an internationally recognized expert in organic synthesis and organometallic chemistry, particularly involving the element palladium.  He has developed a variety of palladium catalyzed reactions, which have broad applications in medicine, and his efforts to replace petroleum-based rubbers and plastics with plant oil-based materials have led to a wide range of novel new bioplastics and composites.  He has published more than 300 papers and book chapters –124 in the last five years alone.

Ames Laboratory, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007, is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

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