Chemistry grad receiving two national honors

The year 2007 continues to be a banner year for Mike Marletta, Aldo DeBenedictis Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley. 

A 1973 chemistry and biology graduate, Mike is receiving two national awards this year: the Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, which will be presented in Boston in July; and the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest, which he will accept at Harvard University in April.

The Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest is sponsored by the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society and was established in 1987 to honor the memory of Gustavus John Esselen, a distinguished member of the Northeastern Section. The award will be presented on April 12 at Harvard University.

In late January Mike was also notified that he will be the 2007 recipient of the Emil Thomas Kaiser Award. This award, sponsored by The Protein Society, recognizes a recent, highly significant contribution in applying chemistry to the study of proteins. The award will be presented to Mike at the 21st Symposium of The Protein Society to be held in Boston July 21-25, 2007.

There are other significant Fredonia interactions for this award. Mike first heard of this award via a phone call from Jeff Kelly of Scripps Research Institute, a 1982 alumnus of our department, who is the current president of The Protein Society.

“These awards mean a great deal to me,” says Marletta. “The Esselen acknowledges that our chemistry has contributed to the public well-being. That is very satisfying. The Kaiser Award is special since I knew and greatly respected Tom Kaiser. He was an outstanding protein chemist who always had time to be supportive of the young faculty around him--and even those not so close, like me.”