Overview
The Phyllis A. Brauner Memorial Book Award is given annually at the Northeast Student Chemistry Conference (NSCRC) to the student who gives the best talk or poster as judged by the Education Chair and a committee of the Conference judges. A book is chosen by members of the Education Committee to reflect the broad topic of science. A presentation bookplate inside the cover honors both Dr . Brauner and the awardee. The winner is also invited to attend the NESACS Education Night in May. NESACS also established the Phyllis A. Brauner Memorial Lecture Endowment in 2002 to support a lecture being given annually during National Chemistry Week.
To submit a nomination, please contact Ruth Tanner, Chair of the NESACS Education Committee.
The prize is in memory of Dr. Phyllis Brauner who was an outstanding member of the NESACS. She served in many offices of the Section. In 1974 she became the first woman Chair of the Section, and contributed to the activities of the Section with her bold, innovative ideas and practical ways of carrying them out. This included: Editor of The Nucleus, Councilor, and Trustee and also being a recipient of the Henry A. Hill Award for Outstanding Service to the Northeastern Section. She taught at Simmons College and Framingham State College and was an inspiring teacher. Her research and education interests are mirrored in the prize. She had a fascination with nature and had a passion to pass on that fascination through chemistry to undergraduates. She inspired her students to love chemistry and to recognize their special role as chemists in society.
For more information about Phyllis A. Brauner, please click here.
Bio
Phyllis A. Brauner (1916-2000)
Phyllis was born in Natick, MA, graduated from Walnut Hill School in Natick, earned an A.B. in chemistry from Wheaton College in 1938, and a M.A. in chemistry from Wellesley College in 1940. She was an instructor at Northeastern University and then at Swarthmore College.
In 1948, after the untimely death of her husband on an Air Force mission, Phyllis left Philadelphia and brought her two young daughters back to the Boston area. She earned the Ph.D. from Boston University in 1959 and was a professor at Simmons College for 34 years.
Always interested in travel and other cultures, she took sabbaticals in Switzerland and Sweden, joined a “People to People” program to Russia and Europe, took part in the first goodwill trip of the ACS to China, joined Earthwatch expeditions to the USSR, Poland, and Rarotonga.After retiring from Simmons, she taught in Japan and Guam before becoming a lecturer at Framingham State College.
Throughout her long career in Boston, Phyllis was extremely active in the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society. In 1974, she was the first woman to preside in the chairmanship of the section. She was also a Member of the Board of Directors, a member and/or chairman of numerous committees, a Councilor of the section, a Trustee, and an Editor of The Nucleus. She was among the prime organizers of chemical events, such as the “ACS Night at the Pops” and the “Summer Thing” annual outing.In 1985, she received the Henry A. Hill Award for Outstanding Service to the NESACS.
Phyllis’ sense of adventure, scientific curiosity, and passion for teaching were evident in all aspects of her life.
For more on the Phyllis A. Brauner Memorial Lecture, please click here
Previous Recipients
2023
Jacob Newmark (Tufts University) – “Gaseous Chlorine Dioxide Permeation in Martian Soil and its Impact on Extant Biomarkers”
2022
Naksha Roy (MIT) – “Sorption-Enhanced Mixed-Gas Transport in Amine Functionalized Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs)”
2021
Anna Cox (Middlebury College) – “Developing Photoredox Crosslinking as an Alternative Method for Target Identification”
2020
Cancelled
2019
Maurice Windley (Brandeis University)
2018
Abraham Bayer (Tufts University)
2017
Yimin Zhang (Tufts University)
2016
Alejandro Rovira (Northeastern University)
2015
Michael Bird (Tufts University)
2014
Crismely Pol (University of Massachusetts Boston)
2013
Cancelled
2012
Allen Shih (Harvard University)
2011
Jiazuo “Henry” Feng (Boston University) – “Functionalized Nanoparticles: Old Drugs, New Tricks”
2010
Thaddeus Webster (University of New Hampshire) – “Enhancing Algae Lipid and Biodiesel Production by Temperature Stressing”
2009
Samuel Beal (Wheaton College) – “Chemical weathering in the hydrological system of the Greenland Ice Shelf”
2008
Jeffrey Garber (Dartmouth College) – “Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Precursors to Cobalt Polymer Hybrids”
2007
Paresh Agarwal (M.I.T.)
2006
Alisa A. Mueller (Harvard University) – “Structure and Mechanism of TadA, an Adenosine Deaminase That Acts on tRNA”
2005
Maryann Racine (M.I.T)
2004
Elisa Miller (Boston University)
2003
Christopher Crafts (Merrimack College)
2002
Anastasia Panos (Wheaton College)
