NOBCChE Recognizes Dr. Dorothy Phillips with the Trailblazers Lifetime Achievement Award

The National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) has awarded Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips, Ph.D. a Lifetime Achievement Award at its September 25, 2020 Virtual Awards Meeting.

Dorothy has been for many years a top leader in the American Chemical Society both in NESACS and nationally. She is currently serving her third term on the Board of Directors of the ACS as a Director-at-Large.

Dorothy is originally from Tennessee and she is one of eight children. Her father was a Baptist minister. Her parents were supportive of her education and she originally attended Tennessee State before transferring to Vanderbilt in 1966. In 1967 Phillips was the first African-American woman to complete a bachelor’s degree at Vanderbilt University. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati, and, again, was the first African-American woman in Cincinnati to earn a PhD in chemistry.

In 1973 the joined the American Chemical Society. Phillips joined the Dow Chemical Company as a bench scientist. Phillips joined the Waters Corporation in 1984, where she worked in research and development.

After an almost thirty-year career, Phillips retired from the Waters Corporation in 2013 as Director of Strategic Marketing.

Dorothy’s late husband, James Phillips, was also a chemist, an active member of NESACS and the 2019 recipient of the Henry A. Hill Award. She has three children, Anthony, Crystal and Vicki and many grandchildren.

Awards and Honors

• 1994 – 1994 University of Cincinnati Distinguished Alumni
• 2004 – American Chemical Society-Nashville Section, Salute to Excellence Award
• 2006 – Vanderbilt University, Unsung Heroine Award
• 2006 – American Chemical Society Northeastern Section, Henry A. Hill Award
• 2008 – American Chemical Society-Santa Clara Valley Section, Shirley B. Radding Award
• 2008 – Waters Corporation Leadership Award for Outstanding Contributions
• 2008 – Vanderbilt University, Dr. Dorothy Wingfield Phillips Award for Leadership
• 2010 – Fellow of the American Chemical Society
• 2011 – New England Institute of Chemists Distinguished Chemist Award
• 2015 – Vanderbilt University, Dr. Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Endowed Chair
• 2017 – Vanderbilt University, Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellowships
• 2019 – Vanderbilt University, 2019 Class of Vanderbilt Trailblazers