February 1, 2005

UCSB Chemist Receives National Award

Gail Gallessich

Thomas C. Bruice, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has received the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences.

The medal and prize of $15,000 is awarded annually for innovative research in the chemical sciences that, in the broadest sense, contributes to the better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity, according to the NAS.

The award cites Bruice for "his leading role in the development of bioorganic chemistry, and especially for deep and lasting contributions to the understanding of enzyme mechanisms." The Merck Company Foundation supports the award, which has been presented since 1979.

Bruice, who received his Ph.D. in 1954 from the University of Southern California and did post-graduate work at UCLA, served on the faculties of Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Cornell Universities prior to coming to UCSB in 1964. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received the major awards of the American Chemical Society in the sub-disciplines of bioorganic and bioinorganic chemistries, physical organic chemistry, and biochemistry.

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