Angel Martí elected fellow of the American Chemical Society

Rice chemist recognized for scientific achievements and ACS service

2024-08-01

(Press-News.org) By Jade Boyd
Special to Rice News

Rice University’s Angel Martí has been elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), one of his discipline’s highest honors.

Martí, professor and department chair of chemistry, is among 37 newly elected fellows announced by ACS this week. With more than 200,000 members in 140 countries, ACS is one of the largest scientific organizations. Fewer than 1% of its members are fellows, a distinction reserved for those with exemplary records of both service to the society and outstanding scientific or professional achievement.

Martí joined Rice’s Wiess School of Natural Sciences in 2008 and holds joint appointments in bioengineering and materials science and nanoengineering. His research group has designed and synthesized molecular tags to investigate amyloid structures implicated in Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases, and he won a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health grant in March to study those structures in unprecedented detail. His lab has also developed tools and methods to purify, modify, produce and study boron nitride nanoparticles and created an efficient method to produce fluorescent surfactants used in medicine and manufacturing.

In 2024, Martí was elected chair of ACS’s Division of Inorganic Chemistry. He is currently serving a one-year term as chair-elect and will serve as chair in 2025 and past-chair in 2026. He served as the division’s secretary, also an elected role, from 2021-23, and also serves on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of the American Chemical Society , one of the field’s most prestigious and highly ranked journals.

Martí is a recipient of Rice’s Presidential Mentoring Award, the university’s highest recognition for mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, and he serves as faculty director of the Rice Emerging Scholars Program, an innovative, residential academic program that helps first-year students prepare for the challenging pace, depth and rigor of Rice’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula.

Martí and the other 2024 ACS fellows will be formally recognized at the society’s ACS Fall 2024 meeting in Denver Aug 18-22.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

Angel Martí elected fellow of the American Chemical Society 2

Angel Martí elected fellow of the American Chemical Society 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Rice, DOE labs tackle knowledge gap in materials science research

2024-08-01

HOUSTON – (August 1, 2024) – Materials behave differently in different size regimes, and researchers tend to cluster their efforts either at the nanoscale, examining materials in atom-level detail, or at the microscale, looking at structures between three and five orders of magnitude greater. However, less is known about what happens in the “in-between” realm spanning from 10 billionths to 1 millionth of a meter. “We call this the mesoscale,” said Rice University materials scientist Lane Martin, who together with collaborators at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National ...

ACM publishes first issue of Proceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering

2024-08-01

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has recently published the first issue of Proceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering (PACSME), a new Gold Open Access journal publishing top-quality, original research on all aspects of software engineering, from requirements elicitation to quality assessment, design, maintenance, evolution, and deployment. PACMSE covers a broad range of topics and methods that help conceive, create, and maintain better software be it embedded, cloud-based, mobile and ubiquitous, or runs on conventional computers. “The overarching goal of the new PACSME journal is to make ...

Barriers complicate exercise for disability community

2024-08-01

An estimated 16% of people worldwide live with a significant disability that impacts their daily life. Of this population, only about 40% engage in aerobic activity. Due to this lack of exercise, people with disabilities (PWD) are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer and are at higher risk of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. “Many PWD struggle with psychological issues such as low self-esteem and negative body image, which can further reduce their motivation to participate in exercise activities, especially in public places ...

Venezuelan crisis has negatively affected country’s Internet

2024-08-01

As the Venezuelan crisis intensifies, researchers and policy experts have worked to understand its ramifications on the country’s politics, economics, health services, water security, infrastructure and more. Now, Northwestern University computer scientists have comprehensively examined the effects of the crisis on a previously unexplored area: the Internet. In a new study, the researchers found the crisis has significantly — and negatively — affected Venezuela’s Internet infrastructure and connectivity. Compared to the ...

COSPAR 2024: Embracing team spirit in space research

2024-08-01

The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has successfully concluded its 45th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Busan, Korea, held from 13 to 21 July. This prestigious event brought together more than 3,000 experts and leaders from 55 countries in all major fields of space science, under the theme “Team Spirit in Space Research”. This biennial event, actively supported by major space organizations, is a benchmark for fostering dialogue and collaboration within the global space science community. Bringing space leaders together Of particular note this time was the showcasing of ...

'Cowpuppy' takes readers into secret world of cows

2024-08-01

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University, moved from Atlanta to a farm an hour south of the city. His reinvention from city dweller to farmer led to his upcoming book “Cowpuppy: An Unexpected friendship and a Scientist’s Journey into the Secret World of Cows.” Set for publication by Harper Collins on August 20, the book describes Berns’ crash course to becoming a cattleman and his ongoing fascination with the interior world of cows. Berns originally bought a few cows to keep the grass in the ...

Warming stops tiny organisms working together

2024-08-01

Hotter conditions prevent two tiny organisms working together for mutual benefit, new research shows. University of Exeter scientists studied a single-celled organism (Paramecium bursaria) which can absorb and host algae (Chlorella spp). This pairing is common in freshwater worldwide, and their symbiotic relationship provides benefits including trading of nutrients and protection for the algae. But when scientists made the water 5°C warmer, the partnership stopped working – and the results suggest the algae may even become parasitic. The breakdown of such relationships could have a major impact on ecosystems. “This ...

Gun permits may be more effective than background checks alone at reducing firearm homicides

2024-08-01

Despite widespread support, laws enforcing universal background checks at the time of firearm purchase may not be enough to move the needle on reducing shooting deaths in the United States. A Tufts University School of Medicine study, published August 1 in the journal JAMA Network Open, reports that states that require gun permits rather than relying solely on universal background checks see firearm homicide rates, on average, 18% lower than states with background check policies alone. The analysis compared firearm homicide data from the 12 states with universal background check laws but no permit ...

Study finds regular aspirin use associated with greatest reduction in colorectal cancer among those most at risk

2024-08-01

Regular aspirin may help lower risk of colorectal cancer in people with greater lifestyle-related risk factors for the disease, according to a study led by researchers at Mass General Brigham. The study, published in JAMA Oncology, could encourage a more nuanced approach to preventive aspirin use. “We sought to identify individuals who are more likely to benefit from aspirin to facilitate more personalized prevention strategies,” said co-senior author Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, Director of Epidemiology for the Mass General Cancer Center and gastroenterology Director of the Center for ...

Diagnostic accuracy of an integrated AI tool to estimate gestational age from blind ultrasound sweeps

2024-08-01

About The Study: Between 14 and 27 weeks’ gestation, novice users with no prior training in ultrasonography estimated gestational age as accurately with the low-cost, point-of-care artificial intelligence (AI) tool as credentialed sonographers performing standard biometry on high-specification machines. These findings have immediate implications for obstetrical care in low-resource settings, advancing the World Health Organization goal of ultrasonography estimation of gestational age for all pregnant people. Quote from corresponding author Jeffrey ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Could GLP1RA drugs lower high iron levels?

C-Path’s PKD outcomes consortium receives BAA Award for project to advance drug development tools for autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease