Chemistry Shorts Releases New Film on Organic Chemistry
The Dreyfus Foundation-sponsored Chemistry Shorts® series released its newest film, “Changing Key and Chemistry,” featuring Professor Dr. Neil Garg from UCLA. Professor Garg shows us that organic chemistry can be understood much like music — one key, one scale, and one step at a time. Each atom in a molecule is like a note in a melody: once you learn the basic components, you can put them together in infinite combinations from the simplest molecules to the most complicated symphonies.
In the second act of the film, Professor Garg explains how scientists have re-orchestrated natural molecules to solve big problems. For instance, by slightly tweaking a chemical found in yew trees, scientists created the cancer-fighting drug taxol. Listening to nature with a well-tuned ear allows us to compose brand-new masterpieces.
In the final act, Professor Garg reminds us that scientific progress often begins when someone plays off-script:
“And I’m always reminded, although we need to use these rules to teach students, that we also just as much teach them that these are rules based on what we know now. And without you challenging those rules, solving problems, creating things, making new discoveries, we don’t advance society.” – Professor Garg
Professor Garg’s recent headline-making work on anti-Bredt olefins showed that even century-old chemistry rules are made to be broken as we expand our scientific understanding.
In the lab, the classroom, and now the screen, Professor Garg conducts learners with excitement and passion, encouraging them to not just practice the scales of organic chemistry, but improvise beyond the score.
The film is available for immediate viewing and use in teaching free of charge on the Chemistry Shorts YouTube channel. Teaching materials related to the film can be found at: https://garg.chem.ucla.edu/ug-education
2025 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of eight new Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars for 2025.
The award honors young faculty in the chemical sciences who have created an outstanding independent body of scholarship and are deeply committed to education with undergraduates. Each Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar receives an unrestricted research grant of $75,000.
Jeanine Amacher
Western Washington University
All Residues Considered: Specificity Determinants at Non-Motif Positions Drive Protein-SLiM Interactions
Shuming Chen
Oberlin College
Mechanism-Guided Design and Selectivity Control in Catalysis via Hidden Dynamic and Coordination-Sphere Influences
Melissa Gordon
Lafayette College
Design for Degradation: Developing Polymers for Environmental Responsiveness and Breakdown
Geneva Laurita
Bates College
Local Structure and Functionality in the Investigation of Non-Toxic Inorganic Ceramics and Pigments
Ryan Limbocker
United States Military Academy at West Point
Biophysical Studies to Understand and Combat Protein Misfolding and Aggregation Mechanisms Relevant to Pathology
Andrew Petit
California State University, Fullerton
From Photobase Catalysis to Electronic Quenching: New Directions in Computational Photochemistry
Julie Pollock
University of Richmond
Interdisciplinary Chemical Biology: Advancing Drug Discovery and Understanding Disease Mechanisms
Kathryn Riley
Swarthmore College
Enabling a Mechanistic Understanding of the Biomolecule-Mediated Reactivity of Nanoscale Materials
2025 Jean Dreyfus Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions Recipients
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is pleased to announce eight new grants in the Jean Dreyfus Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions program.
The Jean Dreyfus Lectureship awards provide a $25,000 grant to bring a leading researcher to a primarily undergraduate institution to give at least two lectures in the chemical sciences. One of the lectures should be accessible and promoted to a wide audience that includes the general public. The remaining lecture(s) may be more technical. The lecturer is expected to spend more than one day at the institution to substantively interact with undergraduate students and a broad range of faculty over the period of the visit.
A portion of the award is to support two undergraduates in summer research. The undergraduates engaged in summer research are expected to work with mentors in contemporary chemistry.
The 2025 winners are:
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA
Carleton College
Northfield, MN
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC
Hamilton College
Clinton, NY
High Point University
High Point, NC
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA
San José State University
San José, CA
University of San Diego
San Diego, CA
2025 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Supplemental Grant Recipients
The Dreyfus Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of 16 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Supplemental Grant recipients for 2025.
This new program, open only to past grantees of our Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards program (known as the Teacher-Scholar Award prior to 1994), provides up to $50,000 to support research that needs an additional, modest infusion of funds to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion or stopping point. These grants will enable members of our community to finish discrete, high-impact projects.
John Anderson
University of Chicago
Seeing O–O Bond Formation with Co-Oxo Complexes
Theodore Betley
Harvard University
Electronic Structure Evaluation of Biomimetic Cofactors
Irene Chen
University of California, Los Angeles
Inhibiting Biofilm-Forming Bacterial Pathogens Using Phage-Guided Polymers
Neal Devaraj
University of California, San Diego
Chemoselective Labeling of DNA to Control Subcellular Trafficking
Abigail Doyle
University of California, Los Angeles
Hemilabile Phosphine Ligands Enable Challenging Nickel-Catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions
Christy Haynes
University of Minnesota
Accelerating the Completion of Nanoparticle-Enhanced PFAS Phytoremediation Studies
Song Lin
Cornell University
Innovating Energetic Materials Chemistry Using Electrosynthesis
Evan Miller
University of California, Berkeley
A Generalizable Method to Improve the Brightness of Long-Wavelength Fluorophores
Gaetano Montelione
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Antiviral Molecules and Drug Discovery for Treatment of COVID-19
Sergey Nizkorodov
University of California, Irvine
Composition and Transformations of Organic Aerosol Emitted from Simulated Wildland-Urban Interface Fires
Michelle O’Malley
University of California, Santa Barbara
Understanding and Engineering Biosynthesis of Silica Structures in Diatoms
Theresa Reineke
University of Minnesota
AI-Driven Nanoparticle Development for In Situ Expression of Bispecific T-Cell Engager (BiTE) Treatments for Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
Natalia Shustova
University of South Carolina
Photophysics of Adaptive Materials
Marcus Weck
New York University
Synthetic Proteins
Christina Woo
Harvard University
Routine Detection of O-GlcNAc on Target Proteins in the Brain
Jenny Yang
University of California, Irvine
Combining CO2 Removal from Seawater in Desalination Plants
The Dreyfus Foundation and American Chemical Society Announce Two New Awardees
The American Chemical Society (ACS) recently announced the winners of two Dreyfus Foundation-supported awards aimed at diversity in the chemical sciences as part of their 2026 National Award Winners.
The 2026 ACS-Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Underrepresented and Economically Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences went to Angel A. Martí, Professor of Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Materials Science and NanoEngineering; Chair, Department of Chemistry; and Faculty Director, RESP, at Rice University. It was given “for his outstanding accomplishments in encouraging disadvantaged students into careers in Chemistry and his intense dedication toward promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion across STEM.”
The award – established in 1993 to recognize significant accomplishments by individuals in stimulating students, underrepresented in the profession, to elect careers in the chemical sciences and engineering – consists of $5,000 and a certificate. A grant of $10,000 is also made to an eligible non-profit institution, designated by the recipient, to strengthen its activities in meeting the objectives of the award.
The 2026 ACS-Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences went to Dr. Jean Tom, Professor of the Practice, Princeton University and Bristol Myers Squibb, retired. It was given “for exceptional mentoring, advocacy and outreach in the support of increasing the representation of women in the chemical sciences.”
The award – established in 1993 to recognize significant accomplishments by individuals who have stimulated or fostered the interest of women in chemistry, promoting their professional development as chemists or chemical engineers – consists of $5,000 and a certificate. A grant of $10,000 is also made to an eligible non-profit institution, designated by the recipient, to strengthen its activities in meeting the objectives of the award.
Both Dr. Martí and Dr. Tom will be honored at the ACS Spring 2026 Meeting in Atlanta, GA.