Kenneth Hancock Memorial Award Recipients

Congratulations to past recipients of the Kenneth Hancock Memorial Award, which offers national recognition and honor for outstanding student contributions to furthering the goals of green chemistry through research and/or studies.

Please read the award announcement for the 2023 winners published in The Nexus blog: Nine Outstanding Students Selected for 2023 ACS GCI Travel Awards 

2024 Recipients


Kangjie Bian
Rice University
Earth-Abundant Metals Photocatalysis and Sustainable Transformations

Camille Rubel
The Scripps Research Institute
Air-Stable Ni(0) Precatalysts: Electrochemical Preparation and Catalysis

2023 Recipients


Molly Sun
Northwestern University
Reprocessing Thermoset Polyurethane through Twin-Screw Extrusion and Green Catalysis

Karthik Iyer
University of California, Santa Barbara
Expanding the Toolbox of Green Chemistry in Method Development and Applications to Pharmaceuticals

2022 Recipients


Raktim Sen
University of Southern California
Integrative CO2 capture from air and catalytic recycling to methanol: Toward a sustainable methanol economy

Kenneth Josué Trejos-Cuadra
University of Costa Rica
1,2-Naphthoquinones: An important structural feature in medicinal chemistry, materials and natural products

2021 Recipients


Sarah Ellis
Queen's University, Canada
CO2-responsive agents for water filtration

Stephanie McCartney
Columbia University
Sustainable production of fertilizer using human urine and waste resources

2020 Recipient


Ariel Fernandez
University of Costa Rica
Cigarette butts treatment: a new alternative for a simple hazard

Metin Karayilan
University of Arizona
Biomimetic metallopolymers with enhanced catalytic activity for sustainable hydrogen production in neutral water

2019 Recipient


Mevan Dissanayake
University of South Carolina
Anion pool synthesis for electrochemical derivatization of pharmaceutical compounds

2018 Recipient


Emily Roberts
University of Southern California
High-throughput, continuous flow synthesis of nanoparticle catalysts as a safe and sustainable nanomanufacturing method

2017 Recipients


Adam Fisher
United States Merchant Marine Academy
Magnetic carbon nanocomposite for water treatment

Julian West
Princeton University
Design of new, sustainable chemical reactions through Earth-abundant element photocatalysis

2016 Recipients


Austin Evans
Flinders University/The University of Tulsa
A sulfur-limonene polysulfide synthesized entirely from industrial byproducts and its use in removing toxic metals from water and soil

Jesse Vanderveen
Queen’s University
Switchable hydrophilicity solvents: Benign alternatives to volatile organic solvents for syntheses, extractions, and separations

2015 Recipients


Leah K. Rubin Shen
University of California, Berkeley
Use of nitrogen heterocycles as virtual hydrogen storage materials: An electrochemical and toxicological study

Alan Medina-Gonzalez
Augsburg College
Continuous flow chemistry for the synthesis of amides from nitriles and amines

2014 Recipients


Heather Buckley
University of California, Berkeley
Functionalized metallocorroles for covalent tethering to an electrode surface: A platinum-free oxygen reduction catalyst for PEM fuel cells

Florence Chardon
University of California, Berkeley
Development of a ternary solvent blend for chromatography

2013 Recipients


Cristina de Salas
Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
SynDeNOx, recycling of nitrogen monoxide through carbonitrosation reactions

Lindsay Soh
Yale University
Towards efficient biodiesel production using carbon dioxide

2012 Recipients


Keary Mark Engle
The Scripps Research Institute
Ligand-accelerated catalysis in Palladium(II)-mediated C-H functionalization

Sean Mercer
Queen's University
The development of "switchable water": A CO2-switchable aqueous solvent

2011 Recipients


Huan Cong
Boston University
Silver nanoparticles: A novel catalyst for green and biomimetic synthesis of anticancer natural products

Swapnil Jadhav
The City University of New York
Functional molecular gelators from crop-based feedstock

2010 Recipients


Laura Allen
Yale University
Atom economical alcohol activation with inexpensive and non-toxic catalysts

Madhav Ghanta
University of Kansas
A greener, energy efficient process for making ethylene oxide

2009 Recipients


Joseph Binder
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Simple chemical transformation of lignocellulosic biomass and olefin metathesis in aqueous solvents

Johnathan Gorke
University of Minnesota
Enzymatic synthesis in deep eutectic solvents

2008 Recipients


Lallie McKenzie
University of Oregon
High-throughput, low-waste synthesis of well-defined nanoparticles in microcapillary flow reactors

Arsen Simonyan
State University of New York
Characterization and use of linear-dendritic copolymers as building blocks of supramolecular nanoreactors for green chemistry

2007 Recipients


Arani Chanda
Carnegie Mellon University
Applications and mechanistic understanding of Fe-TAML® activators of peroxide – A green oxidation catalysis system

Jennifer Haghpanah
Polytechnic University
Investigating cutinases for the deacetylation of polyvinyl acetate

2006 Recipients


Ke Min
Carnegie Mellon University
Atom transfer radical polymerization in aqueous dispersed media

2005 Recipient


Anindya Ghosh
Carnegie Mellon University
Synthesis and application of green catalytic oxidation systems using Fe-tetraamido macrocyclic ligand activators and hydrogen peroxide

2004 Recipient


Amy Cannon
University of Massachusetts, Boston
The environmentally benign synthesis of materials for dye-sensitized solar cells

 

2003 Recipients


Richard Swatloski 
The University of Alabama
Dissolution and reconstitution of cellulose without derivatization or pretreatment: A 'green' utilization of ionic liquids where traditional solvents fail

Nicolay Tsarevsky
Carnegie Mellon University
Preparation of well-defined (co)polymers by atom transfer radical polymerization in aqueous media

2002 Recipient


Biana Sculimbrene
Boston College
Biomimetic synthesis, biomimetic catalysis: Concise synthesis of D-myo-Inositol-1-Phosphate

2001 Recipient


Richard Brown
University of California, Davis
Reactions in alternative reaction media and exploring the effect of alternative media on selectivity

1999 Recipient


Clayton Bunyard
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Perfluoropolyethers: From environmentally benign synthesis to nontoxic fouling release coatings

1998 Recipient


Jeanne Jennings
University of South Carolina