OSU Prof Wins NSF Career Grant

Carolyn Gonzales
Communication Services
Oklahoma State University
(405) 744-6260
March 3, 2003

 Dr. Satomi Niwayama
Dr. Satomi Niwayama, Oklahoma State University assistant professor of chemistry, recently received a $400,000 five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The award is the NSF's most prestigious honor for junior faculty members. NSF representatives say the award supports exceptionally promising college and university junior faculty who are committed to the integration of research and education and who are most likely to become academic leaders.

Niwayama also won the 2000 Morita Science Research Promotion Award, which is presented annually to two female scientists from Japan who are under 40 years of age. In addition, she received the 2002 Banyu Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, which is presented annually to a Japanese chemist, under age 40, who has invented significant reactions for both academia and industry.

Niwayama earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and her Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo, Japan.

Prior to coming to OSU in 1998, she was a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Cancer Research, and at the University of California (Los Angeles) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, after a postdoctoral stint at The Ohio State University.

Niwayama has developed a new reaction to distinguish between two identical functional groups within an organic molecule, which can be useful for synthesis of a variety of organic compounds in a simple and cost-effective manner.

This work was featured in an article about Chemical Process Development in ãChemical and Engineering News,ä a weekly publication of the American Chemical Society.
Niwayamaâs work could lead to the development of important organic compounds on an industrial scale, including new medicines for treating various diseases.
For information about this page, send e-mail to Carolyn Gonzales.

OSU Home Page | About OSU | Academics | Connections
Admissions | Centers | Colleges | Research | Extension