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Chemist Cummins Receives Waterman AwardChristopher C. Cummins, 32, chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will receive the Alan T. Waterman Award for 1998, which is the National Science Foundation's most prestigious prize for young researchers. Cummins' award citation describes him as "a master synthetic craftsman of inorganic chemistry" and emphasizes his imaginative focus on significant new areas of chemistry research. By finding mechanisms for new chemical transformations, Cummins has built a foundation to design catalysts and to help unravel the mystery of how they act. In a very short time, Cummins has been able to coordinate and then to cleave the strong triple bond of dinotrogen, an extremely unreactive and strongly bound molecule, a feat that chemists have been attempting unsuccessfully for decades. This cleavage is thought to be a critical step in nitrogen fixation, an important process carried out by bacterial enzymes in plants. In another achievement, Cummins investigated cleavage in nitrous oxide, an integral component of the global nitrogen cycle. The result, says the citation, revealed an "astonishing reaction [that] cuts to the heart of selectivity in chemical reactions." Understanding of these new reactions may well lead to technological advances, according to the citation. The Alan T. Waterman Award honors an outstanding young U.S. scientist who is at the forefront of science or engineering. The recipient receives a medal as well as a $500,000 grant over three years for scientific research or advanced study in any field of science or engineering. Cummins will be honored at a National Science Board awards ceremony on May 6 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. For more information contact:
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