Chemistry professor to receive Yamada Prize
October 9, 2003
The Japan Research Foundation for Optically Active Compounds has identified chemistry professor Amos B. Smith III as the 2003 recipient of the Yamada Prize. The prize was established in 1995 to honor scientists whose research has had a major impact in the field of the synthesis of optically active compounds.
Professor Smith's research interests encompass three general areas: natural product synthesis, bioorganic chemistry, and materials science. He earned a B.S. and M.S. at Bucknell University and a Ph.D. at Rockefeller University. He came to Penn in 1973 and holds the William Warren Rhodes-Robert J. Thompson Chair of Chemistry. His many honors include a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a fellowship from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science, and the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Organic Synthesis.
Professor Smith will receive the Yamada Prize in Tokyo in December